presentation

Data slides

One chart, one message, message in the title. Bar for comparison, line for trend, scatter for relationship, table for lookup — pie only for 2–3 parts of an obvious whole. Kill 3D, dual axes (they imply causation that isn't shown), and rainbow palettes; highlight the one series that matters, grey the rest. Source line on every data slide.

Deck genres differ — say which you're building

Talk deck: sparse slides + rich notes. Standalone/send-ahead deck: complete sentences, readable alone, roughly double the text — used for exec pre-reads and async review. Hybrid ("talk deck someone will forward") is the most common real request: talk-deck slides + an executive-summary slide and appendix that survive forwarding. Exec/board audiences: answer first (the ask or verdict on slide 2), evidence after — never a mystery-novel build-up.

Openings and closings

Open with the stakes or the surprise, never with an agenda slide or team bios (those go later or in appendix). Close with the specific ask or the action, restated — the last slide stays up during Q&A, so it's the ask, not "Thank you".

Timing

~1–2 minutes per content slide for talks; a 20-minute slot fits 10–15 slides plus backups. Mark the cut-line in notes: which sections drop if time halves — because it will.