Does Your Presentation Pass The Smartphone Test?

One very important question to ask when designing presentation slides is:

“Will the audience be able to read your text?”

It seems like an obvious question but it’s clear from many presentations that this question isn’t asked, there are presentations crammed with so much information that the presenter has to use smaller and smaller text just so that they can get everything onto the one page, there are graphs with tiny illegible numbers and there is the increasing use of infographics that are filled with information that is not always readable on screen.

For example, I took this photo at a recent talk and all I could read was the title:

Presentation slides are there to help your audience understand your ideas.

If your audience can't read the words on your slide then don't use the slide.

How can you know if your audience will be able to read your slides? The best way is to go to the venue where you will be speaking and test them out in advance but that isn't always possible so instead use The Smartphone Test:

Copy your presentation onto your phone. Hold your phone at arms length and look at your slides, can you read every word clearly?

If you can't then neither will your audience.

Most corporate presentations have at least one slide (and usually many more) that fails the Smartphone Test, how do your slides compare?

Images: Dermot Greene