One

We value:

• clarity above thoroughness

• dedication above precision

• stories above information

Two

We are more concerned with:

• the essence than the details

• human perception than social conventions

• the needs of our audience than the vanity of our superiors

Three

We regard:

• informative design as more important than aesthetic design

• the train of thought as more important than the elements therein

• personality as more important than perfectionism

KEY WORDS:

Focus on the receiver

Our presentations contain what our audience want or need to hear, not what we want to say.  The audience’s needs, questions and views have a higher priority than our own.  We constantly ensure that we favour the audience’s knowledge, understanding and learning.

Time discipline

We avoid running over our allotted time at all costs.  When we plan our presentation, we reckon with a timeslot only two-thirds as long as our actual slot.

Intellectual discipline

We do not stray from the subject.  On the other hand, we gladly take opportunities to expand upon and complement the main thread.

Discretion

We choose between openness and silence.  This means that we do not mention the things that we have left out of our presentation, or the areas of which we are steering clear.  (An exception can be made if the information in question is fully available after the presentation.)

Clarity

We design presentational slides that use the entire available screen area, and we use font sizes 24 and above.  The fonts we use are easily readable in pixelated form.

Minimalism

We design slides that only contain a small number of text and picture elements.  Whenever a more complex picture is necessary, we build it up step by step.

The background to our key slides (slides which are not vignettes, transitional slides or the like) are either completely white if they are to be shown in a bright room, or black/dark grey if they are to be shown in a dark room.  We avoid the following things completely in our key slides: the date, the name of the presentation’s creator, the company logo, and the title of the presentation.  This information shall instead be given at the beginning and end of the slideshow.

Complicity

We integrate ourselves with our slides in a rehearsed and purposeful way.  We plan a simple staging of each presentation with changes of tempo, gestures, pauses and so on.

Care and attention

Before every presentation we go through our slides, computer, lecture room and timetable in situ and make sure that:

– All slides are complete and in the right order

– The projector works and can communicate with the software

– The audience members sitting at the very back of the room will be able to see and hear properly

– We know where the controls for the sound, light and ventilation system are

– We are completely familiar with the timetable and any planned breaks.

Technical know-how

We are skilled at using our computer and software, and we can solve simple technical issues without creating delays.  We can also quickly bring up and jump between different slides in our PowerPoint document.

Improvisation

If the technology fails altogether, we are prepared swiftly and decisively to give our presentation in another way.

Ethics

We are prepared to break any of the above rules if our conscience demands it of us.