TJ Walker argues that PowerPoint slides shouldn't have text on them. Audiences read better on their own devices or printed handouts, he says, and on-screen text distracts from listening. Give people the materials separately and keep slides visual only.
Let me ask you, when there's something really important you want to read, do you ask your spouse, family, friends to come into the room, start talking to you and turning the pages while you're reading? Is that how you like to read? I didn't think so. Chances are you're like most people. When you want to read, you have a system in place. It's called finding something quiet or ignoring conversation around you, turning the pages yourself when you are through reading and when you're not having to listen to anyone else, whether it's on a computer screen, a Kindle, a cell phone or an old fashioned book or newspaper. That's how you like to read. Guess what? The audience in your speech is exactly the same way. They have a way, a system of reading their whole life. And it doesn't include you standing up, talking to them, distracting them, pointing to a slide and then flicking to another page before they perhaps even had a chance to read it. So what is the lesson here? The lesson is get ready. If you're not sitting down, you're going to want to sit down. You're not going to hear this in most other PowerPoint experts tutorials, but the advice is don't use text in a PowerPoint slide that you are projecting. Now let me say this again because what some of you just heard is oh TJ saying don't use a lot of text. Just use three words or less per bullet point. No, that is not what I'm saying. So stop it right now. Don't paraphrase what I'm saying. Don't try to fit in what I'm saying with what you've heard elsewhere. I've actually tested audiences around the world and I can tell you audiences do not remember text. Words are made up of letters. Letters are simply abstractions. So it's not about fewer words or shorter sentences or sentence fragments or three words or a limit of three bullet points. I'm telling you, if you're going to project a slide a screen, when you're giving a PowerPoint, you are better off without using any text. If you want people to read, give them reading material in a format they like and use and have used their whole life. Give them a handout, email them a PDF in advance. You can email them a PowerPoint deck if you want, but you might as well just email them a PDF or a Word document. It's easier to read that. Email it to them afterwards, direct them to a webpage. People want to read. They'll read if they want to watch you and listen to you give a PowerPoint presentation. They can do that. Let's not confuse the two.
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