Concise communication is a respectable virtue. In the age of abbreviated textspeak — with words such as lol, omg, and rofl — well-written English that shares the same idea with fewer words is ever more critical and outstanding.

While novels and other long-form pieces of literature may not feel the pressure to adapt in this manner, high-stakes business communication targets a whole different audience. In many cases, your words, whether verbal or written, will often fall on the ears of someone who could be doing something else at that moment. Therefore, it behooves the speaker, writer, or presenter to take the time they receive and use it as wisely as possible.

I have learned a valuable skill during my college tenure for professional presentations that I still apply today. It is an excellent mix of enough information without excessive details, and it requires no additional tools. For those who invest the time in this strategy, you’ll draw proper attention and respect to yourself and your topic.

Throw Out Your Fancy Templates

Whether you use PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides, at some point, we’ve all heard that the key to a successful presentation is to have fancy slides as your sidekick. I have found that quite the opposite is true.

If you have colorful, designer-hyped, wordy slides, your audience will likely pay no attention to you. Humans can only effectively focus on one thing at a time. People either read your presentation or listen to you speak, but not both. So, if your slides replace what you are saying, skip the meeting and send out your PowerPoint for everyone to read instead.

This idea doesn’t mean you must use block font text on a white background. If you have a branded presentation template, use it as a subtle tie to your company or start-up, but never to impress anyone. It will not impress at all.

5 Words by 5 Lines

Slides should only enhance what you are saying, not supplement it. Some of the more ineffective presentations I’ve seen tend to have the speaker read off each slide word-for-word with little additional information. It is redundant, at best.

Instead of serving the role of a teleprompter, organize your slides like an outline. It gives the viewers a vague representation of what you’ll be talking about in a particular section. To understand the full extent of each point and how you’ll tie them together, they’ll have to pay attention to what you say. Engaged audience + attention on you = a successful presentation.

The former department chair of my computer science department at Grove City College, Dr. William Birmingham, stressed this formula as I sat in each of his classes:

• No more than five lines per slide

• No more than five words per line

Six words per line was a deal-breaker. Birmingham’s stringent rules taught us to choose what we say carefully and express the same ideas with fewer words. Despite these constraints, we always seemed to be able to convey what was necessary.

Aside from the title, that means we had a maximum of 25 words on any given slide. If that feels about as roomy as taking notes on a postage stamp, think again.

Reduce, Refine, and Remove

Again, your presentation is not your slides. Nor should they be your speaking notes. If you need to remember how to properly phrase something or ensure that you do not forget to mention an important idea, you have endless room to write that in your slide notes.

PowerPoint does an excellent job at providing the speaker with a preview of the slide and ample space to see your notes. That fact allows us to breathe easily and know that we can write less on our presentation and communicate just as effectively.

Apple is a master at this very practice. Their WWDC slides are clean, minimal, and boast very few words. The speaker’s notes are visible on monitors at the end of the stage, just below the audience’s line of view.

Tips

As someone who has stared at my PowerPoints for a long time, I know that even when you don’t think you can reduce your wording any further, you can. Here are some tips:

• Bullet points do not need to be complete sentences.

• Each line item can be as short and vague as necessary. You are filling in the details verbally.

• You don’t need to write every point. Again, you can fill in these gaps as you speak.

• Pictures, simple diagrams, and graphs are nice. If they can take the place of words, use them instead.

• Break out one giant slide over multiple smaller ones.

If you still feel constrained for space, consider this example:

This slide discusses how many large-screen Android devices are active today at the time of writing. I could use this slide to pitch why it is worth the effort to build Android apps for phones, tablets, and foldables, rather than just phones. Notice how the picture above does not indicate why it is worth the additional effort for these device types. It just provides one metric, and I fill in the details verbally.

Conclusion

Adopting a new way of thinking may require some practice. However, unless you are used to reading your slides like a book during your presentation, very little will change. Instead of cramming your visuals full of text, you can lighten the load on yourself and your audience by sticking to the 5x5 rule.

If you need the slides as a visual aid, consider moving the important notes and phrases to the notes section. Only you can see them during the presentation, and with a bit of practice, your viewers won’t even know that you are using them.

Perhaps it is subtle aspects like this that have made Apple’s events so captivating. It is a breath of fresh air from the wordy, jam-packed corporate slides we have all seen, and it is a step into a manageable presentation that is a pleasure to consume. While we may not become the next Apple of presentations, we can certainly bring this relatable breath of fresh air to all of our talks with a bit of discipline.