[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-214687-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":81,"doc-detail-214687-en":127},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","the-proper-role-of-graphics-in-a-presentation-graphics-strategy-for-clearer-slides","The Proper Role of Graphics in a Presentation - Graphics strategy for clearer slides","","The article explains why presentation graphics often fail and how audience experience deteriorates when slides are overloaded with dense text and detailed tables, charts, and graphs. It identifies the Presentation-as-Document Syndrome, where presenters treat slides as records and handouts, and describes “triple delivery” as an assault that leads to MEGO (Mine Eyes Glaze Over). It outlines practical fixes: keep presentations focused on one purpose, distribute handouts after the talk, and use tools like PowerPoint Notes Page view or provide separate documents via Word when needed.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/","Presentations",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/the-proper-role-of-graphics-in-a-presentation-graphics-strategy-for-clearer-slides/214687/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-proper-role-of-graphics-in-a-presentation-graphics-strategy-for-clearer-slides/214687.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Jiven","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-25","2026-09-07",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What causes the common problem when presentation graphics don’t work?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Presenters often fail to distinguish between a document and a presentation, leading to slides that act like dense records. This drives the audience to read instead of listen, triggering MEGO.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What is “triple delivery” in presentations?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It happens when handouts are provided before the presentation, so the audience reads the handout, sees the slide, and hears the presenter reading the slide content. This overload contributes to audience disengagement.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How should handouts and advance materials be distributed?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Handouts should be distributed only after the presentation to prevent flipping while listening. If a copy is needed in advance for printing, use PowerPoint’s Notes Page view; if an advance document is required, create it with Word.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},214687,1788786153,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,93,98,103,108,113,118,123],{"id":85,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},11,90,"presentations",{"id":89,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":94,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":99,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":104,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":109,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":114,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":119,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":124,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":126},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":128},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":129,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":130,"doc_module":22,"category_id":85,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":131,"file_id":132,"file_url":133,"file_type":134,"file_size":135,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":85,"language":136,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":80,"read_time":33},1099513958607,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/100002390cf8733938c?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1778829742770036399","The Proper Role of Graphics in a Presentation  \nJerry Weissman  \nThink about a time when you were in the audience at a presentation and the graphics didn’t work. What was the problem? These are the most common answers my business clients give:  \n• “The graphics were cluttered.”  \n• “There was too much on the slide.”  \n• “The slide looked like an eye chart.”  \n• “The slide was a Data Dump.”  \nNow flip the lens and take the point of view of an Audience Advocate. What’s the effect on you? Odds are that it’s another case of the dreaded MEGO (Mine Eyes Glaze Over) syndrome: the same cause and effect as when a story is unloaded on you as a Data Dump.  \nThe main reason this happens is that presenters fail to distinguish between a document and a presentation. They treat a presentation as a document. This is the Presentation-as-Document Syndrome, in which the presenter uses the graphics as both a display and as a record, as both show and tell. This is the vestigial legacy of the ancient origins of presentations, the flip chart.  \nBusiness documents include:  \n• Annual reports, filled with dense text and highly detailed tables, charts, and graphs  \nThe Proper Role of Graphics in a Presentation  \n• Strategic plans, filled with dense text and highly detailed tables, charts, and graphs  \n• Market analyses, filled with dense text and highly detailed tables, charts, and graphs  \n• Meeting notes, filled with dense text and highly detailed tables, charts, and graphs  \nSee the pattern? All these types of documents are necessary and important in their place, but business documents are not presentations.  \nSo the true problem with presentation graphics is that, all too often, presenters take a flood of data, those dense text and highly detailed tables, charts, and graphs, and simply reproduce them, with little or no modification, for their presentation graphics.  \nThis Presentation-as-Document Syndrome represents one of the most common problems that plagues presentations. Presenters have become so accustomed to relying on graphics, especially Microsoft PowerPoint slides, that they often think of the presentation as a mere accompaniment to those aids. In fact, many people act as if the presentation is completely dispensable. They’ll say,“I can’t attend your presentation next week. But it doesn’t matter. Just send me your slides!”Or they sometimes say, “Send me your slides in advance.” The PowerPoint slides then are treated as handouts.  \nWhat’s more, presenters frequently provide the handouts to their audience before the presentation. The audience then reads the handout, sees the slide, and hears the presenter read what is on the slide. This is known as “triple delivery,” an assault on the audience’s senses that leads to that lethal MEGO. Using slides as handouts is but one manifestation of the Presentation-as-Document Syndrome. There are three others.  \n• Use the slides as notes to help the presenter remember what to say.  \nThe Proper Role of Graphics in a Presentation  \n• Cram a plethora of details on the slides, as if to demonstrate legitimacy.  \n• Fill the slides with enough information so that anyone else in the company using the same slides will maintain the uniformity of the message.  \nBut the name of my company is not:  \n• Power Handouts  \n• Power Notes  \n• Power Details  \n• Power Uniformity It is Power Presentations.  \nA presentation is a pure play. It must serve only one purpose. Remember these words of Dan Warmenhoven, the CEO of Network Appliance, in the Opening Gambit of his IPO road show: “Do one thing and one thing well.” If a presentation tries to serve two or more purposes, it dilutes both purposes. The presentation itself is neither fish nor fowl.  \nA presentation is a presentation and only a presentation . . . never a document. After all, Microsoft provides Word for documents and PowerPoint for presentations. And never the twain shall meet.  \nBe sure to distribute the handouts only after the presentation. If you distribute them ","cbCaijEeQGQsmkKP","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijEeQGQsmkKP","pdf",231840,"English","# The Proper Role of Graphics in a Presentation\n## Presentation-as-Document Syndrome\n## Triple delivery and handout timing\n## Presenter focus and audience attention","[{\"question\":\"What causes the common problem when presentation graphics don’t work?\",\"answer\":\"Presenters often fail to distinguish between a document and a presentation, leading to slides that act like dense records. This drives the audience to read instead of listen, triggering MEGO.\"},{\"question\":\"What is “triple delivery” in presentations?\",\"answer\":\"It happens when handouts are provided before the presentation, so the audience reads the handout, sees the slide, and hears the presenter reading the slide content. This overload contributes to audience disengagement.\"},{\"question\":\"How should handouts and advance materials be distributed?\",\"answer\":\"Handouts should be distributed only after the presentation to prevent flipping while listening. If a copy is needed in advance for printing, use PowerPoint’s Notes Page view; if an advance document is required, create it with Word.\"}]","The Proper Role of Graphics in a Presentation - Graphics strategy for clearer slides | PDF"]