Your slides might make you a worse speaker

Open any presentation skills article and you'll find the same advice: fewer words per slide, better visuals, a clean template. Sound advice, but all of it assumes the slides themselves are helping.

Often, they're simply not. Slides don't just support a talk, they change how the speaker behaves. And not always for the better.

What slides train you to do

Once you build a slide deck, you've built a script. Even with a good script, your eyes may go to the screen to check what's next. Your pacing tends to follow the bullet points instead of the room. And the moment something in the audience's reaction suggests you should slow down, skip ahead, or say more, the deck pulls you back on track anyway - because that's what it's there for.

This is why so many competent people give flat talks. It's not nerves and it's not lack of knowledge. It's that the slides have taken over and are quietly doing the thinking, and the speaker has become a narrator of their own deck instead of someone responding to a audience in the room.

The audience feels this even when they can’t name it

Watch a room during a slide-heavy talk. Attention drifts to the screen, not the person. Watch a room during a talk with no slides, where the speaker is just explaining something they know well. Attention stays on the person, because the person is the only source of information in the room.

That difference isn't about charisma. It's about when the audience's eyes have somewhere else to go. Take away the somewhere-else, and you become the whole show, whether you feel ready for that or not.

Should you ditch slides entirely then?

No, not always, and some content (data, diagrams, timelines) genuinely needs a visual. But most talks lean on slides far past that point, using them as a security blanket for the speaker rather than a tool to help the audience.

A useful test: for each slide, ask 'would I be less clear without this?' If the honest answer is no, it's not there for the audience. It's there for you.

How to build a talk that doesn’t need the crutch

1. Write the talk as if you were explaining it to one person over coffee, before you touch slide software. Notice what you naturally reach for to make things clear, eg an example, a comparison, a story. Those are your real content.

2. Cut the outline down to three things you actually want remembered. Not covered - remembered. Everything else is optional detail you can improvise around once those three are solid.

3. After the outline of three, decide what (if anything) needs a visual. Usually it's one chart, one image, one number. Not fifteen slides of supporting bullet points.

4. Practice articulating the topic, not explaining the deck. Say the talk out loud to a person, not a screen. If you stumble, that's useful information about where the idea itself isn't clear yet; no slide will fix a place where your thinking is fuzzy.

What changes when you try this

The first time you present without leaning on a deck, it will feel exposed. That's the point. You're relying on knowing your material and reading the room, instead of relying on prompts projected behind you. That's uncomfortable in rehearsal, but it is far more compelling in the room; in part because the audience is watching a person think, not a person read.

If your next talk currently exists as thirty slides you're not sure you need, that's a good place to start. Strip it back to the three things you want people to walk away remembering, and see how much of the deck actually survives.

Want help figuring out what to cut, and how to hold the room without one?

That's exactly what we work through together in coaching

If you’re looking to strengthen your executive presence, communicate with greater authority, or increase your impact in high-stakes presentations, I’d be delighted to help.

Drawing on my background in actor training, storytelling, psychology, and behavioural science, I work with leaders and professionals across London and the UK to communicate with greater confidence, influence, and authenticity. Together, we develop the skills to engage audiences, shape compelling narratives, and inspire action in the moments that matter most.

If you’d like to explore how this could support your goals, feel free to get in touch for a free, relaxed, confidential consultation.