Slides are for the audience, not for you. The strongest presentations use one slide per idea, with very large text — no font smaller than 28 points — and a single image rather than a wall of bullets. If readers in the back row cannot see the slide, no one can. Aim for the modern 16:9 aspect ratio, and replace bullet lists with images, diagrams, or single declarative statements. As a rule of thumb, the more slides you cram in, the more transitions fragment your talk; one slide per minute or fewer is a healthy ceiling. A useful test is the one-slide test: if you only had one slide, what would it say? Build the talk around that core.
Tell the audience what they are about to see in a single sentence before you click forward, so their attention follows your voice rather than the screen. Use slide builds sparingly, only when revealing a process step-by-step; do not auto-animate every line. When you want all attention on you — during a story or in Q&A — press B to black out the slide. End your deck with a logo or specs page, not the beginning; a "who we are" slide at the open wastes first-impression budget on logistics. Most speakers over-prepare slides and under-rehearse the spoken delivery, so budget your time accordingly.
Stats land hardest when framed with comparison. Rather than reading a chart, lead with the narrative it supports and show one big number with context: "94% of users completed the task — up from 31%." Avoid narrow black-and-white contrasts in clothing for camera, and design slides for the back row before designing for the front. If a slide cannot be defended by the "so what" filter, cut it. Even well-meaning bullet lists put audiences to sleep because readers finish in a third of the time the speaker takes to say them, then drift. A single image and a few words almost always beats six bullets of six words each.