Almost there. One more step. Your narrative is a clarifying
artefact for what you want to say. You now need some clarity on what
you want to show. This is where a storyboard comes in handy.
The simplest storyboard describes each slide you create in as
simple a way as you can get away with. If you’re already using a
physical or virtual whiteboard, sticky notes or index cards can help
you build that storyboard — one sticky note to describe each slide.
The Mural template I shared also has a panel to organise your
storyboard. As I’ve explained
earlier, don’t worry about the number of sticky notes. The slide
count doesn’t matter when you control the pace of your
presentation.
Figure 3: A storyboard with sticky
notes. (generated using AI)
You can also use documents to create your storyboard, though they
aren’t as flexible as sticky notes. The Google Docs template pack
also has a storyboarding template you can use.
Storyboarding using slides
These days, I often create my storyboards using slides,
especially when I use a diagram-centric narrative. The slide
sorter or light table view in your presentation tool is excellent
for creating storyboards because it allows me to drop in text and
sample images and reorder my panels until I’m satisfied with the
plan.
The trick with slide-based storyboarding is to resist the
temptation to design slides. When storyboarding this way, I limit
my focus to the spine of my slide deck. The polish comes
later.
Remember the diagram I shared earlier in this article? The
images below show my final diagram, the storyboard that I created
using that diagram as the spine, and then a light-table view of
the final deck after I added a few layers of polish.
” title=”From diagram to storyboard to final deck”>
If you’re accustomed to starting your presentation design by
opening a presentation tool, my suggested approach will perhaps
feel onerous. From experience teaching presentation skills to
hundreds of Thoughtworks colleagues, I find this approach to be a
way to start slow so I can go fast later. Once you try this
approach a few times, you’ll notice that it doesn’t take as much
effort as you may fear. It also speeds up slide creation because
you’re working off a plan, as against playing it by ear.
On the other hand, if you’re a skilful presenter, my suggested
approach may seem rigid and linear. That’ll be a fair criticism.
I’ll use a Pablo Picasso quote in response to that reaction.
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an
artist.— Pablo Picasso
Here’s what I’ve noticed when coaching colleagues to
present:
- Presenters who aren’t accustomed to thinking about their
narrative, audience, and presentation outlines benefit from a
structured approach to these aspects of their presentation. - As people gain skill and experience, they shift to a more
fluid process. They may skip a step because it feels intuitive,
or they may bounce back and forth between other steps without
adding to their cognitive load.
All this said, the narrative won’t be a static artefact. As you
build your storyboard, you may tweak the narrative. Even as you
design your slides, you may reconsider your narrative, storyboard,
and even your assumptions about your audience. None of these
artefacts and considerations is a one-and-done. The outline feeds
the design, but the design can also challenge the outline. That’s
the narrative you want walking into slide design: solid enough
that building your slides becomes an exercise in execution, not
invention, yet open enough to flex when the details teach you
something new.
With that narrative platform in hand, let’s explore some
principles for slide design in the next few posts.
