The 6 Essential Checks For Powerful Visuals In Your Presentation

Visuals can lift a presentation — or completely sink it. Most business presenters let their slide deck dominate them, turning themselves into a minor supporting actor in their own show. When that happens, the visuals win… and the message loses.

Here are the six critical elements to check before you build your slide deck, so that you stay the star of the presentation — not the screen.

Visuals are support staff. You are the main act.

Yet many speakers surrender their authority to the screen. They fade into the shadows while the audience stares at visuals that cannot:

• Express emotion

• Show belief

• Convey conviction

• Build trust

Only your face can do that.

Stand stage left so the audience naturally looks at you first (we read left to right). Make the visuals follow you, not the other way around.

If you notice eyes drifting to the screen and not to you?
Stop speaking.
That pattern interrupt snaps attention right back where it belongs.

Then reconnect using six-second eye contact — the One-on-One magnet that hooks every listener.

Mini Summary:
Slides assist. You dominate. Make visuals your servant, never your master.

We’ve all seen it: microscopic text, impossible to read, yet proudly displayed as if anyone in the room were Superman.

If you hear a presenter say, “I know you can’t read this, but…”
…you know instantly they have no idea how to design slides.

Golden Rule:
If they can’t grasp the slide in two seconds, it’s too complicated.

For text-based slides:

• Use huge fonts

• Break one overcrowded slide into two or three

• Print and place it on the floor — if you can’t read it standing up, it’s too small

Mini Summary:
Make your audience think about your message, not squint at your formatting.

Data is good. Data overload is deadly.

Six graphs on one slide?
That’s not a slide — that’s a crime scene.

Use:

• Bar charts → short-term comparisons

• Line charts → trends over time (max three lines or it becomes spaghetti)

• Pie charts → proportions (never more than two on a slide)

Each graph gets its own stage.
Give your data room to breathe.

Mini Summary:
One graph per slide. Simpler visuals = stronger impact.

Too much content suffocates the message.
White space creates focus and power.

One giant number.
One critical word.
One isolated idea.

That is how you punch through the noise and guide the audience’s eyes precisely where you want them.

Mini Summary:
White space amplifies clarity — use it as a weapon.

Pictures elevate messages far more than text can.
Especially pictures with people, because humans are hard-wired to study faces.

But don’t drown the audience in a photo gallery.
One image is enough — particularly if you use it to create curiosity.

Show a photo with no label.
Let the audience wonder: What does this mean?
When you explain it, you have 100% of their attention.

Example:
A single image of San Francisco’s homeless problem conveys more than any graph could.

Mini Summary:
One photo. One moment of mystery. One unforgettable point.

More colours feel exciting… until they become distracting.

Once a slide has more than two colours, comprehension plummets.
Your visuals shouldn’t look like a Mardi Gras float.

Strong presentations rely on:

• Two-colour contrast

• Clean design

• Minimal distractions

Remember Mies van der Rohe:
“Less is more.”

Mini Summary:
Use colour sparingly. Simplicity increases persuasion.

• You are the message — visuals only support your presence

• Readable fonts win — complexity kills

• One graph per slide keeps data digestible

• White space guides attention better than clutter

• One photo creates impact — more dilutes it

• Colour discipline matters — keep it simple and clean

• More rehearsal, fewer slides → stronger delivery every time

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI.
Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese companies and multinational firms ever since.