Ask HN: Are slides really necessary during a speech? - clamato
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auslegung
Visuals help people retain info. At the very least, slides that contain 1-2
sentences that state your main idea for that section would help. Having lots
of text is a great way to get people to ignore what you’re saying and read the
slides so don’t do that. But best of all is simple, clear graphics that help
communicate your main points.

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gjvc
I recently attended a talk [1] by Robert C. Martin where he spoke eloquently
and astutely for over an hour on the subjects contained in the diagram on a
single slide. Afterwards, I was impressed by the quality and content of the
_talk_ , and didn't feel like I'd been hypnotised by yet another slide-by-
slide "presentation".

A well-given talk should not require its contents to be summarized as it is
being given. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so technical diagrams are an
obvious exception (there are others) to that.

[1] [https://skillsmatter.com/meetups/11368-an-evening-with-
uncle...](https://skillsmatter.com/meetups/11368-an-evening-with-uncle-bob)

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anigbrowl
No, but they definitely help. My rule on this is that slides should make it
easier to follow a talk and get back on track if your attention wanders. If
the slides require extensive explanation then the information is probably
better summarized in the talk and laid out in greater detail in a paper.

Obviously a lot depends on your audience. Slides at an academic symposium can
be dense enough that you can get the gist of the talk from just looking at the
slide deck, slides for an introductory talk on a subject should be more like
the list of contents in a book.

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sddfd
The question is too broad to answer with yes or no.

If you can come up with slides that make it easier for your audience to follow
you, go for it.

