Presenting research in a slideshow

Let's face it — people tend to ignore research reports that aren't appealing enough. Make your reports interesting and non-skippable using slideshows, especially if your teammates and stakeholders have the attention span of a goldfish. Slideshows are also the better choice during meetings and presentations that involve you interacting with a room or screen full of people.

Here are some tips to make your research report slideshow a success:

• Choose an interesting presentation theme and give readers a welcome break from monotonous spreadsheets.
• Use memorable visuals, graphics, puns, and slang that will act as a memory trigger for readers.
• Start with an introduction that clearly summarizes what the reader can expect going forward. How long will it take? What will they learn? How will it benefit them?
• Use a legible font, embolden important points, and use catchy headlines.^[1]

Apart from the creative freedom to include multimedia, a slideshow's structure should closely mirror the structure of a physical report and include the same sections — an overview, insights, and recommendations.