# Fix the slide: six principles of a clear slide — Couchinfo

> Practice the six principles of a clear slide on other people's slides and your own. 35 minutes, tables of 3–4, then individually. Flow, debrief questions and tips fo

Source: https://couchinfo.com/en/exercises/fix-the-slide/

[← All exercises](https://couchinfo.com/en/exercises/#presentation-skills-for-managers)

Exercise · Presentation Skills for Managers

## Fix the Slide

Practice the six principles of a clear slide on other people's slides and your own.

Time **35 minutes**

Participants **Tables of 3–4, then individually**

Materials **6 cards with "bad" slides, plain paper, markers**

From the training **Presentation Skills for Managers**

### Why this exercise

Most work slides are the speaker's crib sheet: small text, a topic headline, a table with no conclusion. Listeners read the slide faster than the speaker talks and stop listening. Participants work through six typical mistakes — the wall of text, the topic headline, everything at once, small and pale, the slide-document and the list without a conclusion — and draw fixed versions. The key discovery: text that leaves the slide does not disappear, it moves into the speaker's speech.

### How to run it

1. Give each table two "bad slide" cards.
2. 10 minutes: work out what is wrong and draw the fixed slide on a sheet of paper, with a conclusion headline.
3. 10 minutes: tables show their "after", the trainer adds to it: one slide — one idea, a conclusion headline, less text, big and high-contrast, nothing extra.
4. 15 minutes individually: draw three or four slides for your own talk.
5. Everyone shows a neighbor one slide and asks: "What idea do you see here?"

### Debrief questions

- Where did the text you removed from the slide go?
- Which mistake do you see most often in meetings?
- Did the idea your neighbor saw match your headline?

 **Tips for the facilitator**

- Drawing skill is not judged: what is needed is the layout — a headline and a rectangle labeled "chart".
- If a participant cites the corporate template, remind them: a template sets the colors and logo, not the amount of text.

This exercise is part of a training kit

#### [Presentation Skills for Managers](https://couchinfo.com/en/training/presentation-skills-for-managers/)

2 days · 13 hours · 17 exercises · trainer guide with what to say, slide deck, workbook, cards and tests.

 [The kit from $229](https://couchinfo.com/en/training/presentation-skills-for-managers/)

More

### Similar exercises

 [The whole library](https://couchinfo.com/en/exercises/)

 [Presentation Skills for Managers #### One Number, One Conclusion Learn to turn data into a conclusion that is clear in three seconds. 20 minutesTables of 3–4](https://couchinfo.com/en/exercises/one-number-one-conclusion/)  [Presentation Skills for Managers #### Tough Questions on Cards Respond to tough questions and glitches in four steps without losing the thread of the talk. 35 minutesGroups of four](https://couchinfo.com/en/exercises/tough-questions-on-cards/)