The Two Slides Nobody Needs

Early in my career, I spent weeks building the best presentation I had ever made.

The structure was tight. The slides were clean. Every claim had support behind it. I rehearsed until I knew the transitions by heart.

Then I delivered it, and the room was unmoved.

Nobody was rude. Nobody checked out in an obvious way. They sat there, polite and still, and then they left. Nothing about their day changed because of mine.

For a long time I blamed the content. Eventually I realized the content was fine. The problem was where I had spent their attention.

On Monday I got to lead a breakout session on storytelling at Desert Financial's annual All Employee Event. I opened with that story, and then I asked the room a question.

Think about how most presentations begin and end. An agenda slide at the front. A Q&A slide at the back. They are so traditional that we stop seeing them. But those are the two moments when everyone in the room is giving you their full attention.

Are they really the best use of it?

The agenda slide organizes the presenter. It tells the room what I plan to do, in the order I plan to do it. The Q&A slide releases the presenter. It is the signal that the talk is over and the logistics can begin. I have built both, many times. Neither one is for the audience.

The agenda organizes the presenter. The Q&A slide releases them.

So I asked the room to try something different. Start by connecting your topic to a real person or group. End by clearly laying out the ask.

That is the whole idea. A person at the front. A request at the back.

It sounds simple, and it is uncomfortable. Habits are strong. Opening with a person feels riskier than opening with an agenda, because an agenda can't be wrong. So we didn't just talk about it. We practiced.

Everyone wrote a story connection for something they actually need to communicate. Then several people shared theirs with the group.

It turned into a powerful and emotional moment.

A story about the loss of a loved pet. Another about a dream job fulfilled. They were personal and memorable.

Afterward, several people told me they wouldn't soon forget the stories they heard in that room. That made the point better than anything I could have said from the front.

The structure behind the exercise is called The Storytelling Algorithm, adapted from a Gallup storytelling framework. It is five questions to answer before you open PowerPoint. Who is this happening to? What proves it? Why should they care? What are the options? What do you want them to do? Answer them in that order and most of the presentation writes itself.

Looking back at that deck from early in my career, I know what it was missing. It had information. It did not have a person at the front, and it did not have a clear ask at the end. I gave the room everything I knew and nothing to do with it.

Information is what I know. Communication is what the room understood, remembered, and can use.

Every audience hands you the same gift for free. The first minute and the last minute are when they are paying the most attention. Most of us spend that gift on logistics.

The room I lost taught me that. The room on Monday proved it.