Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.

— John Maeda

One of the keys to a successful presentation is.........simplicity.

It has become normal for us to think that a successful presentation is one filled with long bullets and lots of pictures.  We think "More is better" but it is this thinking and approach that actually takes away from the presentation.

Chapter 5 of Presentationzen talks about keeping it simple. Simplicity doesn't mean putting in less effort or time into the presentation.  Actually, it may require more.  It means taking out all of the unnecessary items, but still getting your point across.  Dr. Koichi Kawana says "Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means"

So why is simplicity important?  It is important because the whole purpose of our presentation is get the audience to remember what we said.  Which is easier to remember....a whole list of bullets or a single picture or word?  Obviously the latter one will be easier to remember.


The "Fish Story" is an example of keeping it simple.  In this story, the store owner simplifies his sign that read "We Sell Fresh Fish Here" to "Fish."  He was able to send the same message to customers with the least amount of words.




Steve Jobs is an excellent presenter who uses only a few words or a single picture in his slides.  Check one of his speeches out here.  His slides are simple and all the information comes from him.




Don't get it twisted.  Simplicity is not simple or easy to do. However, your presentation will be much more successful if you can achieve it.

Any fool can make things complicated, but it requires a genius to make things simple.

— E. F. Schumacher