How do you balance simplicity and complexity when presenting data and visuals?

Putting what, how, who into deliverables so that everyone can understand the gist atleast. This helps to initiate discussion and engage everyone in the room.

When crafting your presentation, remember KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Define your purpose clearly, focus on the main point, and ensure your audience leaves with a memorable takeaway. Simplicity drives impact!

Balance simplicity and complexity by limiting your presentation to one slide. No header, no intro, no appendix. Ever. Presentations are not meant to convey anything. They are just social get-togethers. Anything important will be conveyed before the meeting and anything relevant will be said after the meeting - but probably not to you anyway, so it doesn't matter. Also, don't spend much time on the format. Nobody really cares. As mentioned; meetings with presentations are really social, and not educational, events.

Assuming it is a paper presentation in a conference, researchers and students like to emphasize on "what" is the work about rather than how and who is benefitting from it (it is presentation). People tend to daw inferences based on a cobination of their own experience and the what statement to ask question. Rest of the two aspects are discussion oriented. Based on all the above factors, I will present my work firstly in pointers and then explaining each one by one.

Here are a couple of factors I like to always use when trying to understand my audience - socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, language, and religion. - geographic factors like where the audience lives and how it might impact behaviour. - psychographic aspects such as needs, hopes, concerns, and aspirations - knowledge level with respect to my presentation. Remember, simplicity ensures impact! 🎯👥

I’ve worked with a lot of engineers In my career. Engineers love to put every bit of data on a slide or poster to convey what they are trying to say, though often enough it tends to look like a Magic Eye diagram for 95% of the audience. Graphics should be straightforward and convey a message simply enough that if you weren’t in the room, that someone from the audience could read it and understand it’s message. Make sure that your key message or takeaway is the most prominent visual item on the graphic. Again, if an audience member read ahead of your verbal content or only read two lines on it, you want to make sure that they mentally got on the bus with you quickly.

I remember one of my college professors asked us to make ppt with least amount of graphics and points. Maximum of 3 should be enough for each slide. We often times forget that presentations are not just making ppt, it is also about speech. The ration between graphic and speech should be 30-70. It gives enough room for others without intimidating them and it is clutter less. Moreover, you get to speak.

One slide, one message. Begin with a clearly communicated lead-in, and then fully support it in the body with the right visual. Simplicity ensures impact! 📊💡

Choosing the right data and visuals is crucial. Don’t put every number or piece of data on your slides. Instead, select the most important data that supports your main points. This approach keeps your presentation focused and clear. Remember, your data should tell a story and serve as evidence to prove your thesis or idea. By being selective, you make your message more compelling and easier for your audience to understand.

It's okay to have a really complex, busy visual (like a mind map or detailed process diagram)... IF the point you're making is there's a lot of complexity. But don't stay on a complex slide and try to explain it. Simply make the point ("this is complex!") and quickly move on to the next slide that the audience can quickly and easily consume. For example: "There's a lot of complexity behind the scenes in what we do (show the complex visual). But WE do that so YOU don't have to. What you have deal with is much easier (show the simple visual that is limited to their scope of activity)..."

I usually recommend to my team to consider that if someone off the street walked in, could they understand the content? Many times we make the assumption that everyone in the room recognizes that we’re experts in our field and have the base level understanding of our intended content. It’s always good to step back and consider, “If my parent or high schooler was sitting in the audience, could they buy in to my message and have enough relevant data to ask insightful questions?” If the answer is ‘no’ then you may want have made your presentation too complex.

Far too many business presentations involve simply inserting a graph (often from another media) into a PowerPoint presentation. This apparent shortcut usually overlooks the reality that the mediums are different and that many of the key details of the graph won't be understood by the audience (with legends and data often becoming unreadable). If you are following that approach, at least take the time to augment the inserted graph with visual markers and animation to help the audience understand and follow your narration. Or, better still, create your own graph that avoids the pitfalls above.

A really strong visual image will stay in the collective audience's memory long after the technical detail has faded or been entirely forgotten. This matters, because if the audience remembers the image then they are also likely recall the presenter and his/her overall message. So take your time and choose wisely. Good imagery can be the difference between success and failure.