Presentations: What’s the difference between a PowerPoint slide and a handout?

One of the most common problems with PowerPoint presentations is slides that are loaded with information, too busy for the audience to see. When I try to offer feedback on that issue in my workshops, quite often the participants respond that they have to be that detailed because they are also serving as a handout. If the presenter simplified the slide, then the handout would be too simple, which might not make much sense a week or month later if the audience member referred to it.

This creates a dilemma. If your screen visual is simple, which it should be, then your brochure probably isn’t detailed enough to be an appropriate input. But if you design your images to have more detail to reinforce your handouts, then your slides will be too busy to be effective.

Here’s the best solution to that dilemma: don’t make your brochures replicas of your slides. Create a separate document for your brochure. That document, whether it’s a notebook, a report, or what in the corporate world is known as “the cover,” has all the details. But the slides projected on the screen are simple, bulleted versions of the detail. They serve as talking points, the key points that would help the audience understand and remember the ideas, but are not so complex or over-the-top that they are useless.

Avoid redundancy between your slides and handouts whenever possible. Design your materials in such a way that the focus of the audience is clearly on the image or brochure (when they are not focused on you!). Let one complement the other, but avoid unnecessary duplication.

And before you start complaining about how that will double your workload, to create two versions, consider this. Be honest, what is the nature of the PowerPoint you are going to create anyway? Detailed, right? Lots of information on each slide. So, go ahead and follow that instinct, and save it as your brochure. Then go through it, editing vigorously until you get each slide down to the key and simple points, and save it as your slideshow. And to overcome another objection I often hear: yes, your projected slides should have dark backgrounds and light type to make them more visible and professional. But you don’t have to print your brochures with all that heavy ink coverage. In the print box, simply select “black and white” as your option and the background will be white and the type will print black.

While I’m on the subject of brochures, let me offer suggestions on two other fairly common problems. One is the frustration of having the audience focus on the brochure when you don’t want them to. While it’s impossible to control what audience members do, you can minimize this by strategically choosing when to deliver your materials. If you hand them out during your presentation, then you can expect everyone to lower their heads and focus on the handouts. So one option to minimize audience attention on the notes is to get them out early, literally send or email them ahead of time, or have them in their seats when they arrive. This allows the group to review the materials before the presentation. That way, they’ll have satisfied their curiosity and are more likely to focus on you when you start. The other option is to offer them after your presentation. You can explain during your talk that a detailed brochure will be available afterwards, so they are satisfied that they are getting some sort of takeaway.

There is another common complaint that I often hear: when audience members read the handouts. This may mean they see the “bottom line” before you want it to. Or they find something on page five that they immediately ask a question about, even though you’re discussing page two. One way to minimize this is by following the suggestion above: strategically distribute materials before or after. Another alternative is to design your brochures so that they are incomplete. Put some blank spaces that the audience can fill in as they go. Deliberately leave out key information so people don’t get it before you’re ready to disclose it.