A Planner’s Guide to Pruning Decks
Deck writing is a delicate art. You need to get in all your information without overwhelming your audience. Nothing makes eyes glaze over faster than word-crowded slides. Over the past few months, BBDO Comms Planning has launched Design School, an initiative to get everyone to improve their deck designing skills. In addition to providing some essential design skills (learn more here!), we’ve worked on guidelines to cut down on the words in our decks, here’s what we learned:
CUT JARGON — USE SHORT WORDS
If your mom can’t understand it, don’t put it in the deck.
Always pick the shortest word you can.
For example, never write “utilize”. You can always write “use”.
On that note, cut the jargon. Sometimes we get so lost in lingo that even fellow advertisers don’t know what we’re talking about. We should aim to make our decks easy accessible to everyone. Of course that’s not always possible; sometimes there’s specific client language we have to use. But cut the jargon whenever you can.
If you’d like a reminder of some of the biggest jargon-offenders to avoid, check out this list.
CUT ADVERBS AND REPETITIVE ADJECTIVES
Avoid the descriptors that clutter your slides.
Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, and often end in “-ly”. Cut them; they are usually unnecessary. There are exceptions, such as the “usually” in the previous sentence and the “generally” in the following sentence. But generally, cut them out.
Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Only use an adjective that adds a detail you wouldn’t get from the noun. For example, as seen below, there’s no need to say “individual users” because it’s clear the users are individuals.
CUT SUBJECT PRONOUNS
Cutting pronouns will push you to restructure your sentences to be more concise.
Pronouns are words that replace nouns. In decks, avoid pronouns that function as subjects, like “we”. It helps you reorder your phrasing to be more efficient. You can keep the sense of teamwork and community by incorporating posessive pronouns like “our”. Here’s an example:
CUT QUALIFIERS
Qualifers undermine perceptions, situations, and conditions. Below are common examples:
What sounds better: “Qualifiers kind of weaken the point you’re really trying to make so just take them out” or “Qualifiers weaken the point you’re making; take them out”?
START WITH TOO MUCH, THEN CUT DOWN
When you think you’re done, go back and edit.
Some people prefer to write long sentences without having to think about it and then go back and edit. Some people start with bullet points and then elaborate. No matter your process, when you think you’re done with a deck, it’s time to prune it.
TRUST YOURSELF
The tips above should help you figure out what to keep in and keep out of your decks. These tips aren’t hard rules to follow 100% of the time; there will always be exceptions. Sometimes you need that adjective or “we” to make your point. If you feel that you need something that goes against these rules, you’re probably right. Keep it in. The goal of these guidelines is to get you to think critically about every word you’re using. As you can see in the before/after below, pruning makes a dramatic difference in the slide’s design.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Keep what you need to get your points across, cut everything else.
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