In the Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, there is a dramatic and romantic moment where Princess Leia calls to Han Solo as he is about to be immersed in Carbonite. “I love you!” she calls. His response has become iconic. The slide below shows how most presentations would relate that scene as below. “I know”.
Subtitles in a film are there to help the viewer, but they are not a book to be read; otherwise, the action, emotion and cinematographic impact will be lost. This is the overbuild for p₂ (the supportive media) in the majority of presentations. A file that contains everything anyone could need: facts, tables, graphs, quotations, background, references, links, footnotes and more text. Whilst all of it has value, it overwhelms the image and message to the point at which everything is lost. Particularly if it is in a language that causes conflict. I know.
You call it your presentation, but really, it is a document. That’s why it is so full of information. As you prepared it on your laptop, you had time to scan it and concentrate and process. The audience does not have that luxury. Of course, it is true that this information is valuable. If it needs to be read, put it in a document and download that. If it needs to be processed, make it immediately understandable. If it needs to be remembered, make it a download. The screen is for support, not content. The subtitles are there to help, not be the film.
When the p₂ is purely supportive, the audience should barely notice it. It should flow and match the message. It must never get in the way of that message due to complexity, volume or timing. Then the audience can connect what they hear with what they see, like subtitles in a film. I know. Every element in its place for a specific reason and for a limited time. The Best Slide in the World is even more valuable. Han Solo’s reply to Princess Leia needed no subtitle. He smiled, just a little and dryly replied, “I know”.