Academics · Study Skills

Outline the talk
before the slides.

Most weak slide decks are built slide first and point second: a topic title, a wall of bullets, then reading them aloud. Outline each slide as a point instead: the sentence you want remembered, the picture that proves it, the few words on screen and what you will say. The builder times your words against the plan and flags slides that will lose the room.

Add a slideWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Study skills kit, $29 for 21 items.

Your slides

The worked example is made up: three slides from a class talk on bees and crops, one solid, one a bullet wall read aloud and one whose notes run long. Saved on this device only.

Loading the slide form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Academics · Study Skills$5

What you finish with
A record per slide: number, a full-sentence headline, the visual and a description of it, words on the slide, what you will say, seconds and five design checks. Counts headline, on-slide and spoken words and the speaking time at 130 words a minute; lists the deck in order and totals planned and spoken time; flags topic-label headlines, slides over 40 words, text-only slides, notes too long for their time and reading the slide aloud.
Who it is for
Middle school, high school and college students preparing a class presentation, and the teachers assigning them.
Format
Browser outline with a saved record per slide. Prints one slide, the whole outline in a table or a blank planning sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Study skills kit ($29) and the Academics Suite pass ($149), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Study Skills space in Caveat Academics.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write every headline first, as sentences, in order.
  2. Pick the visual that proves each one.
  3. Write what you will say, then cut the slide text to labels.
  4. Check spoken time against the plan in the side panel.
  5. Build the slides only after the outline reads well.

Add a slide

Point, not topic

Topic slide or point slideTopic label“Colony collapse”Six bullet sentencesThe speaker reads them aloudThe audience reads ahead and stopslisteningPoint headline“Most worker bees leave and neverreturn”One photo of an empty hive frameThe speaker explains what it showsThe audience looks, then listensTopic slide or point slideTopic label“Colony collapse”Six bullet sentencesThe speaker reads them aloudThe audience reads ahead and stops listeningPoint headline“Most worker bees leave and never return”One photo of an empty hive frameThe speaker explains what it showsThe audience looks, then listens
This is the assertion and evidence structure: a sentence headline that states the point, and a visual that supports it. Studies of student audiences found it improved what they remembered.

Why fewer words on screen

People cannot read one set of words and listen to a different set at the same time. When the slide and the speaker both use words, the audience follows the slide and drops the speaker. Pictures and labels on screen with words spoken aloud work together instead of competing.

Timing

Most people speak between about 120 and 150 words a minute when presenting; the builder uses 130. Read your notes aloud once with a timer, since pauses, slide changes and questions add more than people expect.

Sources

  1. Alley, M. (2013). The Craft of Scientific Presentations (2nd ed.). Springer.
  2. Garner, J. K. and Alley, M. P. (2013). How the design of presentation slides affects audience comprehension: a case for the assertion-evidence approach. International Journal of Engineering Education, 29(6), 1564 to 1579.
  3. Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia Learning (2nd ed.), the redundancy and coherence principles. Cambridge University Press.
  4. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Pollinators and food production, as background for the worked example (fao.org).

The worked example is made up; its bee facts are general and cited to FAO and USDA material. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.