Hello and welcome to ModernSlide. I'm Jay and I love designing and delivering presentations. I created this site to share the resources, techniques, and advice I've collected to help you become a better presenter.
While I was in college, I studied Media Arts and worked as a manager in a college retail store. This is where I made my first professional presentations. As I progressed through my career, I found myself needing to present more and more frequently to small groups of colleagues, to rooms of customers, and eventually to large audiences of peers at regional and national conference talks and keynotes.
When I started presenting, I had no training in presenting and the idea of getting in front of any audience was frankly panic-inducing. My first presentations were rocky at best. That said, it was a part of my job and I knew I had to figure out some way to make it easier - or I needed to switch careers.
So I called upon my inner researcher. I explored and experimented with presentation best practices. I immersed myself in the art and craft of graphic design. Everywhere I looked, I found inspiration for making my presentations more personal and fun.
I eventually stumbled on the field of cognitive psychology and was fascinated to learn that there was a lot of research on how to best design and deliver presentations. Not surprisingly, psychology faculty at colleges and universities are constantly exploring how audience members (like students) take in and retain information from presenters (like faculty). If you know where to look, there's a goldmine of useful information for presenters here.
Having emerged on the other side of my research, presentation design and delivery is now one of my favorite things to do. This journey was a transformative experience, personally and professionally, and I'm excited to share what I've learned with you. For more details on what we'll be covering here, check out this post.
Let's level up your presentations!