by Catherine Tenger | March 30, 2026
Yesterday, I was standing in a flower shop looking at an ikebana arrangement. What I particularly liked about it was this: its effect did not come from abundance, but from reduction. A few branches, one blossom, one clear line — and plenty of space in between.
It immediately made me think of many presentations.
Because so often, I see the exact opposite of ikebana on slides: an attempt to show as much as possible all at once. Text, charts, numbers, arrows, key messages, explanations. Much of it carefully prepared and professionally relevant. And yet the very thing that matters most is often missing: clarity.
A good presentation does not persuade through quantity, but through selection.
When people speak in front of an audience, they usually want to appear well-prepared, thorough, and convincing. That is understandable. And precisely for that reason, the temptation is strong to put everything onto the slide. But a crowded slide rarely creates more clarity. More often, it asks too much of the audience at once. They are expected to read, listen, process, and follow the argument all at the same time.
And when spoken words simply duplicate what is written on the slide, the effect is not stronger — it is weaker. Two channels conveying exactly the same message do not reinforce one another; one of them becomes unnecessary. Ideally, that should not be the person speaking.
Perhaps presentations could learn something from ikebana: not everything that exists needs to be visible at the same time. What matters is what is placed deliberately.
What this means for good slides
A slide is not a storage space for everything you have prepared. It is a stage for what needs to stand out in that particular moment.
That is why restraint matters. Less text. Fewer bullet points. More structure. More space. Often, it is far more effective to create one additional slide than to overload an existing one. A useful rule of thumb is this: keep it to a few points — no more than six — and one core message per slide.
This does not only make things easier for the audience. It also strengthens the presenter. The clearer the slide, the less it competes with the person delivering the message.
Slide and speech should complement each other, not repeat
A presentation becomes effective when visuals and spoken language work together without mirroring one another. The slide should support, illustrate, focus, and structure — but it should never replace the speaker.
Relying too heavily on slides is risky. Anyone who uses them mainly as a memory aid can easily end up speaking more to the screen than to the audience. And that weakens connection.
It is far more useful to know the internal structure of your talk so well that you can move through it with confidence. Personally, I find techniques such as the memory palace genuinely helpful for this. When the structure of a presentation is firmly anchored in your mind, you gain freedom: in eye contact, in language, and in presence.
What creates impact beyond the slides
Presentations do not live from content alone. They live from resonance.
A few simple things can make a remarkable difference:
- Make contact with individual listeners before you begin. It helps you settle, and it often turns the presentation into more of a conversation than a performance in front of an anonymous crowd.
- If someone speaks before you, listen attentively. Being able to refer back to a thought, a moment, or a shared observation makes you appear more present and more connected to the room.
- Use eye contact intentionally. Do not scan the audience in a rushed or restless way. Instead, connect properly with a few people at a time. Calm and resonance grow from there.
- And finally, shape your ending with care. A presentation that simply dissolves into an open Q&A often loses momentum. It is usually stronger to invite questions before the close, and then finish with one final, clear thought.
Perhaps that is the real art
Ikebana reminds us that impact does not come only from what is there, but from how it is arranged. Through selection. Through line. Through space.
The same is true for presentations. What stays with people is not the most crowded slide, but the clearest thought. It is not density that persuades, but coherence.
Very often, impact lies not in adding more, but in the conscious decision to focus on what matters most.
Just as in ikebana, so too in presenting.
If you want to go beyond simply reading about these principles and put them into practice, the training programme “Presenting and Storytelling” includes targeted exercises on openings, structure, Q&A, as well as calm and presence.