The public speaking textbooks recommend presenters limit the number of slides to what’s necessary, and with the advent of smartphone scanner technology that’s more pertinent than ever.

I just attended the TESOL 2019 International Conference and English Expo. Almost everyone was snapping photos and scanning the slides as they went by, myself included. What’s more, an attendee using a tablet to take notes, like I do, is lifting a heavy device to snap photos of the information you’re sharing.

I really appreciate it when a presenter puts up a slide with some information and talks (not reads) about it for a few minutes. This gives me an opportunity to capture the visual data and then take some notes about what the presenter projects on the overhead as she unpacks the information.

Also, from my experience, light colors show up better on digital-phone images than bright or loud colors. Pinks and purples fare badly on my devices. Overall, white with black type scans best.

Even in academia, less communicates more.