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Slide decks and Amazon six pagers are two popular formats for presenting information and ideas. Both have their own strengths and can be effective in different situations. But which one is the best choice for your presentation? In this article, I’ll compare them to help you decide which format is right for you. As a disclaimer, my favorite is 6-pager so I might focus more on it. Yeah, I know. I’m biased :)
I am going to look at the key differences between the two, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and some tips for using them effectively.
Slide deck presentation
A slide deck presentation is a visual aid that helps you present information to an audience. It’s typically created using software like PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote, and consists of a series of slides that contain text, images, and other multimedia elements.
Slide deck presentations are often used to convey information in a clear and organized manner, and can be useful in a variety of settings, including business meetings, lectures, conferences, and more. They’re a great way to communicate ideas, convey information, and engage your audience, especially if you have a lot of data or information to share.
One of the benefits of using a slide deck presentation is that it helps you structure your thoughts and ideas in a logical way. By organizing your content into slides, you can ensure that you’re presenting your information in a clear and concise manner, making it easier for your audience to understand and follow along.
Additionally, slide deck presentations allow you to add visual elements, like images and videos, to help illustrate your points and keep your audience engaged. This can be especially useful if you’re presenting to a large group or if you’re covering a topic that may be complex or difficult to understand.
Amazon 6-pager narrative
The Amazon 6-pager is a document that outlines a new product or service being proposed to Amazon. It’s essentially a short business plan that outlines the problem being solved, the proposed solution, and the potential impact on Amazon’s business. The purpose of the 6-pager is to give Amazon’s leadership team a high-level overview of the product or service, so they can understand the value it brings and decide whether or not to move forward with it.
Amazon decided to use the 6-pager format instead of slide decks because it allows for a more in-depth and comprehensive overview of a product or service. Slide decks are often used to present information in a more visually appealing way, but they may not always provide all the necessary details and context about a proposal.
The 6-pager format allows the person presenting the idea to provide a more thorough explanation of the problem being solved, the proposed solution, and the potential impact on Amazon’s business. It also allows for more room to address any potential concerns or questions that Amazon’s leadership team may have.
The 6-pager is called a “6-pager” because it’s meant to be a concise document that can be read in about six pages or less. This helps Amazon’s leadership team quickly and easily understand the proposal and make a decision on it.
Slide deck advantages
Ok. Let’s address why slide decks are addictive and people use this style of presentations everywhere. There are several advantages of slide deck presentations that make them preferable over the longer and deeper style of presentations, e.g. 6-pager narratives:
Slide decks are more visual: They allow you to include graphs, charts, images, and other visual aids to help illustrate your points.
Slide decks are more interactive: You can use slide decks to create interactive presentations, using features like hyperlinks and animation to engage your audience.
Slide decks are easier to share: It is easier to share slide decks with others, whether it’s through email, on a website, or on social media.
Slide decks are easier to edit: It is generally easier to make changes to a slide deck than it is to a 6-pager narrative, making it easier to update and adapt your presentation as needed.
Slide decks are more familiar: Many people are more familiar with slide decks as a presentation format, making them more comfortable and easier to follow.
I personally should argue that although these advantages are real and make using slide deck very convenient, it’s a reality that sometimes you should swallow the bitter pill of inconvenience to increase your productivity. For some scenarios, slide deck presentation can deteriorate an effective communication. So, you must work harder and force your team to adopt a more difficult style. No pain no gain.
Limitations of slide deck
There are some structural limitations with slide decks that render them useless in some situations. Below, I list a few of these limitations.
Being concise: There is a commonly accepted principle called the 6x6 Rule that states that presentations should have a maximum of six bullet points, with each point having no more than six words. Other recommendations include limiting the amount of text on each slide to 40 words and the total number of slides to 20. These guidelines aim to reduce the amount of information presented at once to avoid overwhelming or confusing the audience. This format often requires presenters to condense their ideas so much that some important details may be left out.
Presenter-focused: A presenter who has spent a lot of time reducing their content to fit the PowerPoint format may need to verbally fill in the gaps to convey the full scope of their team’s work. In this situation, the effectiveness of the presentation and the understanding of the ideas it conveys may depend more on the presenter’s public speaking skills and the quality of the slide deck’s graphics, rather than the actual content and quality of the proposal or business analysis. This means that the success of the team’s efforts may be influenced by factors that have nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Prone to confusion: During presentations, it is common for the speaker to be interrupted and asked questions, causing them to struggle to regain their momentum. This can lead to a disruption in the flow of the presentation and frustration for both the audience and the presenter. Often, the speaker will simply say that the question will be addressed later on, causing the audience to have to wait until the end of the presentation to have their concerns addressed. To properly capture the full argument being presented, it is necessary to take handwritten notes in addition to relying on the slide deck.
Long live 6-pager
It’s very important to know when to use 6-pager instead of slide decks. Here, I try to provide some scenarios that 6-pager fits better and can increase the team productivity.
First, if you have a lot of complex information to present that doesn’t fit well onto slides, a 6 page narrative can be a great way to organize and present it. This might be especially true if you have a lot of data or statistics that you want to include.
Second, if you want to tell a story or convey a more personal message, a 6 page narrative can be a great way to do so. You can include anecdotes, quotes, and other elements that can help bring your message to life.
Thirdly, if you’re presenting to an audience that may not be as familiar with the topic, a 6 page narrative can be a great way to provide more context and background information. This can help ensure that everyone is on the same page and can fully understand the points you’re making.
Finally, 6-pager narratives offer the ability to present nonlinear, interconnected arguments in a way that slide deck presentations cannot. This is especially useful in business, as many opportunities involve complex interconnected ideas. Additionally, providing more detailed information helps ensure that decision makers have all the information they need to make high quality decisions and provide thorough feedback on plans. If executives have a deeper understanding of important company initiatives, they will have a competitive advantage over those who rely on traditional methods of communication like slide deck.
Statistics to know about 6-pager narrative meetings
If you decide to adopt 6-pager instead of slide decks, there are statistics that are worth considering. They can help you to run your meeting better.
A typical Word document, with text in Arial 11-point font, contains 3,000–4,000 characters per page. Compared to slide deck presentations that contain typically close to 500 character per page, 6-page would contain seven to nine times the information density. There is a term for this information density called Narrative Information Multiplier coined by former Amazon VP Jim Freeman.
Some estimation suggests that people read three times faster than the typical presenter can talk, meaning that they can absorb that much more information in a given time while reading a narrative than while listening to a PP presentation. A narrative therefore delivers much more information in a much shorter time.
Meetings with 6-pager narrative
Obviously meeting with 6-pager narrative is different with slide-deck presentations. One best practice is to distribute Narratives at the beginning of meetings for everyone to read before discussion begins. This can take the place of a slide deck and typically takes about 20 minutes. Some attendees may want to take notes or annotate their copies during this time. Once everyone is ready, the conversation about the document can begin.
Another alternative is to distribute narratives before the meeting; however, over time, it has been observed that people forget to do that and it creates inconsistency between those who have read the narrative and those who don’t. So, to avoid the confusion and increase the productivity, it’s recommend to avoid this practice.
On average, people take about three minutes to read one page of complex information. Based on this, we recommend that teams aim for a maximum of six pages for a 60-minute meeting. While it may be challenging to condense a complete presentation into this size, the same limitation applies to slide deck presentations. However, if necessary, the team can review and revise this recommendation over time.
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