Presentations

01Deck principles

1. One idea per slide. The headline is the point (“Half of the 160 complaints got no reply.”), not a topic label (“Review analysis”). If a slide needs two headlines, it is two slides.
2. Evidence over adjectives. Every number has its denominator, period and source on the same slide. Example data is tagged as example data.
3. The reader is the subject. Claims open on “you” or on the finding. Sales decks may say “we”; field note decks follow the editorial rule.
4. en-AU. Australian spelling, “5 October 2026” dates, ranges with “to”, no em or en dashes. See Tone and voice.
5. Quiet slides. One Forest element per slide, no stock photography, no clip art, no motion beyond a 150ms fade and build steps that reveal one part at a time.
6. Close on one ask. The last slide carries the site’s primary CTA. No summary, thank-you or questions slide.
7. Public by default. No client names, logos or data without written clearance. Use Example Co. in templates and training decks.

02Canvas and grid

03Type scale for slides

1. Minimum 24px for anything on a slide, including footers and chart values. That is 16px in a 1280 × 720 screen share and about 2.2% of screen height when projected.
2. Body text at least 28px; chart labels at least 28px; chart values at least 24px in mono.
3. If the copy does not fit at the minimum, split the slide. Never shrink type to fit.
4. Manrope 400 to 700 and IBM Plex Mono 400/500 only. The template self-hosts both so decks work offline and the PDF embeds them.

04Colour: light and dark slides

1. Dark slides open and close a deck. Everything between is light, so projected rooms stay readable and the PDF prints cleanly.
2. Lines at least 2px on the canvas. Dashed lines mean rented, expected or placeholder, as on the site.
3. Never use colour alone for meaning: label the focal bar and the owned column in words.
4. Chart colours follow Data visualisation: ink, Forest for the focal value, ink-2, sand.

05Slide layouts

Thirteen layouts cover the deck. Each is a class on a <section class="slide">. All slides below are 1920 × 1080 renders of the sample deck; Example Co. is fictional and every number is example data.

06Charts and diagrams on slides

1. The headline is the finding, with the count and the denominator.
2. Horizontal bars, sorted, labelled directly at 28px or more, values in mono at 24px or more. No legends when a label fits.
3. One focal value in Forest. Ink, ink-2 and sand for the rest. At most four series.
4. Source line under every chart: what is counted, n, period and source, in mono. Tag example data.
5. Built in HTML and CSS, never pasted as a screenshot, so charts stay sharp in the PDF and the text stays searchable.
6. Diagrams follow Diagrams and illustration: real labels, no icons standing in for words, solid for owned, dashed for rented.
7. No pie charts, no 3D, no dual axes. One chart per slide.

07Speaker notes

1. Write notes in <aside class="notes"> inside each slide. Two to four sentences: what to say, the caveat, where the number comes from.
2. Notes say what the slide does not. Never read the slide text aloud from the notes.
3. Notes never appear in the PDF. Anything the client must keep goes on a slide or in the proposal.
4. On a call, share the audience window or tab and keep the presenter view on your own screen. With one screen, use N instead.

08Presenting

09PDF export and print

1. Chrome or Edge: Ctrl or Cmd + P, Save as PDF, margins None, Background graphics on.
2. The stylesheet sets the page to 1920 × 1080 and breaks after every slide: one slide per page, no controls, no notes. Check the page count matches the slide count.
3. Name files YYYY-MM-DD NTWRK [deck name].pdf, for example 2026-10-05 NTWRK 30-day proof proposal.pdf.
4. Paper handouts: print the PDF at “Fit to page” on A4 landscape. Nothing on the canvas is smaller than 24px, so handouts stay legible at 11pt or more.
5. Send the PDF, not the HTML folder, unless the client asked for the source. Decks with client data are never hosted at a public URL.

10Keyboard, clicker and touch

Clickers work out of the box: most send Page Down and Page Up, and the blank button sends B or a full stop. Click the right two thirds of the screen to go forward and the left third to go back. On touch screens swipe left or up for next, right or down for back. The deck fills the window at 16:9 with ink letterboxing.

Addresses: #/6 slide 6, #/6/2 slide 6 at step 2, ?presenter presenter view, ?notes notes open, ?grid grid on, ?progress shows the progress line in the audience window, ?clean no shortcut bar or progress line, for screenshots.

11Accessibility

1. Each slide is a labelled group (“4 of 13: Statement”), and slide changes are announced in a polite live region.
2. Hidden slides are inert, so keyboard focus and screen readers stay on the current slide.
3. The shortcut bar is a role="toolbar" with one tab stop: Tab reaches it after the slide content and shows it, arrow keys move between keys, Esc leaves. Each key is a named button with aria-keyshortcuts; Blank, Laser and Notes report their state. Mouse clicks hand focus back to the slides so arrow keys keep moving the deck. The overview and help are dialogs that keep focus inside and return it on Esc.
4. Hidden build steps are aria-hidden until revealed, and each step is announced (“Step 2 of 4”).
5. Chart bars with values are focusable, named (“Five-star: 1,316 of 1,400, 94.0%”) and linked to their tooltip with aria-describedby.
6. Charts carry a text alternative with every value. Logos have alt text “NTWRK”.
7. The 150ms fade on slides, steps and the shortcut bar is the only motion and is removed under prefers-reduced-motion. The laser dot is decorative and hidden from screen readers.
8. Contrast follows Colour: every text pairing on a slide passes AA. Type minimums are above.
9. lang="en-AU" on every deck. Chrome keeps the PDF text selectable and searchable.

12The HTML deck template