The Before/After Practice

Simplification is a production methodology, not an artistic judgment. The before/after practice is a systematic five-step process that produces an executive-ready slide from an analyst-grade draft with a defined sequence and defined decision criteria at each step. Apply it to every slide before the deck goes to the executive.

1. Step 1: Original slide — assess the current state Count every element. Note the word count of the body copy. Identify the headline — is it a label or a conclusion? Do not change anything yet. You are diagnosing, not treating. The complete count tells you how far the slide has to travel.
2. Step 2: Element audit — remove 30% Apply the element audit: for each element, does it directly support the headline conclusion? Remove everything that does not pass. At this stage, you are targeting at least 30% removal. If you cannot remove 30%, the slide was already well-constructed or you are being too lenient with the audit.
3. Step 3: Text reduction — remove 20% more Convert sentence bullets to noun phrases. Reduce the headline to under 12 words. Remove qualifying language from the body copy (move the qualifications to the appendix if they are material). You are targeting an additional 20% reduction from the Step 2 output.
4. Step 4: Five-second test — validate the simplification Look at the simplified slide for five seconds. Look away. What did you retain? If you retained the headline conclusion: the simplification is working. If you retained a data point or a chart element instead of the conclusion: the visual hierarchy is still competing with the headline. Adjust visual weight — larger headline, smaller chart — and test again.
5. Step 5: Final version — the one-more-cut After passing the five-second test, identify the element you are most reluctant to remove. Remove it. Run the five-second test again. If the slide still communicates the same point: the element was not necessary. If the slide loses its point: restore the element. The one-more-cut either confirms the simplification is at its limit or reveals one more element that was being held by habit rather than necessity.