Notes on Slideshows from Mindy McAdams

Do’s and don’ts for slideshows

DO:

1. Have clear relationships between what we hear and what we see. If the event planner is talking about making the decorations, for example, show the decorations.
2. Tell a story. Don’t just slap on an interview in which someone explains something.
3. Provide context. Why are these people doing this, or what’s the purpose of the event?
4. In an early caption, tell us exactly where we are (including the state, please!) and the exact date (including the year, please!).
5. Write captions that provide additional information. Do not tell us what we can see in the photo (if we can see it, you don’t need to tell us).
6. In captions, identify each person in the photo with first and last name, and some other information, such as where they live, their occupation, or (for students) their major.

DON’T:

1. Begin with an ID ( “I’m Mary Jones, and I’m a finance major”); this is completely boring. It fails to spark any interest in your story.
2. Allow the background sound to drown out the interview.
3. Use natural sound out of context — for example, a car horn blowing when we see no cars and no street.
4. Show objects, walls, signs — unless there is a person (or a person’s hand, etc.) in the photo too.
5. Combine audio and photos in a way that misleads (for example, we hear one person singing while we see a photo of a different person singing).
6. Repeat the same lengthy information in multiple captions.