What a Broadway Lighting Designer Can Teach You About Your Slides

Years ago, in my theatre directing days, I was assistant director on a big show in Chicago. As a young director, I used the opportunity to talk with the designers about how they liked a director to work with them. The veteran lighting designer told me the following story about a scene full of actors that he once lit.

The director of that play requested more light on the lead actress center stage. The designer pumped up the lighting. "Brighter," the director said. The designer made it brighter. "Brighter!" the director demanded. The designer set the light at 100% "Brighter!!!" the director screamed. The designer added more lights on the actress at 100%. Still, the director yelled that it still wasn't bright enough.

"I can't make it any brighter," the designer explained. "What are you trying to accomplish?"

"I want more focus on the actress," the director said.

"Oh," responded the designer.

And he REDUCED the lighting on every actor EXCEPT the lead actress.

When you highlight everything, you highlight nothing.

Don't try to make ALL the data in a chart "pop." Don't bold and underline and increase the point size of all 5 bullet points. What's the ONE point that needs to be stressed in each slide?

(And don't try to do your designers' jobs for them. Just explain what you want to accomplish.)