Sending your slides after the meeting: link, PDF or file?

“Could you send us the slides?” The question comes up at the end of almost every meeting. You say yes, attach the file, and overlook one thing: slides designed to accompany someone speaking don’t say much once they’re on their own.

So before you choose a format, you need to settle that first question.

Good slides don’t read well without you

In fact, that’s how you can tell they’re good. A successful slide carries one idea, a title, sometimes a number. The rest was you.

Someone who opens the file three days later, or who wasn’t at the meeting, only has the slides. You have three ways to give them back what’s missing.

• Titles that make a claim. If every title is a complete sentence, the titles read in order form a summary. That’s the bare minimum, and it costs nothing.
• Your notes. What you said over each slide, written up in a few lines. Included with the document, they stand in for your voice.
• Narration. Your notes read aloud, slide after slide. The presentation can then be watched like a short video.

Don’t give in to the opposite temptation: loading the slides with text “so they can stand on their own.” You’ll end up with a mediocre document and a presentation nobody can read in the room.

The original file: for people who’ll edit it

Sending the PowerPoint or Google Slides file has only one real use: letting someone rework your slides. A colleague who’ll present in your place, a team that will make its own version.

For simple reading, it’s the worst choice. The file is large, it displays differently depending on the software and fonts installed, and it then circulates without you knowing where, or in which version.

The PDF: for archiving and printing

A PDF opens anywhere, looks the same everywhere and can’t be changed by accident. It’s the right format for meeting minutes, a briefing pack or an attachment that needs to be kept.

It has two limitations. It freezes the presentation: the slightest correction means sending out a new file, while the old version stays in everyone’s inbox. And it loses everything that moves: animations, videos, narration.

The link: for getting it seen

A link doesn’t attach anything: it opens the presentation in a browser, on a computer or a phone. It has three advantages over a file.

It always shows the latest version. You fix a typo or a number after sending it, and everyone sees the fix. Nobody is left holding an outdated version.

You control it. You choose who can open it, and you can shut it off. A file, once sent, can’t be taken back.

It can tell you whether it’s been viewed. Depending on the tool, you can see how many people opened it and how far they got. That’s invaluable after a sales proposal or a training session.

Its limitation: it depends on a connection and a service. For an archive you need to keep for ten years, attach a PDF as well.

When it’s confidential

A presentation often contains things you wouldn’t want forwarded: prices, a strategy, internal figures. A properly configured link protects them better than an attachment.

• A password, which you send through a different channel than the link itself.
• A guest list, when you want to know who’s watching: each person receives a code by email.
• An expiration date, for a document that isn’t meant to last: an offer valid until the end of the month, materials for a meeting.

In Pimeli, all three settings are in the “Partager” (Share) window, along with the option to shut off the link in one click. The same window exports to PDF, editable PowerPoint or video, for when someone asks you for a file.

Tip Before you send it, open your own link in a private browsing window. You’ll see exactly what your recipient will see, including anything you forgot to take out.

What to check before sending

1. Work-in-progress slides. Delete or hide the appendices, the drafts and the slides you skipped.
2. The notes. If they’re visible or read aloud, reread them: people sometimes leave comments in there that were meant only for themselves.
3. Sensitive data. A client’s name, a price, a screenshot with an email address tucked in a corner.
4. The message that goes with it. Two lines: what the presentation contains, what you expect from the recipient, and by when. A link on its own in an email often goes unopened.

In short

The original file is for editing, the PDF for keeping, the link for getting it seen. In most cases, after a meeting, a link is what you need: it stays up to date, you control it, and it can tell you whether your presentation was viewed.