ReSlide: Towards Effective Presentation Authoring for Evolving Narratives and Contextual Constraints

Abstract

Authoring slides for a public presentation requires speakers to navigate multiple contextual constraints that directly shape how content is structured and delivered. We first conducted a formative study with ten experienced presenters to understand what constraints are prioritized and how they influence slide deck creation. We identified three key constraints---time, audience, and communicative intent---and challenges in integrating them into slide authoring for a single presentation and long-term needs with diverse narratives. We designed ReSlide, a presentation authoring tool that helps presenters create and reuse slides by bridging contextual constraints with evolving narratives. We evaluated ReSlide in a within-subjects study with 12 participants against a baseline tool, and in an exploratory study with eight professional presenters using only ReSlide. Results indicate that Reslide's novel features of constraint awareness and multi-granular slide reuse helped presenters effectively craft presentations in both one and multiple authoring cycles.