Whenever we hear this question, our response usually is something to the effect of, "Are you really sure you only give presentations once?" "Well, of course I'm sure," is the response, but then we go on to explain the question. You may not give the exact same presentation again, but is it possible pieces will be usable in the future, perhaps introductory slides, conclusion slides, pictures, comics, video clips, and so forth? If you are a teacher addressing a group of parents, or other teachers, or a church group, or a club, might a few slides from your classroom lessons come in handy on different occasions? During this week's class periods, is it possible you will need to spontaneously review a couple of slides from last week's lessons, as part of interactions?

In a Relational Presentation context, slides are like words. They are pulled from a reservoir of expressive potential to provide relevant meaning. You never know when a particular slide will be needed to express a given idea properly. In fact, relational presenters tend not to design unique shows for specific audiences. Instead, they plan performances around slides that already exist in their networks, with occasional new slides added along the way.

In this sense, slides often are designed to be reusable and reasonably permanent, so as to be available for future performances. Building such potential definitely is worth it to help you express meaning better—potentially over and over again.