Category: E-Discovery and Legal Holds

Presentation

Also known as: slide presentation, slide deck

Simply put

A presentation is the act of showing and explaining information or ideas to an audience in a structured, deliberate way, often using visual aids such as computer slides. It can refer both to the act of presenting and to the materials, such as a set of slides, used to support it. The term as used in the source evidence describes a communication activity rather than a recordkeeping concept.

Formal definition

In the general sense reflected in the available evidence, a presentation is the structured delivery of information, ideas, or work to a group, typically supported by visual aids such as slide software (for example, presentation applications that display content on sequential computer slides). It denotes both the presenting activity and the resulting artefact, such as a slide file. It should be noted that the evidence provided addresses only this everyday communication meaning and does not establish a records management definition; from a recordkeeping standpoint, whether a given presentation file constitutes an authoritative record, a draft, a copy, or transitory information would depend on its context of creation, its evidential value, and applicable organizational policy, none of which are addressed by the sources here.

Why it matters

The term "presentation" is common in everyday workplace communication, but it carries no fixed recordkeeping meaning on its own. The evidence available describes presentation purely as a communication activity, the act of showing and explaining information to an audience, often supported by slide software, and does not establish any records management significance. For records professionals, this matters because the everyday familiarity of the term can obscure an important question: what, if anything, about a given presentation should be captured and managed as a record.

Whether a particular presentation file has recordkeeping value depends entirely on context that the general definition does not supply. A slide deck may function as evidence of a decision, a proposal, or a communication that took place, in which case its authenticity, reliability, integrity, and usability may need to be preserved. Alternatively, the same file may be a working draft, a duplicate copy of material held authoritatively elsewhere, or transitory information with no lasting evidential value. These distinctions are not visible from the format alone and typically turn on the circumstances of creation and applicable organizational policy.

Who it's relevant to

Records managers

Records managers may encounter presentation files within business systems and shared drives and must assess, on a case-by-case basis, whether a given file has evidential value warranting capture as a record or is instead a draft, copy, or transitory item. The general communication meaning of "presentation" does not itself answer this question; that determination depends on context of creation and organizational policy.

Information governance officers

Those responsible for information governance may need to set policy on how presentation materials are treated across their lifecycle, including whether and when they should be classified, retained, or disposed of. Because the term describes an activity and artefact rather than a defined record type, clear internal guidance is often useful to avoid inconsistent handling.

General business users

Staff who create presentations to communicate ideas or work to an audience are the primary users of the term in its everyday sense. Awareness that a presentation may or may not carry recordkeeping obligations, depending on its content, purpose, and applicable policy, can help users flag material that others may need to manage as a record.

Inside Presentation

Rendering or display layer

Presentation refers to the way a record's content is made visible or perceivable to a user, distinct from the underlying content and structure. It concerns how information is arranged, formatted, and displayed rather than the substantive information itself.

Relationship to content and structure

In recordkeeping, a record is often described in terms of content, context, and structure; presentation typically relates to structure and rendering. The same content may be presented in different ways without necessarily altering the record's evidential value, though changes to presentation can affect usability.

Contribution to usability

Presentation supports usability, one of the characteristics associated with an authoritative record. A record must typically be able to be located, retrieved, presented, and interpreted; if it cannot be rendered in a comprehensible form, its usability is diminished even where content is intact.

Dependence on technology and format

How a record is presented often depends on file format, software, and rendering environment. Over time, technological change can affect the ability to reproduce the original presentation, which is a concern for long-term retention and preservation.

Distinction from the authoritative record itself

A particular presentation or view of a record is generally not the same as the authoritative record. Depending on organizational policy, what must be preserved is the record with sufficient properties to allow faithful presentation, rather than any single transient display.

Common questions

Answers to the questions practitioners most commonly ask about Presentation.

Is presentation the same as the underlying record?

No. Presentation refers to how a record's content is rendered or displayed to a user, not to the record itself. A single record may be presented in different ways, on screen, in print, or through varying software, without altering its authoritative content. Conflating the presentation with the record can obscure which instance carries the properties of authenticity, reliability, integrity, and usability. Professionals typically distinguish the fixed content and structure of an authoritative record from the variable ways it may be presented.

Does changing how a record is presented change whether it remains a record?

Not necessarily, but it depends on what changes. A record's status generally rests on the preservation of its content, structure, and context sufficient to maintain its evidential value. Altering presentation, such as reformatting for display, may be acceptable where the essential characteristics are preserved, but it can become problematic if it affects integrity or usability. Whether a re-presented instance still functions as an authoritative record, a copy, or something lesser depends on organizational policy and, in some cases, jurisdictional requirements.

How can an organization ensure a record's presentation remains faithful over time?

Organizations often address this by documenting the elements needed to reproduce a record's intended appearance and by managing format obsolescence through migration or emulation strategies. Preserving rendering information alongside the content, and testing that records remain presentable as software and hardware change, are common practices. The specific approach typically depends on the record type, the applicable retention period, and organizational preservation policy.

What should be captured to support consistent presentation of a record?

In many cases this includes the content, its structure, and contextual metadata, together with information about the format and any dependencies required to render it. Where presentation is significant to a record's meaning or evidential value, capturing details about fonts, layout, or software environment may be warranted. The extent of what is captured usually depends on the risk profile and the intended use of the record.

How does presentation relate to disposition decisions?

Presentation considerations can bear on disposition where a record is transferred or preserved rather than destroyed. For records designated for long-term retention or permanent preservation, the ability to present them faithfully in the future is often a factor in choosing formats and transfer methods. Disposition may include transfer or preservation as well as destruction, so ensuring continued presentability is typically relevant only for records that are retained.

Who is typically responsible for maintaining a record's presentation?

Responsibility is often shared, depending on organizational structure. Records managers and information governance staff commonly set policy on required formats and preservation, while IT or digital preservation functions may manage the technical means of rendering. Business units that create records may contribute by following capture and formatting requirements. The allocation of these responsibilities usually depends on organizational policy and the systems in use.

Common misconceptions

Presentation is the same as the record.

Presentation is the manner in which a record is rendered or displayed, not the record as evidence in itself. The authoritative record typically comprises content, context, and structure with characteristics such as authenticity, reliability, integrity, and usability; a given display is one view of that record and should not be confused with it.

Preserving presentation is only a matter of keeping the visual appearance.

Faithful presentation over time generally depends on preserving the underlying content, structure, and often the ability to render the format. Because presentation can depend on software and technology, maintaining it typically requires attention to format sustainability and, in some cases, migration or emulation, rather than a snapshot of appearance alone.

Any change to presentation compromises the integrity of a record.

Not all changes to presentation necessarily affect a record's integrity, which concerns whether the record remains complete and unaltered in its essential content and structure. However, changes that alter meaning, interpretation, or the completeness of what is conveyed may affect integrity or usability. Whether a particular change matters depends on the record type, its context, and organizational policy.

Best practices

Distinguish clearly in policy and metadata between the authoritative record and any particular presentation or view of it, so that what must be retained and protected is unambiguous.

Document the format and rendering dependencies of records so that their presentation can be reproduced or interpreted later, particularly for records subject to long-term retention.

Assess whether preserving specific aspects of presentation is required for a given record type, since some records depend on their appearance or layout for meaning while others do not.

Where technological change threatens the ability to render a record, consider format sustainability strategies such as migration or emulation in line with organizational preservation policy and, where relevant, national archives guidance.

Ensure that measures affecting presentation do not inadvertently compromise the content, structure, or integrity that give a record its evidential value.

Evaluate usability as an ongoing requirement, confirming periodically that retained records can still be located, retrieved, and presented in a comprehensible form throughout their retention period.