How to present a mind map

Open presentation mode

Presentation mode turns a mind map into a sequence of slides you can walk through without touching the editor. Press P with the map active and a full-screen overlay takes over, showing the first slide and a counter in the corner.

The same action sits on the mind map toolbar as the Present Map button, and in the command palette as Present mind map. All three do the same thing, and the palette entry only appears while a map is open.

One condition applies: a map needs at least one first-level branch. A map with nothing under the root has a single slide and nothing to present, and Canvasola says so instead of opening an empty deck.

1. Open the map. Make the mind map the document in front of you, with the branches you intend to present already in place.
2. Start the presentation. Press P, or click Present Map on the mind map toolbar, and the first slide fills the screen.
3. Check the counter. The counter in the top right shows the slide number and the total, which is one more than the number of first-level branches.

The slide structure to expect

The first slide shows the root label and nothing else. It is the title of the talk, with no bullets under it, which gives you a clean first beat before any of the content starts.

Every slide after that is one first-level branch. The branch label becomes the heading of the slide, and its immediate children appear beneath it as a short bullet list. A branch called Timeline with three children produces one slide with a heading and three bullets.

The total number of slides is therefore one plus the number of first-level branches, and no slide ever contains a node deeper than that. A map with eight branches presents as nine slides, each of them a heading and a handful of bullets.

• Slide one is the root label on its own
• Each following slide is one first-level branch
• The immediate children of that branch become the bullets
• Slides total one more than the number of first-level branches

Note: The slide header shows the label of the branch you are on, so the audience can always see where in the map they are, even when you are speaking about something else.

Move forward and back

ArrowRight and Space both move to the next slide, and ArrowLeft goes back to the previous one. The deck is keyboard driven, so you can hold the talk without reaching for anything, and the same keys work on a clicker that sends arrow and space.

There are on-screen buttons as well, labeled Prev, Next and Exit, at the bottom of the overlay. They are there for a presenter who is presenting on a touch screen, or for someone who is not comfortable with a keyboard.

Clicking the background of the overlay also moves you forward, which is handy when you are talking with your hands and need to keep the pace. Be aware of that, because a stray click near the end of a slide will skip ahead.

• ArrowRight or Space advances to the next slide
• ArrowLeft returns to the previous slide
• Prev, Next and Exit buttons sit at the bottom of the overlay
• Clicking the background advances as well

Leave the presentation

Esc leaves the presentation and puts the map back exactly as you left it, with the same selection and the same camera position. Nothing is changed by presenting, so it is safe to enter and leave as often as you need to.

The Exit button at the bottom of the overlay does the same thing for anyone presenting without a keyboard. The deck also ends by itself when you reach the last slide and press next again, since there is nothing further to show.

If you need to make a change mid-talk, exit, make it, and press P again to pick the walk-through back up where you left it. The undo guide covers what happens if that change goes wrong.

• Esc exits the presentation and returns to the map
• The Exit button does the same thing on a touch screen
• Nothing about the map changes while you present it
• Press P again to start the deck from the first slide

Note: There is no pointer navigation inside the presentation. The deck advances on the keyboard or on the on-screen buttons, and it does not respond to clicking a node.

Prepare the map beforehand

The best preparation is a clean first level. Every branch that will appear as a heading has to say something on its own, because the audience reads the heading and nothing else while you speak.

The children under each branch become the bullets, so keep them short enough to read at a glance. If a child needs a sentence of explanation, that explanation is yours to say out loud, because the slide will not show it.

Fold the branches you do not want to present. A collapsed branch still exists in the map, but it changes what the first level looks like, and a first level of four branches is a better talk than a first level of eleven.

• One first-level branch per topic, and no more
• Branch labels that make sense as slide headings
• Children short enough to read as bullets
• The detail that does not fit belongs in your spoken notes

Note: The guide to branching rules covers how to shape the first level, and the guide to collapsing branches covers folding the rest away.

What the audience never sees

The presentation is a text deck, not a rendering of the map. Your colors, your icons, your drawings inside nodes, the canvas behind the map and the whole shape of the tree are all invisible to the audience, however carefully you arranged them.

Only two things are shown: the branch label as the heading, and the immediate children as bullets. Anything below that level never appears, so a deep subtree is a structure for you to know rather than a picture for them to see.

Rich notes are yours alone as well. They are the place to keep the source, the caveat and the detail you will say out loud, and they never reach the screen. The notes guide in this collection covers how to write them, and what a mind map is for covers the wider idea.

• Only the branch label and its immediate children are shown
• Node colors, icons and drawings stay on your screen
• Nodes below the second level never appear
• Rich notes are never visible to the audience

A checklist you can reuse

• The map has at least one first-level branch before presenting
• The first level is short and each label works as a heading
• Children are short enough to read as bullets
• Unwanted branches are collapsed before the talk
• ArrowRight and Space advance, ArrowLeft goes back, Esc exits
• The slide counter matches the number of branches you expect
• Detail that will not fit on a slide is written in the node notes
• The talk is rehearsed with the same map that will be presented

Common mistakes to avoid

• Presenting a map with no branches. A map with nothing under the root has one slide and nothing to present. Canvasola says so rather than opening an empty deck, and the fix is to add the branches first.
• Expecting the map itself on screen. The presentation shows a heading and a bullet list, not the drawing of your map. Anything that only makes sense visually has to be said instead.
• Putting a paragraph in a child node. Children become bullets, and a bullet that runs to three lines is unreadable from the back of a room. Shorten it and keep the rest in your notes.
• Presenting every branch you built. The first level is the agenda. Eleven branches produce eleven slides and no emphasis, so fold the ones that are background before you start.
• Clicking around during the talk. A click on the background advances the deck, and the presentation has no pointer navigation to explore with. Move the mouse away from the overlay while you speak.

Frequently asked questions

What does Canvasola show on each slide of a mind map presentation?

The first slide shows the root label on its own. Every slide after that shows one first-level branch as the heading, with that branch's immediate children listed as bullets beneath it. Nothing deeper than the second level is ever shown, so the deck is one plus the number of first-level branches.

Which keys move through the slides?

ArrowRight and Space move to the next slide, ArrowLeft goes back, and Esc exits the presentation. On-screen Prev, Next and Exit buttons sit at the bottom of the overlay for anyone presenting on a touch screen or without a keyboard.

Can I present a mind map on a canvas?

Presentation mode belongs to the mind map. P and the Present Map button work while a map is active, and the command palette entry for it disappears when no map is open. A canvas offers exports and a browser Print action instead.

Does presenting change my map?

No. The overlay is a view of the map rather than an edit of it, so entering and leaving presentation mode leaves the selection, the camera and the structure exactly as they were. Anything you want to change should be changed in the editor first.

This guide is part of the workflow and productivity collection. For the wider product tour, read the complete Canvasola guide, and keep the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet open while you work.