Southbank Events venue choice
Three options slide with trade off cards
A three option slide only helps a decision when every option is scored against the same criteria, in the same order, with the same level of detail. This one compares three fictional venues for a 420 delegate conference on capacity, cost, and travel with the risk attached.
What is on the slide
- Framing
- One conference, 420 delegates, two days in August 2027. The same three criteria for each venue, side by side.
- Riverside
- Capacity 480 seated in one room, no overflow needed. Cost $96,400 for two days, catering included. Twelve minutes from the airport, refurbishing until June 2027, four weeks before the date.
- Dock 12
- Capacity 400 seated, so 20 delegates stand at plenary. Cost $71,800 for two days, catering quoted apart. 34 minutes from the airport, with only 60 hotel rooms within a kilometre.
- The Exchange
- Capacity 520 seated plus a second room for workshops. Cost $118,200 for two days, catering and audio included. 18 minutes from the airport, dates held only until 14 February.
When this is the right slide
Three trade off cards suit an options slide when all three paths are genuine, each can be scored on the same three criteria, and the audience is being asked to choose one of them.
What to swap it for
Comparison: Three-Tier Detail Columns. Swap to the three tier detail columns when each option needs six or more lines of detail rather than three labelled rows, for example a full supplier scope comparison.
What this slide shows
A title reads Riverside vs Dock 12 vs The Exchange, with a subtitle giving the brief: one conference, 420 delegates, two days in August 2027, and the same three criteria for each venue. The recommendation belongs in what the presenter says or on the slide after. Three coloured option cards follow, each with a circular icon, the venue name and three labelled rows. Riverside seats 480 in one room with no overflow space needed, costs $96,400 for two days with catering included, sits twelve minutes from the airport, and is refurbishing until June 2027, four weeks before the date. Dock 12 seats 400, so twenty delegates would stand at plenary, costs $71,800 for two days with catering quoted apart, sits 34 minutes from the airport, and has only 60 hotel rooms within a kilometre of the door. The Exchange seats 520 plus a second room for workshops, costs $118,200 for two days with catering and audio visual included, sits 18 minutes from the airport, and holds the dates only until 14 February. The three cards are the same width and depth, so no option is given more room to argue its case than the other two.
When this is the right slide
Use it when a decision has three real paths and the audience is being asked to pick one, in a committee, a procurement shortlist, a project options paper or a supplier selection. Three is the layout and also the number of options most groups can hold in mind at once. It is the wrong slide when one option is obviously better, because three cards of equal weight imply a genuine contest and the room will spend twenty minutes discovering there is not one. It is also wrong when each option needs more than three criteria, since the cards hold three labelled rows: a detailed tier comparison with a column per option carries six or eight lines each. And it is wrong when the criteria differ between options, which is a sign the shortlist was not built to one specification.
How to adapt it
First, choose three criteria that would actually change the decision and use the same three labels on every card. Capacity, cost and risk are the common three for a venue; for a supplier they might be scope, price and term. Second, make each criterion answer the same question, phrased the same way, so the rows can be read across. Third, add a recommendation rather than leaving the choice open, either as a spoken line or on the slide after. A three option slide with no recommendation puts the decision back to the room, and the group will usually pick on price because it is the only row that compares cleanly without discussion. Keep the option names short enough to sit on a pill header, because a venue or supplier name that wraps pushes the three rows down and breaks the alignment that makes the cards readable across.
What makes this slide work
The same three criteria in the same order
CAPACITY, COST, TRAVEL AND RISK on all three cards, always in that order. A reader can compare the second row across without hunting, which is the whole reason to use cards rather than three paragraphs. It also exposes a gap immediately: if one venue had no risk line, the blank would be visible rather than quietly omitted.
The risk sits beside the travel time, not in a footnote
Riverside is refurbishing until June 2027, four weeks before the date. Dock 12 has only 60 hotel rooms within a kilometre. The Exchange holds the dates only until 14 February. Each of those is the thing most likely to derail the booking, and putting them on the card means the decision is made with them rather than after them.
Capacity is measured against the actual number
The subtitle says 420 delegates, so 480 seated reads as fits, 400 seated reads as twenty people standing at plenary, and 520 plus a workshop room reads as room to grow. Without the delegate count the three capacity figures would be three numbers rather than three answers to the same question.
Questions people ask
How many criteria should each option card carry?
Three, on this layout, and the same three on every card. Three is enough to expose a trade off and few enough to read across in one pass. Where a decision genuinely turns on six criteria, use a column layout that gives each option a list, or move the comparison into a scored table in the written paper.
Should an options slide include a recommendation?
Almost always. Three balanced cards with no preference hand the decision back to the room, and the group will usually default to the cheapest option because price is the only row that compares without discussion. Name a recommendation and the condition behind it, so the choice can be revisited if the condition fails.
What if one option is obviously worse?
Then it should not be on the slide. Including a weak third option to make a preferred one look reasonable is visible to any experienced group and costs the presenter credibility. If the third path was genuinely considered and rejected, say so in one line and use a two option layout for the real choice.
Where does risk belong on an options slide?
On the card, beside the other criteria. Risk in a footnote or an appendix arrives after the decision has been framed by price, which is the wrong order. This slide pairs risk with travel time in the third row, so the refurbishment, the hotel shortage and the date deadline are read at the same time as the costs.
When should three options be split across slides?
Split when each option needs its own evidence, such as a floor plan, a quote breakdown or a reference. A common pattern is this summary card slide first, then one slide per option in an appendix. Splitting also helps when a committee will discuss each option separately rather than compare them in one pass.
How do I walk a room through three option cards?
Read one row across all three cards rather than one card at a time. Taking cost across the three, $71,800 against $96,400 against $118,200, shows the spread in ten seconds. Reading each card top to bottom makes the audience hold nine facts in memory before any comparison becomes possible.
Build your own in about a minute
The button below opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own, generate, then edit anything you like.
Make one like thisOther slide examples
Build vs buy slide with one costed verdict a side
A build versus buy slide decided on the build price alone always picks buy, because the build number arrives as a single project figure and the licence arrives as a small annual one. This one belongs to Westport Health District, a fictional health service, and compares the two over five years rather than over the first eighteen months.
Problem bridge solution slide with three numbered steps
A problem and solution slide asks an audience to accept a jump, and one that has heard the same promise before will not make it, which is what the middle column is for. This one belongs to Northgate Council, a fictional council, and the bridge names the three steps that took a minor works permit from fourteen days to three.
In house vs outsourced slide with five matched rows
An in house versus outsourced slide is decided by cost only when nothing else on it is measured, which is how practices end up outsourcing a function and regretting it within a year. This one belongs to Meridian Dental, a fictional practice, and asks the same five questions of both options.
Want the steps in the builder? Read Add, reorder and restructure slides, then Style text and add callouts, stats and lists. For everything this generator can do, see the slide maker.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .