Hmm.... I'm not sure I understand this thread, then. Do you view the predominant advice of this article as really only relevant for somewhat "informal" talks? Because, pretty much every presentation I've ever had to give was fairly dense in information.

(Also, I think if you are just doing an image for the whole slide, that isn't too tough in beamer. Just switch to the default theme and don't provide a title for the slide. Right?)