Chris tested the effects of using two different types of PowerPoint slides in a presentation. Show them the axes of a graph, and ask your audience to guess the way the data goes (give enough clues that they’re fairly likely to get it right – without making it too easy). Related posts: New research questions the benefits of custom animation in PowerPoint Powerpoint custom animation experiment – check out the animation for yourself New scientific evidence At last, we have some scientifically rigorous evidence to show that slides full of bullet-points don’t work.

This is Your Brain on PowerPoint.  Loosely speaking, the left handles data, facts, and analysis. When it comes to experiencing a PowerPoint presentation, there's only so much your brain can process. We're seeing more PowerPoint slides with simple images and minimal words. Our brains have 2 lobes. The right handles emotions, art, and intuition.

Charts and graphs My recommendation is not to import these directly from Excel into PowerPoint. Create your chart in PowerPoint and only include the numbers which are required to make your point. And then explain the meaning of the data. It’s very tempting when It’s called the Assertion-Evidence Format and it was developed by Professor Michael Alley (I’ve mentioned it previously but somehow never devoted a whole post to it). BTW, if you’ve downloaded and read my Presentation Planning Guide , you’ll see that this slide format dovetails

Just a quick note to let you know that a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution" is available for your viewing through the iTunes Store, online or through my YouTube channel. When you compare measured values to an average or standard, make sure that the chart delivers the correct message. This makeover transforms a column chart that

During the last month I have seen some seriously challenged PowerPoint Slide decks. But I’ve recently noticed there are still pockets of stubborn “old school” PowerPoint users who simply refuse to change. Most people know what a poorly constructed and staged PowerPoint presentation can be. Part 1: The Seven Deadly Sins   For a while there things were looking up in Silicon Valley; people were using more pictures, less text, more color, and congruent graphs.

I asked the group where they are with their current PowerPoint approach, and where they would like to be, and they came up with this list: Today, our current approach to PowerPoint is: - Overloading our audiences with too much information - Throwing in everything but the kitchen sink - Just doing a data dump - Usually not communicating a good story - Being too generic - one deck fits all - Not succeeding at helping an audience remember key messages - Creating decks that don't get used, or just one or two slides are pulled - Not producing a crisp communication package Where would

On the Road: My Experience Teaching PowerPoint   This is a guest post from Kirk Mossing, PowerPoint™ Consultant and Trainer.   What do Audiences REALLY Think About PowerPoint?   Travelling across the nation and working with clients like Google and Stanford University, I routinely ask my students one key question: “As an And 100% of the time I hear: “There are too many words on a slide.” Followed up with: “I can’t read it.”  

Conference attendees frequently request PowerPoint slides as handouts. If your PowerPoint has so much text and data that it can be used as a handout, then you're doing something wrong. Your PowerPoint is most effective when it's image-based with minimal text and enhances your presentation, as I've mentioned here , here and here . You can also learn more about effective PowerPoint at Dave Paradi's blog and at the BBP (Beyond Bullet Points) blog . Instead, provide handouts that: 1.

Inspired by Laura Bergells' recent PowerPoint propaganda post about changing fashions in PowerPoint, Olivia Mitchell pulled together a group of bloggers to participate in a group writing project about what we'd like to see in PowerPoint slide design this year. I could go on and on about how to make PowerPoint presentations more effective, but I'll stick to my top three suggestions for how I'd like to see speakers using PowerPoint in 2009 (you'll notice that I've strayed from the topic of "design" a bit). Check back at Olivia's blog next week (I'll remind you) for links to all the posts.

Amazing. • Presenting data with slides to tell meaningful stories Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen . Who says data is boring? Data is like notes on a page, says Dr. TED has earned a lot of attention over the years for many reasons, including the nature and quality of its short-form conference presentations. All presenters lucky enough to be asked to speak at TED are given 18-minute slots maximum (some are for even less time such as 3- and 6-minute slots).