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July 20 - August 7, 2017
we don’t live our lives in bullet points—we live in images and stories.
Mark knew that hinting at events to come is an effective way to grab any audience’s interest.
one idea per slide, giving jurors time to digest each point as they listened to Mark’s verbal explanation. Instead of reading bullet points from the screen, Mark used his slides as visual cues to prompt him on the next point he would make, allowing him to speak with a natural and spontaneous style that came from the depth of his knowledge and authority on his topic. And instead of looking at the screen to see what was on it, Mark kept his attention focused on the jurors, making eye contact with each person throughout the presentation.
used different types of media to keep things varied and interesting throughout the presentation and to keep the experience from feeling too slick and produced.
always work in PowerPoint in Slide Sorter view first, then in Notes Page view, and finally in Normal view.
Research Reality 1: You Have to Respect the Limits of Working Memory
As sensory memory briefly holds sights or sounds, working memory then pays attention to some of them and holds them for a matter of seconds while it works to integrate them into long-term memory.
pick up a new metaphor—the eye of the needle,
This study offers research-based evidence to support the saying “Less is more”—the less you overload working memory with extraneous information, the more learning improves.
You help your audience accelerate understanding of new information with BBP by introducing a familiar “chunking” structure to new information you present.
Using the same predesigned background for all of the slides gives them a uniform look, but it also prevents you from using a range of design techniques to visually highlight the most important information on single slides or across slides. It also makes the overall presentation appear visually repetitive, which causes boredom that quickly shuts down attention.
the concept of dual channels, states that people receive and process new visual and verbal information in not one, but two separate but related channels.
Although text on a screen is a visual element, working memory quickly verbalizes the words and sends them through the verbal channel.
Writing out the spoken information in the off-screen text box before you add a graphic significantly reduces the amount of information you otherwise would place in the slide area and instead keeps the slide area simple and clear.
BBP uses Notes Page view in this way to tightly integrate screen and narration in order to make the most efficient use of the two channels of working memory.
A BBP presentation runs at the speed of conversation—about one frame per 30-60 seconds—allowing time for the audience to digest the new information and then focus next on the presenter.
Contrary to conventional wisdom and common practice, reading bullet points from a screen actually hurts learning rather than helps it.
Realignment 3: Use Normal View to Guide Attention on the Screen
As described earlier, with the BBP approach, each slide has a headline when you start working in PowerPoint. You then write out what you will say verbally in the off-screen text box in Notes Page view and then add a simple graphic in Normal view to produce a slide,
Research has found that visuals can improve learning, but only if they illustrate the point you are making.
The simple elements of a BBP slide work together to guide the complete presentation experience. First the audience members quickly digest the headline, then they view the simple graphic that illustrates the headline, and then they turn their attention to the verbal explanation of the speaker.
Research shows that people learn better from words and pictures than from words alone. This applies when the pictures illustrate what the words say, not when pictures are added for decorative effect.
Research shows that people learn better when extraneous information is removed from a presentation.
