Next level communicators are multisensory communicators.
Next level communicators are multisensory communicators.
Let’s chat about why it’s important you use some sort of presentation platform like PowerPoint when you speak (To keep things simple, I’ll use PowerPoint as a general reference to any kind of visual aid like Keynote or Google Slides.). If you want your messages to stick, then PowerPoint is a must, and the science backs it up.
Dr. Richard Mayer is a professor at UC Santa Barbara and the main proponent of multimedia learning. He’s experimented with students who were taught by professors who used visual aids in their talks, compared with those who only heard the lecture. His research concludes every single time the students who learned both by lecture and visual aid had much more accurate recall of the information than those students who only heard the information. Every single time. This has led Mayer to conclude that when the brain is engaged verbally and visually, the mental connection is more than a little stronger, it’s a lot stronger.
Nothing really new here, right? I’m going to go out on a limb that the overwhelming majority of those who subscribe to my weekly emails use some sort of visual program like PowerPoint. I’m also going to guess that most of us who use these programs use them the wrong way, so much so that they take away from our presentations instead of enhancing them.
Text driven slides dilute the power of our messages. Picture dominated slides exponentially increase the probability that our audience will retain what we want to convey.
The average PowerPoint slide contains 40 words, and words on top of the words the communicator is speaking only clutters the message. This is why the old maxim is true: Too much PowerPoint dilutes the power of the point. The human brain cannot pay equal attention to hearing a message and reading a point in the message on the slide at the same time. But, if what’s on the slide is a picture, this will not only allow the brain to process visually and verbally at once, it will, again, increase the likelihood of the point being retained. Communication expert, Carmine Gallo puts it like this, “Put simply, visuals matter- a lot. If you hear information, you are likely to remember about 10 percent of that information three days later. Add a picture, however, and your recall rate will soar to 65 percent. To put that into context, a picture will help you remember six times more information than listening to the words alone” (Talk Like Ted, page 213).
The way I see it, we as communicators have three options:
1, Talk with no visual aids, and the result will be 10% of what we say being retained.
2. Talk with text driven visual aids and dilute the message.
3. Talk with visual aids that are picture driven and enhance your retention rate by six times.
I know which one I’m going for, and something tells me I know your choice too.
When I use PowerPoint in my messages, these things help me:
Remember, PowerPoint is the seasoning and not the meat of your presentation. Too much PowerPoint, even if it’s visually enhanced, can have two adverse effects. First, it can restrict you as a communicator, where you’re just moving from slide to slide, when instead you need to be free to speak from your heart as well as your head. But too much PowerPoint can divert the audience's attention away from you for an inordinate period of time.
Don’t use pictures just for the sake of pictures. If it’s not a homerun…if it doesn’t bring clarity to what you’re saying, then don’t use it.
Timing is key. You can have the perfect picture, but if, for example, it comes up too early in your talk, it can actually spoil the point. Also, take your time with the visuals. Nervous communicators can rush past the slide. Let it sit for a moment, and have your audience take it in. Rushing past the visual renders it useless.
Clarity. Make sure your communication with the production team is really clear as to when you want the slides to appear in your talk. The way I accomplish clarity is I send the team the manuscript for my message, with the parts I want included in the presentation highlighted in yellow. I will then meet with them in the production meeting and tell them their cue for putting the slide I want up on the screen is when they hear me say to the audience, “Look at the screen with me.”
For goodness sake, have a backup plan. If there’s one thing I learned early on about technology is expect it not to work. So I always have my notes with me on my iPad, and if for some reason it doesn’t work, I’m not thrown but can keep it moving. If the slide had a quote on it, then I can simply read it to the audience. If the slide was a picture, I’m prepared to verbally paint the visual image I was going to show. Always have a backup plan.
We are getting close! My book, Grace to Overcome, which is full of stories that will help you communicate better, comes out August 19th. Preorder today.
