Comments on: New evidence that bullet-points don’t work

By: How to keep your audience’s attention « PowerPoint Tips Blog

How to keep your audience’s attention « PowerPoint Tips Blog — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:31:07 +0000

[...] You can see Dr. Atherton’s slides on slideshare, but they aren’t fully comprehensible without the presentation she gave on the subject.You can read a good write up in Olivia Mitchell’s blog. [...]

By: Riddle: How Is a Careers Site Like a PPT Presentation? | Corporate Eye

Riddle: How Is a Careers Site Like a PPT Presentation? | Corporate Eye — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:56:42 +0000

[...] expert Olivia Mitchell takes the psychology of PowerPoint even further in New evidence that bullet-points don’t work. This substantive post explains research that shows improved comprehension in audiences viewing [...]

By: Olivia Mitchell

Olivia Mitchell — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:16:05 +0000

Thanks Richard

If we were to take a really strict interpretation all we could say was that on that day, using those slides, one set worked better than the other.

The issue is how far we generalise from that conclusion. Chris Atherton commented on her own blog:

“I can actually live with overgeneralisation in all but its most egregious forms, because to some extent all research has this. A little generalisation is okay; else all research would be hopelessly, pointlessly niche.”

http://finiteattentionspan.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/show-me-the-evidence-why-education-needs-more-science-interpreters/

I feel comfortable saying “there’s evidence that slides full of bullet-points are not as effective as visual slides”. Of course there’s a whole lot of qualifications that can go into that eg: the visual slides have to be relevant, well-designed etc.

Olivia

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:04:29 +0000

I’m afraid I have to agree with the comments of Simon’s colleague. The point that bullet slides do not work as well as sparse slides may or may not be true but it is not proven by the experiment if the sample slides are indeed typical. The slide described as “bullets with occasional diagram” is not in fact what it says. The sample is bullets **interrupted** by a diagram and thus confusing – existing research already confirms that this will not work. The situation is made worse by the confusing sequence of the text (or content) itself.

Assuming that the “essay” method of listing themes is a valid way to check recall (I am not sure about the way it was done) we can agree that of “sparse” slide worked better. But it has nothing to do with proving or disproving the more general conclusion that slides with bullets do not work if they are created right (cognitive guidelines) and presented right (not all at once).

I agree with everything that Olivia suggests in 4 points to make presentations work. The experiment stands on its own to prove that the sample “traditional” slide doesn’t work. But wider conclusions about general efficacy of bullets from this limited and “straw man” experiment are not required.

By: St. Eutychus » How to make your powerpoints less boring

St. Eutychus » How to make your powerpoints less boring — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:52:45 +0000

[...] though. Powerpoint slides have been scientifically proven to be better with less information rather than [...]

By: The only rule about giving presentations that matters is the rule of attention « Finite Attention Span

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:30:25 +0000

[...] as a guideline quickly becomes a noose. My opposition to putting reams of text on slides is well documented, but I bet there are presentations out there where that’s exactly what’s required [...]

By: MBA Depot

MBA Depot — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:40:57 +0000

New Evidence That Bullet-Points Don’t Work…

At last, we have some scientifically rigorous evidence to show that slides full of bullet-points don’t work.

The research is the work of Chris Atherton, a cognitive psychologist. Chris recently delivered a presentation at the Technical Communication…

By: The First Week: Review of Instructional Design Blogs « IDT Learner Blog

The First Week: Review of Instructional Design Blogs « IDT Learner Blog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:48:27 +0000

[...] http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/design/new-evidence-bullet-points/ [...]

By: Information overload in presentations « TREC

Information overload in presentations « TREC — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:35:46 +0000

[...] possible. I don’t intend to go into it here, but there is a good explanation of the theory in a recent post on Olivia’s Mitchell’s blog “Speaking about Presentation” which includes a [...]

By: Chris Atherton

Chris Atherton — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:53:47 +0000

Hi Olivia,

I think you raise a really interesting point here – that people are accustomed to starting with the slides, rather than ending them. Great to know you are redressing the balance!

Also thanks to Michael for his very charming and enthusiastic comments

Chris