Posts tagged as:

Visual aids

How getting in the beam makes you a better presenter

September 17, 2009

Public speaking and presenting are full of silly rules. One such silly rule is that you shouldn’t walk into into the beam of the projector. I disagree – it can be incredibly effective to get in the beam.
Why you should get in the beam
1. You show your energy and passion
One of the classic TED videos [...]

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Here’s a quick way to make over a bullet-point slide

August 13, 2009

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 nicely with the planning system I describe in the Guide.
First let’s look at [...]

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The Top 7 PowerPoint slide designs

January 6, 2009

The PowerPoint revolution has sparked the evolution of different styles of PowerPoint design. I’ve identified seven different styles to inspire you – do add others in the comments.
If you’re just getting started with creating non-bullet point slides, I recommend the assertion-evidence or PresentationZen style. Then start mixing and matching between styles to provide variety for [...]

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PowerPoint slide design – adding elegance

June 9, 2008

In my last post, I gave some basic advice on PowerPoint slide design. Now let’s add some elegance.
1. When you add text to a photo, make sure it is easy to read. You can add a mask (a rectangle of partly transparent colour) between the text and the photo. In the example below right the [...]

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PowerPoint slide design – the basics

June 8, 2008

I am not a designer. I was awakened to the possibility of improving the design of my PowerPoint slides by the Presentation Zen blog. Since then I have observed and analyzed examples of good design, even read some design books – and of course read the Presentation Zen book.
These design tips are not for bullet-point [...]

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The myth of learning styles

May 26, 2008

Many presenters have heard about learning styles and want to know how they can take individual learning styles into account when they present. But the learning styles model has no research that backs it up:
“from a neuroscientific point of view [the learning styles approach to teaching] is nonsense”. (Susan Greenfield, specialist in brain physiology, quoted [...]

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Don’t forget the word-pictures

May 19, 2008

Many of my previous posts have been about adding a visual element to your presentations. But you don’t have to do this literally – you can also do it by triggering images in the minds of your audience.
I first learnt this about 15 years ago when I was presenting with an overhead projector. I was [...]

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Make your pictures concrete too

May 18, 2008

The more concrete and specific you make your words, the more persuasive you will be to your audience. The same applies to the pictures you show. Recent research backs this up. Students were given short fictional news stories to read:
One story claimed that watching TV was linked to maths ability, based on the fact that [...]

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Use words and visuals

April 26, 2008

I’m reading Dan Roam’s great new book Back of the Napkin. It’s led me to explore all the resources on the web for visual thinking. What I’m seeing is that there’s a whole movement out there for visual thinking, infographics etc. But yet most presenters, presentation trainers and consultants still think in terms of the verbal [...]