Unconventional Wisdom: Putting the WHY Before the

WHAT of Presentation Design

It doesn't matter what you do, it matters WHY you do it.

Simon Sinek

This is a presentation for educators by an educator.

What I have to share about presentation design isn’t NEW,

 …but it IS new to many educators.

WHY

And educators like to know the WHY

WHY these strategies work

we should change too

the “rules” have changed

WHY

(Drum roll please…) It’s based on what we know informs good teaching! �

Here is some of what I’ve learned, along with insights from those who taught me to think differently about presentations.

Designing by the “new rules” is a culture-changer for educators.

WHY? •  Because teachers (not unlike other people) like to

TEACH. •  We like to EXPLAIN, to SUMMARIZE, and to

PARAPHRASE. •  We like using a lot of WORDS, we like to READ,

and we like our audiences to READ. •  We like people to LISTEN to us, and we’re used to

having a captive audience for a limited TIME, so we tend to try to get in as much information as possible.

•  We also like to be CREATIVE, and use PICTURES and COLOR to illustrate our key points.

•  It’s no wonder our slides look like this!

Here’s the thing…

…It just doesn’t work.

WHY?

READING UNDERSTANDING

INTERPRETING

LISTENING

SEEING

IT’S “BATTLE OF THE SUBSKILLS!”

PROCESSING

And most of us just can’t do it all at once!

WHY the big disconnect?

People speak about 110-160 words per minute

But we can read about 200-300 words per minute

Education… revolve[s] around non-sales selling: the ability to influence, to persuade, and to change behavior while striking a balance between what others want and what you can provide them. Daniel Pink, To Sell is Human

Daniel Pink

So, education involves influencing, persuading, and changing behavior…

…and presenting involves

influencing, persuading, and

changing behavior…

So, presenting is educating!

That’s a syllogism! (I knew that

junior high English class would

come in handy someday!)

And what do we know from good teaching that makes sense in presentation design?

“Chunking” = breaking complex information into manageable pieces

Hence, just 1 idea per slide!

For more info, see Seth Godin’s “Atomic Powerpoint Method”

And with just 1 idea per slide, who needs these?

No matter where we work or learn, we must endure the blatherings of people who anesthetize us with bullet points and then, in the dark of the conference room, steal our souls and bake them into 3-D pie charts.

Daniel Pink

OUCH!

People need engaging visuals with time built in to process information chunks.

WHY?

The audience will either read your slides or listen to you. They will not do both.

So, ask yourself this: is it more important that they listen, or more effective if they read?

Nancy Duarte

Our short-term and working memory are limited.

We can hold only 4-7 bits of information at a time.

Too much information at once and our brains get confused. �

WHY?

It’s about “cognitive load”

We learn better when we can build on what we already understand – our existing “schemas” or prior knowledge.

Education, or helping others to learn, is built on a foundation of good communication. �

Communication is about getting others to adopt your point of view, to help them understand why you’re excited (or sad, or optimistic, or whatever else you are).

If all you want to do is create a file of facts and figures, then cancel the meeting and send in a report. Seth

Godin

WORDS belong in memos. Powerpoint is for ideas.

I ’m just dying to add

“Silly Rabbit…” on

top of this quote!

Seth Godin

Slides are slides. Documents are documents. They aren’t the same thing. Attempts to merge them result in what I call …

…the SLIDEUMENT!

Garr Reynolds

Beware the SLIDEUMENT! •  This is a slideument. A slideument features too much text, and

too many bullet points. It may also include graphs and pictures. •  If a presenter has this slide on the screen, and reads it to the

audience, most people will finish reading before the presenter finishes, and then tune out.

•  If the presenter doesn’t read the slide, but just talks about the topic, the audience will likely read the slide and not listen to the presenter.

•  Go ahead (you know you want to) – experiment! •  Time yourself! Read this slide silently at your normal reading

speed. •  Then, go back and time yourself reading it out loud at a normal

”presentation” pace. It’s OK if your family laughs while you do this.

•  You read faster than you speak, don’t you? •  I tried this and found I read almost twice as fast as I speak. •  Oh, and this font is now way too small for a slide.

Slides ≠ Handouts

Create these… 1

Create these… …then these! 1 2

Create these… …then these!

Show these!

1 2

3

Create these… …then these!

Show these! Hand out these!

1 2

3 4

Like this:

And pleeeeease…. no printing

Your slides will be full of images with very little text, so no need for these, right?

Like this:

And pleeeeease…. no printing

Or this:

Your slides will be full of images with very little text, so no need for these, right?

And if you need to distribute reading material, you’ve created separate handouts.

Make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them.

Godin wrote this in 2003!

TWO…THOU…SAND…THREE!!! Seth

Godin

What if your slides include graphs?

By the way, this is an “image quilt” aka the absolute coolest new thing! Check out http://imagedataquilts.com/  

To visualize data effectively, we must follow design principles that are derived from an understanding of human perception.

Stephen Few

So, it’s not just about slides or graphs looking pretty.

Graphs, not graffiti!

The interior decoration of graphics generates a lot of ink that does not tell the viewer anything new…  

…The purpose of

decoration varies — to

make the graphic appear

more scientific and

precise, to enliven the

display, to give the

designer an opportunity

to exercise artistic skills.

…Regardless of its cause, it is all non-data-ink or redundant data-ink, and it is often chartjunk.

Edward Tufte

And there’s a whole lotta chartjunk goin’ on here!

Same or different values? Can you tell?

Same or different values? Can you tell?

What’s the value of this bar? (Your fingers are on the screen tracing the gridline right now, aren’t they?)

Ticky-tacky tick

marks. How do they

help us here?

Here’s how I share a graph with multiple elements. It’s one step at a time using “the slow reveal”�

4.20

4.60

4.40

5.00

3.92

4.46

4.38

4.50

4.33

4.64

4.52

4.59

3.50

3.67

3.67

3.67

Time

Application

Quality

Facilitation

Scores by Subgroup

Here’s the whole graph. Of course, there is some

contextual info missing.

If I show this to the audience just like this, they’ll spend their mental energy processing the information and not listening to me!

4.20

4.60

4.40

5.00

3.92

4.46

4.38

4.50

4.33

4.64

4.52

4.59

3.50

3.67

3.67

3.67

Time

Application

Quality

Facilitation

Scores by Subgroup

Here’s the slide I show first. My low-tech secret?

There’s a white box hiding the rest of the graph!

4.20

4.60

DO 4.40

DO 5.00

3.92

4.46

TL 4.38

TL 4.50

4.33

4.64

SB 4.52

SB 4.59

3.50

3.67

Blank 3.67

Blank 3.67

Time

Application

Quality

Facilitation

Scores by Subgroup

Here’s the next part. I just shrink the white box

to reveal the next segment of the graph.

4.20

4.60

4.40

DO 5.00

3.92

4.46

4.38

TL 4.50

4.33

4.64

4.52

SB 4.59

3.50

3.67

3.67

Blank 3.67

Time

Application

Quality

Facilitation

Scores by Subgroup

Here we go again!

4.20

4.60

4.40

5.00

3.92

4.46

4.38

4.50

4.33

4.64

4.52

4.59

3.50

3.67

3.67

3.67

Time

Application

Quality

Facilitation

Scores by Subgroup

Finally, here’s the whole graph!

The audience has now had a chance to read and process each bit, and as the presenter, I was able to talk about each segment one at a time.

So, where did I learn all this?

And WHY? Well, there’s really not much

good stuff on TV these days… {sigh}

As emerging disciplines [information graphics and visualization]…are a hodge-podge of concepts, methods, and procedures borrowed from many areas: the principles of map design…guidelines on how to better display data on a chart…rules on best practices for the use of type, layout, and color palettes…principles of writing style…and more…

Alberto Cairo

It’s all thanks to some great thinkers and leaders whose work I’ve read and studied.

And many, many articles and blog posts, along with

online and face-to-face courses.

Tools of the trade

Water Supplies

Books

More importantly…

…where can YOU learn it?

Visit perceptual edge 1.) take the Graph Design I.Q. Quiz 2.) Click on Examples to see poorly constructed charts, Few’s analysis, and solutions.

Stephen Few

Visit Garr Reynolds 1.) Study his Top Ten Slide Tips 2.) Check out Resources for recommended books.

Garr Reynolds

Check out the American Evaluation Association’s Potent Presentations 1.) Download and read Slide Design Guidelines

AEA

For even more on Data Visualization & Information Design Visit & read blogs at: Evergreen Data Emery Evaluation Storytelling with Data

Stephanie Evergreen

Ann Emery

Cole Nussbaumer

WHY

So, now you know the WHY

WHY these strategies work

we should change too

the “rules” have changed

WHY

WHY  And

should YOU take the time to learn more?

LEARNING never exhausts the mind. -Leonardo da Vinci

Image credits:

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Other images via: Wikimedia commons  

Sheila B Robinson