Created by Mark Hofer, Ph.D, School of Education, College of William & MaryBased on the concepts and ideas presented in Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds and Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath. Images from istockphoto.com and Tulane Public Relations

2012Designs for Technology-Enhanced Learning

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What’s a presentation for, anyway?

Presentations are about communication, telling stories, & making ideas stickOne of the most common uses of educational technology in K-12 classrooms today is the dreaded PowerPoint presentation. While PowerPoint isn’t inherently evil, critics are right in pointing out that many PowerPoint presentations are boring, simplistic and often amount to spoon feeding information to our students. If this is the goal, why not

pass out a handout of the slides and just go out for ice cream? Of course, this is a ridiculous statement, but it underscores the point that the presentation is about more than the content. It’s the teacher that brings the information, concept and ideas to life for her students. It’s the teacher who helps students make meaning from the information presented. The problem is that to place a primacy on this role of the teacher, we need to rethink how we construct and deliver our presentations. This

approach may help us be more mindful, creative and effective in the way we de s ign and de l i ve r presentations.

This brief guide will offer some thinking tools for you to consider as you create your own presentations. This cer tainly doesn’t of fer a foolproof formula, rather a range of ideas to draw on as you think through a more mindful approach to designing presentations for your students.

PowerPoint is a tool, not a method

Although PowerPoint has it’s own cognitive style (think bullet points and pie charts), when used mindfully it ’s actually a quite versatile tool that can support many forms of presentation. What’s important for teachers to consider then is how to use PowerPoint to create effective presentations that meet the needs of their learners. In

his book, Presentation Zen,Garr Reynolds offers guidance on deve lop i ng an app roac h t o designing and delivering effective presentation. He advocates a clean, focused, and elegant approach to conveying information and ideas. Some of his ideas are outlined below. What’s most important however, is that you use these ideas t o f i n d y o u r o w n s t y l e o f presentation.

Presentations are about communication

While often considered a means to dispense content, presentations can be structured to facilitate the transfer, discussion, and negotiation of information, concepts and ideas. It is helpful to think of a presentation as two-way communication.

Your audience brings their own experience and understanding of the topic at hand that should be respected and leveraged to help you

tell your story. Presentations should then be tailored to the unique needs and preferences of your students.

The Bento as metaphor A bento is a Japanese lunch box

sold commonly at train stations.

This small box traditionally contains rice, fish or meat, one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish, and appropriate utensils. The contents of the bento changes to by region in Japan to reflect their unique culinary traditions. What can a bento teach us about presentations? Like a bento, a presentation should contain the “appropriate content arranged in the most efficient manner...Nothing lacking, nothing superfluous...Not d e c o ra t e d , b u t wo n d e r f u l l y designed” (Presentation Zen, p. 6). The bento is a useful metaphor in thinking about how we structure and design a presentation.

Focusing on the CORE One of the biggest challenges in

d e s i g n i n g a n d d e l i ve r i n g a presentation is “content creep.” It’s very tempting to try to impart all one’s knowledge on a particular topic. Unfortunately, there is often an inverse relationship to breadth of content covered and depth of understanding. If then our goal is to help the core message “stick,” it’s essential to focus as closely as possible on the one or two CORE ideas in a given presentation. In this

way, the content can be tightly focused to present, explore, and make connections with this key idea(s). Stripping down to the core, though, takes discipline.

Avoid the “Slideument”Free yourself! A PowerPoint

doesn’t have to contain everything. In fact, if the presentation contains everything, why do you need to be there to present it? Often times, presenters tend to merge information from documents into the presentation slides - creating the “slideument.”

Unfortunately, the slideument is no longer an effective document OR presentation. One way to break this habit is to think about a presentation as comprised of three components:

The slides - a visual representation of the key points in your presentation

The notes - an explication of the slides that only the presenter sees to ensure that she covers the essential content during the presentation

The handout - information you leave behind (or the textbook reading assigned to cover the content of the presentation) that students can refer to after the presentation.

Making your ideas “stick”

In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath offer seven principles to help you present ideas in ways that will stay with your learners. While the book is written primarily for a corporate audience, the ideas apply quite well to education.

Each of the seven principles is discussed below.

SimplicityIf everything is important, then

nothing is important. The more you can stick with your core focus, the more simple your message. Of course, simplicity doesn’t mean simplistic. One way to ensure focus is to see if you can convey your essential message in an elevator speech. Could you share the

essence of your presentation in 30-45 seconds with someone during an elevator ride? If not, think about how you can edit the outline of your content to focus as tightly as possible on your core message.

UnexpectednessWe all come to new concepts

and ideas with some experience and preconceptions. One way to cause your audience to fully engage with your presentation is to violate their expectations.

This can be accomplished through a surprising anecdote, fact or image. The key is to create a gap in their expectations and then fill in the gap.

Concreteness The more we can be concrete

about the information, concepts and ideas we’re presenting the better.

Concrete illustrations and examples are almost always more effective than more abstract approaches. The simple starting point to ensuring concreteness in our presentations is to use natural speech and give real examples of real things. President Kennedy presen ted a Grand Challenge as “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely...”

Credibility Presenting evidence and data

can be a powerful way to build credibility. The effect, however, is diminished if the statistics are difficult to visualize. If the evidence can be translated into clear terms the effect can be powerful.

For example, instead of noting that a Frappucino has 31 grams of sugar, you could present a picture of twenty four sugar cubes.

StoriesStories are an important way

that we pass on our history and culture. Stories are an engaging way to share a compl icated message in a concise, memorable way. Think about the wisdom in the simple tale of the tortoise and the hare. This same moral could be presented through line graphs, statistics, and imagery.

One key component of stories is authenticity. Contrived stories lack the impact of simple, but powerful anecdotes. Finally, be sure to make the connection between the story and the content explicit.

Multimedia LearningFor over 20 years, Richard

Mayer and his colleagues at UC - Santa Barbara have conducted hundreds of studies on how people learn from multimedia materials. Mayer and colleagues have isolated seven principles of multimedia learning that can be helpful for educators in designing presentations. While there are some limitations to the research, these principles may be helpful in guiding practice.

Multimedia PrincipleThe multimedia principle

suggests that “Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone” (p. 63). Mayer argues that when students consider words and pictures that augment or re-present the ideas conveyed, they can make connections between the two different forms of media, allowing them to build more robust and durable mental models. In educational presentations, this principle might be put into practice through the careful selection of images to pair with relevant text.

Spatial and Temporal Contiguity Principles

According to the spatial contiguity principle, “Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each of on a page or screen” (p. 81). The temporal contiguity principle

suggests that “Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively” (p. 97). In practical terms for a presentation, this principle is applied when the text and accompanying picture (still image, animation, video) are presented on the same slide.

Coherence PrincipleThe multimedia principle advises

that “Students learn better when extraneous material is excluded rather than included” (p. 113). In other words, in terms of slides, “less is more.” Rather than embellishing slides with decorative images, it is preferable to keep the design clean and simple. If the visuals on the slide are competing with one another for attention, the learner is distracted. In terms of slides, too many effects or animations can have the same problems in terms of message coherence. Keep it simple.

Modality PrincipleThe modality principle suggests

that “Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text” (p. 134). This recommendation flies in the face of typical presentation practice. Rather than writing detailed descriptions of a concept on a slide, details should be provided

verbally instead. What this means for presenters is to move detailed text off-screen and focus on key ideas and images. Detailed notes can be added to a handout or in the notes view of the presentation software.

Redundancy PrincipleThe redundancy principle

suggests that “Students learn better from animation an narration than from animation, narration, and text” (p. 147). This principle corresponds with modality principle that adding detailed or verbatim text to a slide that includes images and your verbal explanation is actually less effective for learners than leaving the detailed text off. The takeaway is that detailed on-screen text is not good for learners.

Individual Differences Principle

The individual differences principle states that “Design effects are stronger for low-knowledge learners than for high-knowledge learners” (p. 161). This principle suggests that students with previous experience with or understanding of the topic can compensate for ineffectively designed presentations more easily than students with less knowledge. In essence, strong design skills are critical for low-knowledge learners.

Helpful resources

Presentation ZenBy Garr Reynolds, published by New Riders, Berkeley, California. Copyright 2008. Presentation Zen Web site: presentationzen.com

Made to StickBy Chip and Dan Heath, published by Random House, New York. Copyright 2007. Made to Stick Web site: madetostick.com

Image ResourcesISTOCKPHOTO.COMgreat royalty-free images - $1-3 per image

FLICKR.COMsearch for Creative Commons licensed images - attribution required

ARCHIVE.ORGsearch for Creative Commons licensed images - attribution required

Presentation ResourcesMAKE IT STICK WIKImakeitstick.wmwikis.net

INDEZINE POWERPOINT TIPSindezine.com/products/powerpoint/

1 2 3 4 5 WAYS TO AVOID POWERPOINT OVERLOADindezine.com/stuff/atkinsonmaye.pdf

Quick ways to make better presentationsPlan analog

Never sit down at the computer with a blank PowerPoint slide in front of you to plan your presentation.

Use a blank sheet of paper, a series of post-it notes, or the back of a napkin. Focus on ideas first, then organization. The easier it is for you to organize and re-order your ideas, the better.

Edit yourselfIn terms of content and design,

don’t try too hard. Ask your self, is this really necessary? If not, pull it out. The more organized, clean and crisp your presentation, the better.

Embrace emptynessWhite space on a slide can

actually help emphasize the image or text on screen. You don’t have to fill the space!

Consider design Think about the look and feel of

your presentation from the outset. Consider your message, the tone you want to create, and the characteristics of your audience to develop a compelling look. Always start with a blank template and create the look that’s right for the presentation rather than starting with one of the built-in design templates.

Contrast and emphasisTwo of the best ways to make

ideas stand out is through visual contrast and emphasis. Don’t be afraid to use BOLD visuals and text, and always be sure that your text contrasts very well with the background and other elements on the page.

Find your own styleWhile there are many methods

and approaches to creating presentations, the important thing is to find your own style. Find a way to express both your content and your personality in your work. This is more of a journey than a destination.

“PowerPoint presentations

too often resemble a

school play... very loud,

very slow, and very

simple.”

- Edward Tufte

Emotions To help your audience connect

w i t h t h e c o n t e n t o f y o u r presentation, help them to feel something.

Through humor, drama, personal connections, we can help our audience connect with a concept in a more personal, memorable way.

Stories