Got something to talk about and want people’s attention? It might be time to revisit your choices in how you present your information, to get that precious attention.

We live in a world of lots of fancy possibilities of tools for communicating; some low-tech like drawing or inking, some high-tech like videos and games.  For everyone who does presenting of some kind, it’s time to get the basics right.

I’m talking about the use of basic technology that almost anybody can use – the Slide Presentation software tool, that for many of us is the product MS PowerPoint. In what I share below, I’ll refer simply to PowerPoint, but the message holds true for whatever equivalent software tool you use.

PowerPoint has the potential to be a Visual Aid to a Speaker, and an Artefact for a Reader. (Unfortunately it sometimes has been produced to act as a Teleprompter for a Speaker – which is all about the Speaker and not the audience.)

I’m going to present a scenario for each below and share advice on where you can make improvements.

Design Decisions

Start with empathy to make better design decisions.

When preparing content consider:

• Who is my audience/user?
• What is their context when receiving this input?
• What knowledge do they want or need that I seek to provide?
• What content (form, quality, quantity) will best serve their context and need?

Scenario 1: Visual Aid

• Audience: Attendees at a conference or training course
• Context: First hour of many hours; some excitement, probably some agitation from getting here which is a break in their routine; in a group of people, likely strangers; in a strange place, settling in and trying to get comfortable
• Knowledge sought: How I/you will take care of my basic needs (e.g. stomach, bladder, heating, safety); How to play well with others in this group (e.g. attention, etiquette)
• Content: Visual Aid + Q&A Conversation

Here are three examples of visual aids for this particular scenario.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Looking at the three options above, ask yourself:

• Which feels more pleasing to look at, and to experience?
• Which has all the knowledge that the user needs/seeks? (i.e. it can stand alone and could simply be read)

You might be ready to discount Option 3 as lacking information. Consider that the experience that goes with Slide 3, could be designed so the communication covers a range of unspecified topics.  The speaker/presenter could ask people to offer Housekeeping questions to be answered, rather than working from an assumed list.

Advice for Visual Aids

To make and use better visual aids, here’s some tips:

• Use less words than your natural inclination. (The slide is not a teleprompter for the speaker/presenter; put speaker’s words under the Notes section, or on speaker cards.)
• Use phrases, not sentences; definitely no paragraphs. People will scan, not read the text. Besides you want them listening to you, not reading what’s behind you – else why are you there?
• Use good quality photos. Find photos at treasure troves like www.unsplash.com  (Be sure to credit the source.)
• Learn from the best – two people who have written advice that is worth applying are Nancy Duarte and her book Slideology, and Seth Godin in a book, Really Bad PowerPoint.
• Change the experience: Ask, don’t tell. Get people to ask questions about what they want/need to know rather than you run though a list talking to them about what you think they need to know.  (There is an exception to the rule here with Housekeeping Content – you may have safety obligations to meet that your audience doesn’t care about, so you’ll need to ensure you to share those essential details.)

Scenario 2: Artefact

• Audience: Staff geographically dispersed across location and time zones (so difficult to arrange live sessions)
• Context: Receiving a digital message while at their desk or on the move; will be amongst a whole lot of other messages so could get lost in noise; may get ‘read’ (i.e. scanned) in between other activities that are demanding their attention
• Knowledge sought: What is going on; What is expected of me/us
• Content: Artefact for reading/viewing at time of own choosing

Here’s two examples of the same words in different formats.

Option 1: Block of Text in document

Option 2: Artefact (made into an A4 PDF file for digital distribution)

Reader gets one page at a time, and turns each page as they interact with the message. Here’s an extract of an artefact showing six pages.

Advice for digital artefacts

To make and use better digital artefacts, here’s some tips:

• Write for readability.  (Check out the quality of readability with a readability checker/score. Some of my slides above would get a good score – some wouldn’t. Can you pick the difference? )
• Use words that make sense to your reader; avoid jargon that is foreign to them.
• Limit how much text a person can see at one time; slow them down, so they have less to read or scan at a single time.
• Use sensible pauses to give a cadence or rhythm to the knowledge you are sharing. (e.g. page breaks vs. paragraph breaks)
• Enhance text with visuals. (See advice above about photographs.)

WARNING: Just because both can be created in PowerPoint, don’t use the digital Artefact in a live session. Design for purpose: A Visual Aid to supplement a presenter/teacher; an Artefact for self-directed reading.

Are you ready to do things a little differently?  Your audience or reader will thank you for thinking of such things, next time they receive something you’ve prepared.

Author: Helen Palmer is Founder and Principal Change Agent at Questo. Like Winnie the Pooh, she ‘sits and thinks’ … and imagines how people can make a better life for others and themselves. She likes to share those thoughts with the possibility that they inspire and initiate meaningful change.