DK
Tag Archives: PowerPoint
The Science behind MPM – The Picture Superiority Effect
Visual communications are here to stay! Don’t take my word for it, here is the scientific data.
- People will remember 10% of what you say to them three days later.
- If you communicate primarily with visuals (such as PowerPoint slides), your audience will remember 35% of what you show them. That is three times as much.
- If you use both visuals and spoken, they will remember 65% of what you have said/shown them. That is over six times as much as just spoken.
Or so asserts one of my favorite brain researchers, Dr. John Medina.
The underlying reason behind this astounding set of statistics is that human being’s dominant sense is visual and it trumps all other senses.
Our earliest recorded forms of communications were cave drawings.
As children, vision is our primary sense and spoken language develops later.
All of this wraps up into a theory called the Picture Superiority Effect.
What is the Picture Superiority Effect and How Does MPM Use It?
Simply put, the Picture Superiority Effect is the scientific explanation for why a picture is worth ten thousand words.
For a little over 40 years, scientists have acknowledged that we encode memory “verbally” AND “visually”. This dual-coding theory says that people, when they are processing information (such as your presentation) break that information up and encode it in the two different stores of Visual and Verbal.
Recent cognitive neuroscience suggests that the visual memory storage is the dominant one. (Note: all of you cognitive neuroscientists out there please excuse this oversimplification). This because it is easier for people to recall visual information. Period
So what does this all have to do with the Modern Presentation Method? Well, everything really. One of the underlying principles of MPM is that visual communication is here to stay. And that if a presenter wants to be truly effective they need to tap into visual communication.
We help you tap into it in a number of ways.
Removing the Visual Design Barrier
First, through the use of super templates, design guides, and slide starters MPM absolves the presenter of the need to have basic design skills. Take this example, the Decision Briefing Infographic. It’s designed to be printed out on 11×17 paper.
Now, people who natively speak and read Indo-European languages scan across any visual in a Z-pattern. And so this particular Modern Presentation Method is designed to take advantage of this fact.
This notion of absolving the presenter from needing to understand basic design principles is sprinkled throughout the MPM templates. Background colors and text are color coordinated to be visually appealing and also to contrast where important information needs to pop. Slide layouts take advantage of any of a wide variety of design principles such as the Rule of Thirds.
Removing the Graphics Barrier
Next, MPM removes the graphics barrier. By putting several thousand high-quality organizationally focused graphics at the presenter’s fingertips, we remove the need to search for and chose quality graphics.
Text First, Visuals Second
Last, MPM takes advantage of most people native communications strength, the ability to write. By having presenters put their story together in textual format first, we use that native ability. Then once the 80% textual story is in place, we use the templates and graphics library to quickly move the presenter through the visual stage of the build process.
Summary
So that’s it. People’s dominant sense is vision and the Picture Superiority Effect proves this. MPM helps the presenter take advantage of the Picture Superiority Effect by removing the Visual Design and Graphics barriers, and by focusing their story building skills in Text First.
That’s all, thanks for tuning in.
DK
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Just back from almost four straight weeks of traveling! I am exhausted.
Big thanks to the folks in Fort Leavenworth Kansas; Quantico Va; NJ; NY; Pennsylvania; and everyone else who sat in training or one of my speeches. It was a great success and high scores on the speeches and training are rolling in. Wow!
For those of you that want to follow what’s happening daily, “Like” the ModernPresenter Facebook page! Check it out at : http://www.facebook.com/modernpresenter
Let’s turn to this week. I am home, so I’m hoping to get some posts on the blog (including a template with a white background).
That’s all, thanks for tuning in.
DK
Break the Glass Ceiling – 52 Glass Shapes To Use in Your Next Presentation
In an earlier post this week, I talked about the need for organizations to have a single Graphics Library that contains amongst other things, Shapes. The primitives are circles, squares,rectangles, bullets, triangles, etc…
Today, I am including 52 different PNG files that have a range of shapes. I call this type of shape Glass as the shapes themselves look like clear glass. This is THE MOST COMMON type of shape that I use as it is very subtle. Here is an example of three Glass Rectangles placed on a slide.
With PowerPoint, you can easily create shapes, but one of the lessons I have learned over the course of 1000 presentations is that having a library of pre-configured (color, size, border, perspective) shapes, saved as raster pictures files is a huge time saver. It takes me far less time took up a file than it takes to re-build them every time I need one. To do this I create the shape I want in PowerPoint and then save it as a .png file. So, here are 52 Glass Shapes for you to use in a .zip file on my Tech Net site. (Sorry, no .zip’s in WordPress)
That’s all, thanks for tuning in.
DK
The Modern Presentation Method Guiding Principles
So what are the principles that underlie the Modern Presentation Method? What key tenets do I think should guide a presentation method?
Less Is More – A presentation should be of limited length and duration. The goal is to present the right amount of information in the minimum time.
Standardize and Centralize to Save Time and Improve Quality – Standardize as much of the build process as possible via templates, an organizational graphics library, etc… and reduce the burden on the presenter. Give them the 70% solution AND THEN let them customize.
Use The Right Tool – PowerPoint is only one of the tools a presenter should use. Word, Excel, a Whiteboard, a Map Overlay, etc. are all valid alternatives or should be used in conjunction.
Have a Page 2 – If you present on the screen, keep it simple and clear, but keep the details (the Page 2) in the slide notes or appendix.
Dialogue is King – Most presentations are about understanding a situation or driving decisions. With the exception of Mission presentations, 2-way dialogue should be a focus in every presentation.
Presentation Type Is Critical – There are three types of presentations. They are (1) Pitching/Leading, (2) Organizing, (3) Teaching. Use the right one for the right situation.
Outline Before You Build – The first step in any presentation is to figure out what you are trying to say. Your first stop is the Whiteboard, not PowerPoint so you can get the right goals on paper and the right outline.
A Presentation Drives Action – Every good presentation should drive actions. Period.
A Presentation Is Based on Goals – Every good presentation has specific goals that are derived from what the briefer is trying to accomplish and what the audience needs. These must be defined up front.
Visual Presenting Is Here To Stay – Presenters must be competent in Text AND Visual. Today, most are only competent in text. This means new training and new techniques for the presenter.
Collaborate or Die – Groups & Teams need common repositories to share information.
Fast or Deliberate – A good presentation method supports the creation of a presentation in a rushed or hasty manner for those last minute fire drills. It also supports creating a presentation is a slower, deliberate manner. The core steps are the same for both, what differs is how rigorously you apply each of the core steps.
Cradle To Grave – A good presentation method works for junior presenters as well as senior presenters. This way, presenters only need to learn it once and they can reuse it (albeit with increasing complexity) throughout their careers.
There Is No Substitute For Good Training – Technical proficiency is one of the cornerstones for all high performance individuals and teams. Today’s presenters receive no training. This must be fixed!
That’s all, thanks for tuning in.
DK
The Dirty Half-Dozen – Today’s Most Common Presentation Problems and How The Modern Presentation Method Helps You Outflank Them.
- The Lost Platoon: The presenter needs to find the right logo, or a map symbol (such as a platoon), a graphic, a picture, or a template and spends an inordinate amount of time finding it.
- The BCG Slide: That is right, just as Birth Control Glasses can make even a good looking soldier ugly, the current slide creation process is like putting BCG’s on your slides.
- The Never-Ending Story: A personal favorite. This is a presentation that has 160 slides and absolutely no discernable points. Good for hypnotizing people though.
- All Style, No Substance: This is a presentation that sounds good but contains no factual content. Where’s the beef? Or even worse, it buries the audience in data.
- Oh Crap, Incoming!: Another personal favorite. The boss comes in, tags you with a brief ASAP and you have to crank it out with no time.
- Slide Karaoke: Last but not least, the bane of briefers everywhere, the village idiot mounts the stage and proceeds to read every slide verbatim.
The Lost Platoon – The Lonely Quest for a Map Symbol
- Artwork Imagery: These are the most commonly used graphical files for the organization and include:
- Icons and Illustrations – Examples of military equipment such as the aforementioned Blackhawk Helicopter and Map Symbols.
- Logos – Ever try to find a unit crest? How about a light one that looks good on a dark background or vice versa?
- Photos – Every organization has photos of it’s people and products in action and the US Army is no different. We have worked with the folks who distribute pictures for the Army and are finding the best 1k-2k pictures out of the 380K they have to include in this sample graphics library.
- Shapes – In the world of graphics, these are called primitives. These are already pre-created shapes such as circles or squares that were made in PowerPoint and saved as pictures. The colors and gradients look good so you don’t have to build them from scratch.
- Videos – Just like pics, there are great videos out there, but if you have to go on the Quest for The Holy Grail to find them, it’s just not worth it.
- Templates and Starters: You’ve seen them here on this site: (Super Blue Template, etc…). Great templates all in one place…no more searching.
- Military Presentation Method: Last, put a documented presentation creation process out there in the graphics library. If someone wants to know where to find your Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for briefings, there should be one answer. “GO TO THE GRAPHICS LIBRARY at http://…..”
savings could potentially be. There are @64K officers in the Active Duty Army alone today. These are just Regular Army O1 (2nd Lieutenant) through O6 (Colonel). This does not count Reservists or Guard officers. If I were to take the example of Captain Burke and assume they might have to search for content at least once a week for 12 minutes a shot. If I can knock that one search down to 90 seconds with the Graphics Library I save them each 10 minutes a week. When I do the math, that saves 30 Million minutes a year for the Active Duty Regular Army. That is the equivalent of adding about 280 extra officers to the Active Duty officer corps of the United States Army!
example.
- Incoming commanders at all levels of the US Army have no time. They are rushing to complete required military education, recover from a deployment, be with their family, move to a new duty location, and wrap up their old job. As Doctrine Man says, their Kit Bag is full. If a Commander’s Communication Package was
available that provided a 70% solution for them, it would REDUCE their burden as they came into command. - Second, they could set a standard with their staff’s and subordinate commander’s right out of the gate. This would ease the burden all the way around. Think of how much staff angst would be alleviated by knowing what the commander’s standard is from Day 1.
- Third and this is the big win. Let’s assume that O1, O2, and half of all O3’s spend 25% of their time in briefings. Let’s assume the remaining O3’s, O4’s and half of the O5’s in the Army spend 50% of their time in briefings. And last, let’s assume that the remaining O5’s and all of the O6’s spend 75% of their time in briefings. These are conservative and realistic assumptions.
If then having a Commander’s Communication Package with briefing templates based on the less is more principles in the Modern Presentation Method even save 1/2 of 1% of the time spent in briefings, that will save 158 Million officer hours of time each year in just the Regular Army alone. That’s like adding 1,370 additional officers to active duty.
- 101 Training: Designed for junior leaders (O1 – O3) and those of all levels who have not been trained in any method or technical skills. Teaches users how to create a briefing quickly using the Modern Presentation Method.
- 201 Training: Designed for mid-career leaders (senior O3 – junior O5) and how to build briefings in an environment that requires synchronization and cross-team collaboration such as on a Brigade Staff. Also focuses on how to use Slide Starters instead of Super Templates.
- Communications Rhythm Training: Teaches how to create a standard at the Battalion level and above. Shows how to take the Army standard Graphic Library and the Commander’s Communication Package and implement at the unit level for consistency. Really, I should just rename it “How to Make Super
Templates”. - 301 Training: Designed for those supporting senior leaders. Shows how to make great custom presentations in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint utilizing top-level features of all three.
- 501 Training: Want to be a speechwriter using visual communications for a very senior leader? Then this course is for you.
making process!
The BCG Slide – Is No One Is Attracted To Your Slides?
The Never-Ending Story – 100 Slides Down Only 60 to Go!
All Style, No Substance – Where is the Beef?
Oh Crap, Incoming! – Briefing in 90 Minutes
saved on briefings in better ways .
Slide Karaoke
New Super Green Template – Download it!
All right, it’s Template Thursday. Today’s Super_Green_Template (Super_Green_Template_vfinal) is great for Pitching or Teaching and has a nice green color scheme. Steal this and use it for your next presentation. Let me introduce you to one of the slide layouts in this template. It’s called the TrendWall.
Trend Wall
A TrendWall is a layout I like to use when I need to tell a complicated story. In this case, I am using the TrendWall Layout to illustrate my background. It is a virtual resume of everything I have done post-college. I often use this layout as a slide where I introduce myself to an audience.
When I show this, the pictures themselves prompt me to tell my story which revolves around my family, my time in the Army, and my time at Microsoft. Audiences love it, because it is so rich in detail and really helps me connect with the audience.
I have also used TrendWall’s to illustrate complicated problems. You can use it to hold example photos of the problem at hand.
I have included three different TrendWall layout sets in the template. Each has individual layouts for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, and even 15 pictures.
More on the other layouts in this template in later posts.
Thanks for tuning in.
DK
A Little Tease For Tomorrow
Hello everyone. I’ve been off the grid working on a military map symbols set for the US Army Graphics Library. If everything goes as planned we will have a test version of the library available in the next two weeks.
Also, tomorrow is template Thursday so I will have a new Super Template, this time in Green!
Check back tomorrow!
DK
Introducing Your Organization to the Modern Presentation Method
Change is hard! Especially within an organization. People are afraid to move from what is familiar, even if it is sub-optimal, to something that is unfamiliar. People have been emailing me lately asking how they should introduce the Modern Presentation Method into their organizations. My answer is simple. Do it very slowly. Find the low hanging fruit. And then fix it.
I recommend you find a presentation that is given regularly in your organization. Something that is repeated frequently. Here are some examples.
- Sellers and Marketers: Your core “pitch deck”. The one you use whenever you are presenting on screen to prospective customers.
- Teachers: Any class you teach frequently. Just pick one that looks bad or is too long.
- Managers and Organizers: All-Hands meeting. Team or Project Status meeting.
The next time you need to do that presentation, create a second version of it using the Modern Presentation Method. Then, when you are reviewing it beforehand with the stakeholders, show them the before and after versions. If you did a good job, they will love the new version created with the Modern Presentation Method.
To put my money where my mouth is, I am going to do a before and after of an AAR deck for a training unit at one of the Joint Readiness Centers. We’ll see if I can get permission to post it so I can show you what I did.
Thanks for tuning in.
DK