Clear visuals with as little text as possible

In his book Multimedia Learning, University of California professor, Richard Mayer, discusses the idea of using on-screen visuals that are above all truly visual, with little or no text. Mayer offers good evidence that this approach is in many cases the most effective. This can be understood by examining two effects outlined by Mayer: The Modality effect and the Spatial Contiguity effect.

Under the Modality effect we can say that people understand multimedia presentations better when words are presented as narration (i.e, presenter speaking) rather than as on-screen text. Mayer says that we have two channels for processing information from a multimedia presentation: a visual channel and an auditory channel. In many cases, says Mayer, a person's visual processing channel will become overloaded if text is added to the on-screen image/animation resulting in less understanding. This contradicts conventional wisdom (and practice) that "more is better" -- many times it is not.

But this is not to say that you can not place a limited amount of text with an image or on-screen animation. Mayer notes, too, citing the Spatial Contiguity effect, that there are clearly occasions when people can benefit from text being included on-screen, so long as the text is near the image or animation, allowing learners to make clear, quick connections between text and images.

Jean-luc Doumont, an engineer with a doctorate in physics from Stanford University, speaking specifically about "PowerPoint presentations" says something very similar about using text and images on a slide in the February issue of Technical Communication (article available on Amazon). Doumont advocates maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio and advices presenters to "...express a message unambiguously with as little text as possible." Says, Doumont:

"Because visual codings are in essence ambiguous, effective slides almost always include some text: the message itself, stated as a short sentence (thus including a verb). Beyond this text statement, the message should be developed as visually as possible...."

I have said it repeatedly, as have many others before me: slides (if you use them at all) should be as visual as possible. The words come out of your mouth. An important on-screen word or two, or short declarative sentence placed near the image is sometimes helpful. But bulleted lists are almost never preferable; and they certainly need not be the default slide format as they are today in both Microsoft's PowerPoint and Apple's Keynote.

There are myriad ways you can use text along with images. Here are just five slides from a presentation I made a few weeks ago. These five visuals represent about 60-90 seconds perhaps. The first three slides appeared for a total of about 10-15 seconds; the Microsoft slide was on screen longer as I explained the difference between a company's website and a blogger's website who also happens to work for that same company. Later, I went on to explain what a "good blog" is covering such areas as the importance of updating regularly (using the shark analogy, one often used).

1.   2.

3.    4.
(Sample narration):You have heard me say before that "presentations are like conversations." Which is true, but (slide1) blogging is like "conversation" in a sense as well because.... But not just any kind of conversation (slide 2), "Naked Conversations"... In fact, that is the name of (slide 3) this great book.... But what's the difference between, say, (slide 4) Microsoft's website and famous Microsoft blogger, Robert Scoble's website....

5.
(Sample narration): Blogs are like sharks. Sharks have to keep moving...or die. A blog has "to keep moving," keep progressing, be consistently updated...or it will die (as many blogs have)....

Photos are from iStockPhoto, where I get most of my images.

Comments

[Harry Kewell]

" sighting the Spatial Contiguity effect"

Shouldn't that be 'citing'?

[Garr]

>Shouldn't that be 'citing'?

Thanks, Harry. Man, why can't I catch my own typos :-(

-G

[Thorkild]

I agree, to some extent, that the text on a slide should not be too long. The time the audience uses to read it is also time that *isn't* used to follow what the presenter is doing and saying. I believe (and so does for example Michael Alley in his rather scientifically oriented The Craft of Scientific Presentations)
the text should be clear, concise and if the presenter needs to talk about something complicated and confusing, I'd prefer them to start explaining the confusing part by talking about it, and then reducing this topic down to a single sentence or two (readable, not bullet form format) which confirms and summarizes the topic you've just introduced the audience too. In a way you're using the slides to assist you in getting the point through and making it stick.

But, to the reason for commenting :) You mentioned that the text should be short, but I feel it is important to stress that the text should be a fully formed and sensible sentence (or maybe two, but then they can't be long). That is, something that can be read and comprehended without too much extra work on behalf of the audience member. If the text gets too short, some audience members might need to think more about what you're really meaning, and then you risk losing the audience members' attention.

The book I mentioned probably isn't well known here, but the presentation style it covers (although a little bit drowned out in anecdotes at times) is perfect for scientific presentations that might have slightly different needs than those covered here normally.

Thorkild
Hater of overcluttered slides

[met]

Great point Thorkild, one I agree with :)

Maybe we can't have one rule for all kinds of presentations.
Hopefully Garr can come out with a list of "kinds of presentations" and how they are different :)

[ef]

It would be great to get a feel for how this applies to non-strapline subjects like "we have to consolidate our spend with one software vendor this year". The topics you've chosen easily lend themselves to dramatic imagery in a sales or discursive context. Can you give a more 'complex real world' example?

[martinperlin]

Great points and good images. I wanted to raise the same issue as the previous poster - regarding more complicated presentations. For instance, presenting new software to a technical audience that want to know about features, technical requirements, how the software works, and how it addresses their needs. We found the Beyond Bullet Points from visiting your site, and are really excited about the ideas there. What we didn't find in the book were concrete, actual examples applying the principles of the book. Do you have good Beyond Bullet Point presentations that you can share?

[Johan Horak]

Hi Garr

What a great blog. I use Beyond Bullet Points to clear my mind on political issues and to sell ideas.

But then I use a program called Camtasia to screen cast the BBP's. And post it on the web.

But to include voice, is a problem and I use www.textaloud.com to convert text to voice.

You can have a look at some of my Beyond Bullet Point Videos at http://www.squidoo.com/beyond-bullet-point-expert/

Regarding MartinPeril's question about software: Combining Camtaisa's screen cast with BBP is a creat idea.

[World Wedding Photojournalist]

You can bet that part of the obstacle is creating all those 'extra' slides. You might want to deal a little with finding some motivation for that. Like understanding to pause when you go to a new slide - so that people can divert their attention to it; and then back to you.