How to Addict Your Audience to Your PowerPoint

Don’t use templates b/c they make the presentation look boring.

Put color and pictures b/c text will make them not pay attention to you.

Know the needs of your audience so you know what to tell them.

Make it for your audience and good for them. Like about their problems. You’re the one providing the solution.

Don’t give too much information. Give it in easy steps. One point per slide.

Make the audience interesting in your presentation.

Keep the slides simple and less to let them have imagination. They’ll depend on you to tell them more. If you need to give details, put them on a handout for them.

Be mysterious. Good presentations don’t make sense to anyone unless you tell them.

Have conversations so you interact with your audience.

Keep the slides easy to understand for the audience.

Tell a story about their state.

Give the best point at the end.

Leave them wanting more.

The Science of PowerPoint Overload

Richard E. Mayer researched about how the brain learns and what the best way to present something is. People process information either visually or verbally but not both, limited capacity. We can only take in so much information at a time, active processing. Slides with bullet points are too much on a screen since the brain takes long to organize everything in their head. Therefore you shouldn’t put too much on a screen and instead describe the content. More work is required to make an understandable and good presentation. If your slides only have words, put pictures. Don’t repeat what’s written. Erase unnecessary things. KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Help! My Brain is Overloaded!

The UNSW expert in education says we’re being taught the wrong way. The way we’re not taught in the way that’s easier for us to process information. John Sweller says it’s better if teachers give already solved problems so they can study it. He says it’s better because it’s how the brain works. Working memory can only hold 3-4 pieces of new information for only 3-4 seconds without practice and it all goes away in 20 seconds. When learning new information, not everything will be remembered unless you take notes. PowerPoints won’t work if everything written and said is the same. The audience’s attention will be divided.

Really Bad PowerPoint

Everybody uses PowerPoint. It can be very useful if used the right way. When you want to present something, you want the audience to see things your way. You want the artsy and logic sides of the brain used in your presentation. You need to show good communication, body language and the good, supported facts. The reason you make presentations is so you can show others your ideas. If you’re confident about your idea, you need to sell it. When you make your presentation, make note cards just for you. Make the slides support what you have to say, not echo. Give a written paper about your presentation to your audience at the end so they don’t have to take notes and to make sure they’re listening to you. Keep PowerPoints simple with less than 6 words a slide, have good pictures, nothing fancy, good music is ok, don’t give a copy of your slides. If you get this right, you will sell.

PowerPoint summary

I think Power Points are usually not used correctly, but some teachers do manage to get students to understand what they are teaching. The ones who didn’t do a good job of it, is usually because they have way too much writing on their slides. The whole Power Point is really super long and we were basically read to like in story time back in kindergarten. They’re soooooo boring! The good part was that he gave us handouts of the Power Point. If I were a teacher, I’d use Power Point mainly just for showing pictures or other visuals that would help the students understand better. I’d put SOME writing, only if it’s absolutely necessary. And even if I did put writing, I’ll make sure it’s really brief and only the most important things. I’ll just tell them more details and give them a paper of the things they really need to know. Most importantly, I’d put stuff that would interest my students. Even if the subject is really boring, I’d put interesting pictures to entertain them. I think I’d be satisfied enough if they pay attention even if they fail the class. But I doubt that if it really is that interesting. It’s all about how you present your information. You want your audience NOT to fall asleep or pass out. But you want to make the fun relevant. So do not put anything too flashy and unnecessary. If the theory about brains not being able to process information when they read and say it at the same time, then I would not say exactly what is written on the screen. It’ll show how a really prepared teacher I amJ. Actually, I will not put any writing on the screen and I won’t make them read it out loud either. I’d use Power Point for teaching. Mainly because it’s there, so why not? Hopefully the school would have a projector so it’s easier to see. It’s way better than giving a lot of papers. And it’s really easy to use if you know how to work a computer. So until someone invents something better, I’ll be using Power Point!

PowerPoint is (not) evil (cont.)

There’s a scientific reason that people will find it harder to understand information when you are reading the information and are having someone read it to you. In other words, speakers, don’t read what is exactly on the screen. You are insulting your audience. A research at the University of North South Wales shows that our brains absorb information if it’s given by speech or by reading out loud but not all at the same time. It shows there is an extent in the brain to receive information. It’s good to present information differently like on a graph or something visual. Then you can explain it. But it’s better without having the same exact words written and read because it’s just too much for the human brain to handle. They recommend teachers to give their students already solved problems and not problems to give the students to solve because you do not have to remember so much and you can actually learn something. John Sweller, a university faculty guy, says that when you face a problem similar to that one, you have a bigger chance at getting it right. If there’s too much information all at once, some things will be forgotten.

Some think PowerPoint should become nonexistent because of the endless parade of slides being read aloud to the audience and with bullet points it provides. Even before PowerPoint, bullet points were used and they were boring. Most speakers give bad talks. They save the interesting points for last but start with the uninteresting ones. The slides are actually an outline to help the speaker so he knows what he should say, or actually, READ. Talks should only be a few points, enough to get them interested in the subject. Don’t overload them with too much or they become uninterested. Keep the slides simple. The readers should get clear information like notes, visual slides (it’s good to have the audience entertained), and handouts. Boring talks are bad. PowerPoint? Useful, but if you hate it, blame the one who made it. They’re the ones giving you the information. It all depends on how they present that.

PowerPoint is (not) evil

Edward Tufte says that it is “like a drug” that didn’t do as it promised. He says it made everything boring made communication worse. It is useful for outlining the speakers thoughts, but not so useful for the people listening. They have now become too common. He is annoyed by the fact that the use of Power Points is present in schools. Kids actually LEARN how to use it for commercials and such. In business, Power Points with words are hard to understand when the information is being piled on you like that. Words are not good visuals to be able to relate to. Power Points usually do not come in immense detail. The colorful graphs and charts are too much for information that requires simplicity.

Whatever is in the Power Point that will teach something is more important than the quality of the Power Point. It saves time and energy. It is far better than writing everything on the white/blackboard with an unreadable handwriting. They’re good for teaching and may sometimes seem clearer for students. You can even make handouts to give for them to keep for notes or whatever. It keeps the information very organized and it’s easy to use. It is also easy for the one presenting and those taking notes. It is easy for the presenter because he can read off of the slides instead of messy, unreadable notes. Those taking notes can just write it off the wall.


So, overall, depending on how you see it. It can be a good learning tool. For teaching, especially. Like in the article, the students actually learned something from their presentations and the teacher said it worked out well in the end. But they do get annoying. You just have to keep in mind to make it appropriate and not to tacky or something like that.