Clear and to the Point

Psychological Principals Behind Effective Presentations

Based on Clear and to the Point

by Stephen Kosslyn

19/10/09

Presentation Success

Kosslyn states that success in a presentation can be seen in the following three says:

(1) Connect with your audience

(2) Direct and hold their attention

(3) Promote understanding & memory

Kosslyn’s Principles

• Relevance

• Appropriate Knowledge

• Salience

• Discriminability

• Perceptual Organisation

• Compatability

• Information changes

• Capacity limitations

Kosslyn’s Principles

• The principles are based in Kosslyn’s work in perceptual psychology

• They help the audience connect with your presentation

• They help hold the audience’s attention

• They promote understanding and memory

Relevance

Communication is most effective when neither too much nor too little

information is presented

Relevance

So stay on the main point and don’t cram everything in in one go

Appropriate Knowledge

Communication requires prior knowledge of pertinent concepts, jargon, and

symbols

Appropriate Knowledge

So pitch your presentation at what the audience already knows, build from

there

Salience

Attention is drawn to large perceptible differences

Salience

So use differences in colour, size and shape to draw attention to information

Discriminability

Two properties must differ by a large enough proportion or they will not be

distinguished

Discriminability

Use clear and obvious distinctions in colour, shape and size

Perceptual Organisation

People automatically group elements into units, which they then attend to

and remember

Perceptual Organisation

Rely on people’s natural tendency to synthesize information and highlight

elements that go together so that people can focus on your point

Compatability

A message is easiest to understand if its form is compatible with its meaning

Read from top to bottom, left to right and say the colour of the ink of each word

Compatability

That was a famous psychological effect called the ‘stroop’ effect

Your difficulty arose when the word and colour were different, that is: not

compatible

Information changes

People expect changes in properties to carry information

Information changes

People expect changes in properties to carry information

Information changes

Don’t use changes in colour, shape or size unless there is a change in

information

People are distracted by non-informative changes

Capacity Limitations

People have a limited capacity to retain and to process information, and so will not understand a message if too much

information must be retained or processed

Legible Text on a clear background

• Use clear ‘sans-serif’ fonts (like this one) on a plain background

• Don’t let the background detract from the message or content

• Avoid ‘humorous’ fonts

• This is a serif font

Keep the slide clear and uncluttered

• A single piece of information on a slide is enough

Keep the slide clear and uncluttered

• A single piece of information on a slide is enough

• For a second piece of information, use a new slide but lighten the already shown information

Keep the slide clear and uncluttered

• A single piece of information on a slide is enough

• For a second piece of information, use a new slide but lighten the already shown information

• Avoid those dumb slide transitions!

Keep the slide clear and uncluttered

• A single piece of information on a slide is enough

• For a second piece of information, use a new slide but lighten the already shown information

• Avoid those dumb slide transitions!

• Use the same terms in your oral presentation as you have on the slide, but don’t just read the slide!

Use colour to make reinforce a message

• Notice that the title is a different colour from the main body.

• This follows from the principle of perceptual organisation –

• ‘Regions of the same colour will be seen as a group. Use the same colour for all titles and another colour for all text entries, which will clearly group the material into these two categories’.

Make sure your visuals are as informative as possible!

• “Construct an exploded pie graph by displacing the important slice or slices, as if a wedge of pizza had been pulled out from the pie. [...] If you decide to use an exploded pie, you must decide which part or parts to emphasize. If too many wedges are exploded, the viewers won’t know where to look”.

Make sure your visuals are as informative as possible!

Make sure your visuals are as informative as possible!

Take a break!

Capacity Limitation

• Use photos and clipart to give the audience time to “come up for air.” [...] useful as a break in the steady flow of information, allowing the audience a moment to reflect and digest. This is especially the case if the photo or clipart is humorous.

• Or even disturbing in some way!

Use images relevant to your audience

Goals and Principles

• Remember the three goals:

(1) Connect with your audience

(2) Direct and hold their attention

(3) Promote understanding & memory

Goals and Principles

• Remember the three goals:

(1) Connect with your audience

Principles of Relevance and Appropriate Knowledge

Goals and Principles

• Remember the three goals:

(2) Direct and hold their attention

Principles of Salience, Discriminability, Perceptual Organisation

Goals and Principles

• Remember the three goals:

(3) Promote understanding & memory

Compatibility, Information Changes, Capacity Limitations