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Speakers: Text on Slides is not a Visual Aid

In my 8 years as a management consultant at Accenture, preparing a presentation was synonymous with preparing the Powerpoint slides.  “Hey Neill!  Proposal presentation this Friday…” – I immediately opened Powerpoint and started creating slides…

A lot of powerpoint is not Great Powerpoint.

Great Powerpoint can be a powerful addition to a great speech.  As the saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words.  Strong photos can powerfully impact an audience with a message.

Finding great photos is easier today than ever before.  Sites like Flickr.com or Google Images allow you to search through massive databases of Creative Commons images that you can use in your presentations.

There is a problem.

Most Powerpoint slides are not photos.  They are mostly text.

Written text is processed in our brain via the aural pathways.  Although text is read by the eyes, it is not really processed as a visual medium.  We turn the shapes into sounds via a voice inside our heads and process the language through our aural processors.

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If you are a speaker and put text on slides, you are competing for attention.  

You are competing with yourself.

There are two voices competing for the attention of the listener’s mind – your voice, and their own silent inner voice reading your slides aloud in their minds.

Text is not a Visual Aid.  

Text is not processed through the brain’s visual pathways.  If you want to support your speech with visuals, use images that are processed directly through the brain’s visual channels.  Use photos.  Use simple line drawings like Dan Roam’s back of the Napkin visuals.

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3 responses to “Speakers: Text on Slides is not a Visual Aid”

  1. lalebyquist Avatar
    lalebyquist

    One of the things I have mentioned over the years of speaking in public is that most speakers rely on their presentation. Most of them don’t have an eye contact with the audience and they try to read information from the slides.

    Obviously, you need to have a presentation to support your ideas, and it’s a great idea to use slides that support separate ideas. To learn more about the presentation creation, take a look here: http://presentationskills.me/slides/

    However, you need to know your material by heart. Reading the presentation gives you no credit. Thus, I totally agree that you need to include visuals not text. Deliver a speech and support your ideas with the visual content!

    Reply
  2. Lale Byquist Avatar
    Lale Byquist

    One of the things I have mentioned over the years of speaking in public is that most speakers rely on their presentation. Most of them don’t have an eye contact with the audience and they try to read information from the slides.

    Obviously, you need to have a presentation to support your ideas, and it’s a great idea to use slides that support separate ideas. To learn more about the presentation creation, take a look here: http://presentationskills.me/slides/

    However, you need to know your material by heart. Reading the presentation gives you no credit. Thus, I totally agree that you need to include visuals not text. Deliver a speech and support your ideas with the visual content!

    Reply
  3. แว่นสายตา Avatar
    แว่นสายตา

    Thank you for every other informative site.
    Where else may I am getting that type of information written in such a perfect manner?

    I have a venture that I am just now running on, and I have been at the glance out for such info.

    Reply

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