Best Practices in Presentation Design

CURING DEATH BY POWERPOINT

Monthly Workshop Series17 April 2019

PRESENTERGALEN DAVISDirector of Faculty DevelopmentThe Learning House

(he/him/his)

LEARNING OBJECTIVESBy the end of this session, you should be able to:

• Describe how current research in cognitive psychology informs presentation and multimedia design.

• Identify PowerPoint-specific best practices for designing and delivering effective presentations.

AGENDA

1. Multimedia and Presentation Principles

2. PowerPoint-Specific Tips

1. MULTIMEDIA AND PRESENTATION PRINCIPLES

2. POWERPOINT-SPECIFIC TIPS

THE PROMISE OF MULTIMEDIA LEARNING

People learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.

RICHARD E. MAYERMultimedia Learning (4)

INFORMATION PROCESSING

1. Dual channel

2. Limited capacity

3. Active processing

Source: Mayer (2009)

THE RULE OF FOUR• The brain groups items into

chunks (recoding)

• Chunking aids recall

• We can hold ~ 4 items of information in memory

• Each unit can contain up to 4 sub-items

COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY

INTRINSICLOAD

GERMANELOAD

EXTRANEOUSLOAD

MANAGE OPTIMIZE MINIMIZE

PRINCIPLES OF MULTIMEDIA LEARNING1. Coherence2. Signaling3. Redundancy4. Spatial Contiguity5. Temporal Contiguity6. Segmenting7. Pre-training8. Modality9. Multimedia10. Personalization11. Voice12. Image

Source: Mayer (2009)

Exclude extraneous material.Highlight essential material.Use graphics or text (not both).Put corresponding pictures and words near each other.Present corresponding words and pictures simultaneously. Allow users to control the pace, or chunk presentations. Identify key terms beforehand.Avoid using onscreen text during narration.Use pictures and words rather than just words alone.Use a conversational (not formal) style.Human voices are more effective.You don’t necessarily need to include video of yourself.

Reduceextraneous load

Manageintrinsic load

Optimizegermane load

PRESENTATION DESIGN PRINCIPLES• Relevance

• Appropriate knowledge

• Salience

• Discriminability

• Perceptual organization

• Compatibility

• Informative changes

• Capacity limitations

Present neither too little nor too much.

The audience needs to understand your terms in advance.

Attention is drawn to large perceptible differences.

Differences have to be big enough to be perceptible.

People group elements into units for easier recall.

Form and meaning should be compatible.

People expect changes in properties to carry information.

People have a limited capacity to retain and process information.

Connect withyour audience

Direct and holdattention

Promote transferand recall

WHAT DO THESE THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES TELL US ABOUT PRESENTATIONS?• A presentation is a part of a larger performance.

• Your slides are not memory aids.

• Visual aids must be designed thoughtfully.

COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY

COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY

TAKEAWAYS• Humans have dual-channel, limited capacity, active processing

learning systems.• Humans can hold about 4 units of information (each with 4 sub-

units) in memory.• To craft effective multimedia messages for learning, designers

should eliminate extraneous load, manage intrinsic load, and foster germane load.

• To deliver effective presentations, presenters should connect with their audiences, direct and hold their attention, and promote transfer and recall.

1. MULTIMEDIA AND PRESENTATION PRINCIPLES

2. POWERPOINT-SPECIFIC TIPS

TEMPLATES• Use widescreen templates

• Use templates with dark backgrounds

• Avoid nonconventionaltemplates

SLIDES TO (ALMOST) ALWAYS INCLUDE• About the presenter*

• Advance organizer

• Section headers

• Section summaries

• Takeaways

IMAGES• Don’t change aspect ratios (stretch/squish)

• Use high resolution images

• Use the selection pane

• Be aware of copyright

IMAGE CREATION• Useful features:

– Image cropping– Color adjustment– Various “artistic effects”– Layering– Shape creation– “Save as picture”– Screenshots

DATA VISUALIZATION: QUESTIONS• Do you want to illustrate relative

amounts?

• Do you have data needed for a specific purpose?

• Can you use concepts and displayformats that are familiar to the audience?

Source: Kosslyn (2007)

OBJECT ARRANGEMENT• Try to ensure similar spacing

• Set text line spacing “after” : ≥ 6 pt

• Respect the rule of four

• Try to keep bullets similarly sized

OBJECT ANIMATIONS• Make objects fully visible only when discussed

• Use weird animations only for emphasis

• Check effect options and timing

• Use the “morph” transition to your advantage

THE STATIC MEDIA HYPOTHESIS

“Animated visuals (i.e., video) use more cognitive resources than comparable static (or still) visuals (e.g., pictures, illustrations), perhaps due to the presentation of more extraneous details.”

Source: McCabe (2011)

INTEGRATING VIDEO

• Be aware of the presentation medium

• Edit the video beforehand

ADDITIONAL TIPS• Indicate clicks in your script

• Consider “outline view” for early drafts

• If needed, convert SmartArt to separate objects

• Use “record slide show” to create voiceover PowerPoint videos

TAKEAWAYS: POWERPOINT TIPS• Use conventional, dark templates.

• Always include slides that highlight/reinforce an organizational structure, provide section summaries, and summarize the entire presentation.

• Select and insert imagery and data visualizations thoughtfully.• Animate objects to draw focus.

• Be mindful when embedding video.

CONCLUSION

TAKEAWAYS• People have finite limits on the amount of information they

can process, and the specifics of these psychological processes guide the design of effective educational presentations.

• Use PowerPoint’s features to arrange and animate objects, create and highlight a logical structure, and maximize learning.

• Effective presentation design takes time.

DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS

GALEN DAVISDirector of Faculty Development

ReferencesClark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2016). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers

of multimedia learning (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.David, L. (n.d.). E-learning theory (Mayer, Sweller, Moreno). Retrieved from http://www.learning-theories.com/e-learning-theory-

mayer-sweller-moreno.html.Kosslyn, S. (2007). Clear and to the point: 8 psychological principles for compelling PowerPoint presentations. New York:

Oxford University Press.Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.McCabe, J. (2011, April). Metacognitive awareness of learning strategies in undergraduates. Memory Cognition, 39(3), 462-

476.Miller, G. A. (1994, April). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing

information. Psychological Review, 101(2), 343-352. Retrieved from http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/peterson/psy430s2001/Miller%20GA%20Magical%20Seven%20Psych%20Review%201955.pdf

World Wide Web Consortium. (2018, June 5). Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Retrieved from https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/

gdavis@learninghouse.com