The science of effective presentations

Our brains are hardwired for specific types of content.

Visual: 90% of the information we take in comes to us through our eyes.[1]  Stories: Stories take up nearly 2/3 of our dailyconversations.[2]  Interactions: Two-way conversations help “sync” our brains in a process of “neural coupling”. [3]

When creating more engaging, persuasive, and memorable presentations, by all means incorporate story telling and two-way presentations where appropriate, but above all – video is the most effective way to convey information.   In this age of on-demand smartphones videos and ubiquitous wi-fi, presenters have to fight harder than ever to grab and keep their audience’s attention.  It is especially true when dealing with younger audiences, people who grew up with smartphones in their hands. And a presentation with cool video effects is the shortcut to getting their attention.

The main takeaway is that Visuals are more engaging—and convey information much faster—than words.

We all heard the old saying: "Better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times.” Reserach shows that it is true.

The human brain takes only about 1/4 second to process and attach meaning to a symbol [4], such as a road sign. By comparison, it takes us an average of 6-7 seconds to read some 20-25 words. And even then, a text just "read" often does not translate to its "comprehension", whether immediate or after a while, which is a whole different ball of wax.

Seeing is believing: Presentations using visual aids are 43% more persuasive than those without. [10] “The brain works best visually. A lot of the information we encounter every day is abstract. If you associate it with a picture, it’s easier for the brain to latch onto" [12], said Nelson Dellis, "Memory Champion".

Engage Your Audience

As marketing reserach and our own colective experience show, the old vanilla Power Point Presentations are pretty much a thing of the past. What often makes them ineffective, is when they are cluttered with numerous details: text (in small font), numbers and graphs that are impossible to grasp when simultaneously listening to the speaker. This type of "multitasking" — trying to decypher the many visual details displayed on a slide all at once, and to foolow the speaker — just does not work too well.

– We cannot simultaneously read and listen. Yet, this is precisely what most speakers with their traditional Power Point slide shows and presentations force us to do. People can process detailed information when they do so at their own pace, and only when they are interested in the details. A good presentation should really focuse on its basic concepts, giving the audience an option of addressing the many details, burried in the presentation's handouts, on their own time, rather than during the presentation. “When people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly (switching from reading to listening to absorbing the graphics), and often missing portions of one aspect of the presentation or another.” [5]

Experience shows that contemporary engaging Videos allow us to present information most effectively, making for lively, cool, attention-grabbing presentations. Ultimately, Videos make a difference between putting your audience to sleep Vs. inducing them to enthusiastically embrace your ideas and buy yor products and services.