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/