I have had to write a lot of presentations recently.
One of my major problems with lecturing is not creating the content for the presentation, but taming the medium designed to assist me in my quest to impart knowledge.
One of my biggest faults has being trying to translate the swirling mass of disorganised data in my mind into meaningful, didactic and provoking slides. Designing a non-distracting framework that acts as a virtual mud-map whilst retaining the visual attention of the audience without undue distraction and which can be interpreted without audio… has been challenging
Researching the methodology behind some of the great presenters of visual information led me back to the great 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint by Guy Kawasaki
To prevent an epidemic of Ménière’s in the venture capital community, I am evangelizing the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.
This minimalist approach has been taken to the next level by BrainSlides.com with some stimulating advice on presentation design for educators. In particular a recent post “Doctors Orders – Burn your powerpoint presentations” inspired by the Brain Rules of John Medina produced this evocative presentation
Hopefully this will help trim my 120 slides/30minute talk ratio in the near future!
About Mike Cadogan
If you haven't come across these presentation design blogs and their associated books yet -- check 'em out:
Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com/
Nancy Duarte's blog http://blog.duarte.com/ (slide-ology etc)
Tufte's books are must-read classics as well.
The world would be a better place if more people took public speaking lessons before inflicting slideware presentations on defenceless audiences.
I've never been convinced that the minimalist style really works for scientific presentations. It seems to be fine when Steve Jobs is presenting a few big concepts. (e.g., “The iPhone4 is the best invention ever, you must buy it, and — umm — remember not to touch the corner.”) But if I'm lecturig on, say, the RUSH ultrasound exam in shock, I certainly need more than 10 slides and more than 20 minutes. In fact, I find that the act of putting the slide presentation together helps me organize and edit my thoughts.
One more thing. Forget PowerPoint — Keynote rules! Only make sure you have the specific (and ridiculously expensive) connector you need so your MacBook can link to the projector. I know from experience — without it you're screwed, and you can't count on the audio-visual department for help.
Thanks Leon
Agree with Keynote, and the keynote 09 on the iPad, bluetoothed to laptop and then into projector is a cool way to present.
The minimalist style is a trial to see if I can increase engagement with the audience, which can sometimes be difficult with some of the more complex topics.
I think I am tending more towards 20/20/30
Hi Leon,
Obviously there are degrees of minimalism, but the principle is the same. The fact is you can't have too much data on a slide if you expect people to listen to you. I agree that there has to be a bit more substance in a presentation on scientific medicine than a marketing spiel. However, I suffered 'death by survival analysis curve' at the recent Critical Care Nephrology conference in Sydney — data should be in the handout -- presentations should be about communication. Give me the message and the rationale, I can check the facts and the fine print later.
Chris
Mate, the fact that you now seem to remember when you're supposed to be giving a talk seems to be a step in the right direction!