Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides

1. Rethinking the Designof Presentation Slides Michael Alley Engineering Communication Penn State January 2007 [Zess and Thole, 2001] Templates: http://writing.eng.vt.edu/slides.html Templates: http://writing.eng.vt.edu/slides.html

2. Rethinking the Designof Presentation Slides [Zess and Thole, 2001] Templates: http://writing.eng.vt.edu/slides.html Templates: http://writing.eng.vt.edu/slides.html

3. This presentation compares several methods for reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide More memorable More persuasive This presentation presents a slide design that is more effective than PowerPoint’s default design More readily understood

4. Recently, slides following PowerPoint’s defaults have received much criticism Tiresome after two or three slides Too many words [Parker, 2001] [Tufte, 2003] [Schwartz, 2003] [Keller, 2003] 3

5. Sentence headline Visual evidence No bullet lists [Alley and Neeley, 2005] [Mayer, 2001] [Shaw and others, 1996] [Thole and Zess, 2001] Our slide design arises from principles of rhetoric, cognitive psychology, and human factors

6. Fillet Fillet on dorsal fin of shark Fillet Fillet on Seawolf submarine [Devenport et al., 1991] Fillets reduceleading edge vortices in nature and in engineering [Rader, 1997] 5

7. Sentences orient the audience much better than phrases do Sentences force the presenter to wrestle with the argument The sentence headline should state succinctly the purpose or assertion of the slide 6

8. Tinf– Taw Tinf– Tslot 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 -0.5 Passage vortex Leading edge vortex With Fillet Computations show that the fillet prevents the leading edge vortex and delays the passage vortex Without Fillet 7

9. To make slides memorable, you have to considerwhat to include and what to exclude Not memorable 8

10. This presentation compares several methods for reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide To make slides memorable, you have to considerwhat to include and what to exclude [Schmidt, 1989] 8

11. Bullets are not memorable, because bullets do not show the connections • Accelerometer outputs an analog voltage • Hardware converts analog signal to digital • Computer samples a number of points • Data is exported to popular applications [Shaw and others, 1998] 10

12. Accelerometer outputs an output voltage Computer samples a number of points Audiences can remember more when details are presented visually Hardware converts analog signal to digital Data is exported to popular applications [Robertshaw, 2004] 11

13. Comparison: Test scores on same questions Same message delivered with new slide design Students: Fall 2005 In a pilot study, we tested this new design in the teaching slides of a large geology course Message delivered with typical slide design Students: Fall 2004 [Alley et al.,2006]

14. Iron • An abundant metal, makes up 5.6% of earth’s crust • Properties: • shaped, sharpened, welded • strong, durable • Accounts for >95% of metals used • Iron ores discovered in 1844 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula • Soon found other ores in upper Wisconsin and Minnesota Iron Ore Distribution Kesler 1994

15. Where is the largest concentration of iron ores in North America? Iron ores make up 5.6% of the earth’s crustand account for 95% of the metals used Iron Ore Distribution Iron ore [www.star-bits.com] • Is strong and durable • Can be shaped, sharpened, and welded [Kesler 1994]

16. When the tested assertion was in the sentence headline, students performed significantly better Q: How abundant is iron in the earth’s crust? Led to 59% recall Led to 77% recall Level of significance < 0.001 [Alley et al.,2006] 15

17. When answers resided in the sentence headlines, students scored higher on identical test questions Q: Percentage of world’s resources that the U.S. uses? Led to 71% correct Led to 82% correct p < 0.025 [Alley et al.,2006] 16

18. 3.5 Statistically significant increase No significant difference Statistically significant decrease Statistically significant increase No significant difference Statistically significant decrease 3.0 2.5 2.0 Score (Sentence) / Score (Traditional) 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Question When the tested assertion was in the sentence headline, students performed significantly better Overall percent correct (traditional headline): 70% Overall percent correct (sentence headline): 82% p < 0.001

19. Sentence headline can clarify assertions Images in body can supply cogent evidence Design leads to fewer slides, which can increase ethos The slide design presented here is more persuasive than PowerPoint’s default design 18 [Zhu, 2002]

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21. Audiences are more likely to believe an argument if they know the assertions and assumptions Claim: assertion Warrant: assumption [Toulmin, 2003] [Marthinsen, 2004]

22. more readily understood more persuasive [Zess and Thole, 2001] In summary, this slide design is much more effective than PowerPoint’s default design more memorable Templates: http://writing.eng.vt.edu/slides.html

23. References Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Presentations (New York: Springer-Verlag, 2003), chap 4. Alley, Michael, and Kathryn A. Neeley, "Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides: A Case for Sentence Headlines and Visual Evidence," Technical Communication, vol. 52, no. 4 (Nov. 2005), pp. 417-426. Alley, Michael, Madeline Schreiber, Katrina Ramsdell, and John Muffo, "How the Design of Headlines in Presentation Slides Affects Audience Retention," Technical Communication, vol. 53, no. 2 (May 2006), pp. 225-234. Atkinson, Cliff, Beyond Bullet Points: How to Use Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 2005). Carney, Russell N., and Joel R. Levin, “Pictorial Illustrations Still Improve Students’ Learning from Text,” Educational Psychology Review, vol. 14, no. 1 (March 2002), pp. 5–26. Doumont, Jean-luc, "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Not All Slides Are Evil,“ Technical Communication, vol. 52, no. 1 (February 2005), pp. 64-70. Gottlieb, Larry, "New-Breed Presentationists Sometimes Closely Collaborate on Presentations," Proceedings of the 1984 Professional Communication Society Conference of the IEEE (Atlantic City, NJ: IEEE, October 10-12, 1984). Marthinsen, Gunnhild, Jan Lifjeld, and Liv Wennerberg, "Population Differentiation in Dunlins Caladris alpine in Northern Europe," presentation (Oslo, Norway: University of Oslo, 12 June 2004). Robertshaw, Harry, “Class Period 15: Signals and Systems,” Classroom presentation in ME 4005 (Blacksburg, VA, Virginia Tech, 16 March 2004). Schmidt, Cynthia, “Methods to Reduce Sulfur Dioxide Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants,” Presentation (Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin, December 1989). Shaw, Gordon, Robert Brown, and Philip Bromiley, “Strategic Stories: How 3M Is Rewriting Business Planning,” Harvard Business Review, (May–June, 1998), pp. 41–50. Zess, Gary, and Karen Thole, “Computational Design and Experimental Evaluation of Using a Leading Edge Fillet on a Gas Turbine Vane,” Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Exposition, 2001-GT-404 (New Orleans: IGTI, 5 June 2001). Zhu, Julie, “IDEAS Simulation of Thermal Stresses Between Substrate and Copper Stripes with Different Widths,” Presentation (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, 2 May 2002). 18