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You are asking your *audience* to take some action, or to believe something. No slide is without specific meaning, context, and sequence.* The main character in the story should not be your company or your research. Your presentation should have a beginning, middle, and end.
Without getting too technical, Atkinson weaves cognitive science into the how-tos of using PowerPoint. The two streams of information should not copy each other; they should complement each other.* When creating a show, write out your full narration in the off-screen text box in Notes Page view. Atkinson's book challenges all us presenters to set aside our old habits and assumptions.
It's your *private* TelePrompter.* Use a story structure. He discusses research realities that can improve our presentations, including* Help your audience learn by 'chunking' new information.* Presentations do not occur in a paper medium.
They are like a movie, with a visual track and an audio track (your narration).
This means that I can1) Identify the elements of ACT 1 in any presentation - structured or prose format / decision-making or informational type2) Use the concepts to create ACT 1 in my presentationsI also have a copy of Weismann's "Presenting to Win" - eager to see how these 2 publications compare conceptually. Specifically:Page 102: "The motif should already exist in your audience's long-term memory"I had to re-state this as a rule:Use a motif which already exists in your audience's mind The PRINCIPLE behind this ( in Mr Atkinson's own words somewhere on the same page ) :"Introducing a pre-existing structure reduces cognitive load".Like-wise on page 104:"The best motifs are extendable" Re-stated as a rule :"Select motifs which are extendable".The PRINCIPLE behind this ( buried in the elaborative details which follow):"The more elegantly a single motif can extend through all levels of the presentation, the more impact it will have.Overall, if the rest of the book is based on the same spirit as the first 115 pages, I highly recommend the book. I can already say that I can apply all the principles and concepts presented so far. I've gone through the content for ACT 1. That will be the subject of another review. All the concepts and principles are spelt out - albeit buried under the mountain of details.However, I experienced semantic problems. This review is based on that.Surprisingly and despite the many details ( I suppose necessary for illustration purposes ) , the content is very useful. For instance on the part of motifs, Mr Atkinson seems to use rules and principles interchangeably.I had to re-state the content in order to make meaning.
Today we work AGAINST ourselves and this book shows how to increase the value of a presentation through the use of visual media. Terrific book and one of a few that mark change for the future of presentation, whether its in technical education (where I work), sales, or any situation where successfully transferring information and influencing is important. We will look back at the way its done now like we now look at George Washington's Wooden teeth or the idea that the Sun revolves around the Earth.
If you want to persuade, inform, or teach a group of folks, this book will really help. This book goes beyond the nuts and bolts of putting together a great PowerPoint presentation. It goes deep into the psychology of human attention and our ability to comprehend new material.
Sometimes I think they belabor some points, but it may be necessary to ride our minds of old ways of thinking. This book fixes that in plain language and step by step directions. Great philosophy. I hate when people read me things off of power points, it makes it seem like such a waste of time.
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