Better an Oral Presentation or Slides?
Arm Talk, PowerPoint or Prezi: Which presentation is most effective? This time, the issue is not at the center of the no-talk between colleagues, but a study at the Department of Psychology at the prestigious Harvard University. The researchers simulated a realistic scenario in which the participants in the experiment were called to make their presentations as if they were explaining a business project and assisting them with clients. After collecting the feedback, it was found that the listeners had matured different views on the presented project but that the diversity of opinion had not been generated by the medium through which it had been exposed, as the scenario was instead captured by everyone to the same manner. In the conclusions, "the presentation medium is just one of the many factors that determine the success of a presentation and presentations through all kinds of modes can be successful or fail." 3 Tips for Effective Presentation If science seems to be overwhelmed with "just enough," it is best to use the wisdom of experience. Let's take a step back, let's go out of Harvard University's scientific laboratory, and go back to the dear old advice of colleagues for a compelling presentation inspired directly by the three modes of the experiment. 1. Oral presentation - not a man show "I never slide, I talk to my arm!": Even not. You are presenting a project, are explaining a topic, you are telling an experience: in any case, you are not the subject of the presentation, so do not eclipse the presentation with your presence. You will be the best public speaker in the world, but you can not ignore a factor: the audience must have visual references through which to follow the thread of speech, so you should be accompanied by slides, a few, essential, necessary but straightforward. 2. PowerPoint - Tell the slides, tell the voice How many times have we found in front of the slide completely invaded by text? How many times have we heard the rapporteur repeat the same words written on the slide? And how many times did we ask "why ???". With so many words in the voice and many words on the slides, the audience is forced to choose whether to listen or read, and the third slide stops doing both of these things. Let's just point to slides on the key concepts of the presentation, so we get a sort of map that drives us into the show and the audience in understanding. If you feel the need to have support for your speech, prepare slides or personalized leaflets to browse through during the show. There is nothing wrong with looking for ways to be more confident in your own speech! Forcing others to read dozens of tedious slides instead stretches sadism. 3. Prezi - Surprise, but with style Zoom, bounce, scroll, rotate, blur, color. Images, videos, and music. And here we enter the amulets that make up the company logo, right? No! Just as so many words can lose focus, too many animations can have the same effect. The effects are used to emphasize the importance of a content, highlighting it in relation to the others, so they must be used with moderation and specific presentation points. The risk is to flatten the tone by making unobserved the content that he needed to be more prominent. Transitions should also be considered as a way to emphasize spontaneous links between themes, not a moment of entertainment. The goal is always to stimulate understanding and interest. The final picture of the contents must remember more neurons and synapses organically working in the brain than the arms and legs are randomly interwoven on a Twister carpet to understand. These were some tips for an effective presentation. What are yours? Read the full article
