Strategies in Public Speaking: Using Visuals with PowerPoint

00:01 So now you have stories for each one of your message points.

00:04 What else can you do to really increase the odds that your audience will remember your message? Another tool is to use a visual.

00:14 Now, if you have good stories, you're forcing people to visualize things when they hear you.

00:20 But if you actually give them something visual to look at, then they don't have to do any creative thinking.

00:27 They're just going to instantly see that.

00:29 Now, the most commonly used visual in presentations is the PowerPoint slide.

00:35 Now I know some of you have instant reactions when you hear the phrase PowerPoint because you think, Oh, PowerPoint is awful, it's horrible, it's boring, and yet we have to use PowerPoint in our company.

00:47 Here's the thing, there's nothing inherently awful about PowerPoint.

00:51 Saying PowerPoint is awful is like saying all television is awful.

00:55 Well, sure, some TV is awful.

00:59 But if you love World Cup soccer, and you can't afford to fly to the games, watching World Cup soccer on TV is great TV.

01:07 We all have certain things we like watching on TV.

01:11 So the problem is not PowerPoint, it's how people use it.

01:16 The number one way most people use PowerPoint is just to throw lots and lots and lots of bullet points.

01:23 Text their script.

01:24 They're thinking, Wow, this is going to be easy.

01:27 I don't have to know what I'm saying.

01:28 I don't have to practice, rehearse, memorize.

01:32 I can just follow the PowerPoint.

01:36 The problem, of course, is if you're reading the script, the audience can read it too. So why does anyone need you? It's boring when you're reading a PowerPoint and you're destroying your eye contact because you can no longer look at your audience members.

01:53 You're fixated on your slides in front of you or you're turning around in your back.

01:59 So that's the real problem.

02:02 Now, there are a lot of different theories out there on PowerPoint.

02:05 My theories are based on having tested them in the real world in front of live audiences, and you can do the same thing.

02:14 I don't want you to take my word for anything to do with PowerPoint test, but here's the test. Put up your slide, give your presentation when you're done.

02:23 Ask people what your slides were.

02:25 If they don't remember it, it didn't work.

02:28 It's horrible.

02:29 Take it. Tear it up and throw it in the trash can.

02:33 If people did remember your slide and what was on it and what the message is, it did work. That means you passed.

02:42 Keep the slide. It's effective.

02:43 It really comes down to that.

02:45 If people remember your slides and the message is from it, it works.

02:49 Now, here's the rule of thumb that I follow and that I get my clients to follow who really want to be effective speakers.

02:56 If you're using PowerPoint, don't use text.

03:01 I know, I know.

03:02 I know. You can tell me. Well, that's crazy talk.

03:05 In our corporate culture, we have five bullet points and we have eight words per bullet point. And that's the way it's that it's done that way a lot of places doesn't mean it's effective.

03:19 The most effective way to use PowerPoint is to put one image per slide and to have that just convey one idea.

03:31 By the way, this is not a PowerPoint presentation.

03:33 This is just something to make it look a little fancier.

03:36 This is just a TV screen with a video loop going behind it.

03:39 I'm not trying to get you to focus on any one thing.

03:41 It's just something to create a little atmosphere.

03:45 When you're using PowerPoint, you shouldn't be throwing up lots and lots of pictures. My recommendation, one pitch, not four different pictures that convey the point.

03:56 Just one picture per slide.

04:01 That's the most effective way to use PowerPoint.

04:04 Someone should hear you talk about the concept, see the image up on the slide, and instantly make the connection of what your point is. Drives it home now they can understand it better and remember it better.

04:20 The rule of thumb for any slide is does it make your audience understand the idea more than you simply saying it? And does it make your audience remember the message more than you just saying it? If you can't say yes to both questions, it's not a good slide. Now, what I recommend for most of my clients and what I do myself is when I'm creating a PowerPoint presentation, I use two PowerPoints. One is the traditional lots of bullet points, lots of text, lots of words, email it to people in advance.

05:00 If it is a handout posted on a website, but do not project it when you're standing up speaking in front of people.

05:09 The second PowerPoint is just for you to show when you're standing in front of people and you have something to project on a big screen that should consist of images.

05:23 One image per slide.

05:24 One idea per slide.

05:26 Not text.

05:27 I understand if that's not the way it's done in your company.

05:31 I understand if you haven't even seen it done.

05:33 Now, what I'm telling you as an expert who's worked with 10,000 clients around the country, around the world from six different continents.

05:43 This is what actually works.

05:47 But again, I don't want you to just blindly follow what I say.

05:50 I do want you to do one thing I ask for, and that is test.

05:54 You're giving a PowerPoint presentation to 40 colleagues or 40 new business prospects on Thursday.

06:02 Find three colleagues lunch time Tuesday.

06:05 Maybe offer to buy them a sandwich.

06:07 Give them your presentation when you're done.

06:12 Ask them every slide they remember.

06:14 Ask them every message they remember, any slide they remember.

06:18 You now have empirical evidence.

06:20 It works. Keep it good job.

06:23 But any slide, they don't remember exactly what it was, exactly what the message was, exactly what was on that slide.

06:31 If they can't remember your slide, you now have empirical evidence that that slide was garbage. Throw it away or keep it as the handout.

06:40 Keep it as something that you're emailing to people in advance or handing out afterwards.

06:46 I do not recommend that you give somebody the full printout of your PowerPoint and put it down in front of them right before you speak.

06:55 Because most people can read much faster than people can talk.

07:00 You can talk 140 to 160 words per minute.

07:03 People can read sometimes six, seven, 800, 900 words per minute.

07:08 So if someone's interested in your topic and you give them the whole deck and it has lots and lots and lots of text, it's more efficient and more rational for them to be doing this and ignoring you.

07:21 Why would you want to encourage people to ignore you? It makes absolutely no sense.

07:28 That's one of the huge problems of PowerPoint is you're asking your audience to multitask.

07:36 Hey, audience member Listen to me.

07:39 No, ignore me.

07:40 Look at this handout. No, ignore that.

07:41 And look at what's here. Up on this slide, you're asking people to multitask.

07:45 All the clinical research on multitasking shows human beings simply aren't good at it.

07:50 If you doubt me, look at the highways and look at all the people basically killing themselves because they can't resist driving and texting.

07:57 At the same time, human beings are not good at multitasking.

08:02 All the research shows that if you give one person one task, let them finish it, give them another task, let them finish it, give them a third task, let them finish it. Versus giving the three tasks to one person and say, do it all at once.

08:18 The person who is given it one at a time will finish all three tasks sooner than the multitasker with fewer errors.

08:28 And I believe in taking that approach when it comes to audiences and PowerPoint slides.

08:33 If you're speaking, don't have a slide up.

08:36 If you have a slide up, don't talk.

08:39 Let people look at the slide.

08:41 If you're giving somebody a handout, give it to them, let them read it, wait till their head comes up and they're looking at you again before you start talking.

08:52 Great speakers are keenly aware at all times of what their audiences are doing and what they're looking at.

09:00 So if you want more tips on PowerPoint, there's a chapter in both of the books that are attached in this course below, and I'll give you even more examples and more studies.

09:12 But again, the basic rule of thumb is just test it on audiences.

09:18 It's really not that complicated, folks.

09:20 And here is the number one tip I can tell you is audiences don't remember bullet points in text.

09:28 You can say it has to be done that way.

09:30 You can say these experts are saying, well, three bullet points and eight words test, I might deceive you.

09:38 Other presentation experts might deceive you, but your audience can't deceive you if they don't remember it.

09:46 They can't really lie to you and tell you they do remember it.

09:48 And here's what the message is. They're not going to be able to do that.

09:51 So the ultimate arbiter is not me.

09:55 It's not what other presentation experts say, and it's not even what you like to do or what's convenient for you.

10:01 The ultimate is what does your audience remember? So keep that in mind when it comes to PowerPoint.

10:07 Also, keep in mind PowerPoint is only one visual tool.

10:11 There's nothing wrong with props.

10:13 So, for example, when I want to convey the importance of video recording yourself, I don't just say video, record yourself out, reach into my pocket, pull out my cell phone, and I'll say, It's simple.

10:25 All you have to do is talk to your own cell phone.

10:28 So nothing wrong with a simple prop like that.

10:31 Additionally, I mean, look at someone like Steve Jobs.

10:34 He had all the technology in the world at his disposal.

10:38 Now his company doesn't use PowerPoint.

10:40 They have their version of it called Keynote.

10:43 He can obviously use that.

10:44 But when he wanted to unveil his newest, thinnest laptop, he didn't just put up a slide that says thinnest and 0.2 inches.

10:55 He didn't put up facts like that.

10:56 He said, How thin is this new laptop? He paused.

11:02 He had someone walk out on stage, hand him an envelope. He says It's this thin and reach into the envelope and he pulled out the laptop.

11:13 Here it is many, many years later and people all over the world remember that.

11:18 It just drove home this image and this message of, wow, this laptop is really thin and light.

11:26 So just because you can use PowerPoint, just because it's easy for you doesn't mean you should overlook other basic tools props, real world things, things that are tangible, because that's what helps the memory process.

11:40 So that's your lesson.

11:42 That's your homework lesson right now.

11:43 Come up with a visual for each and every one of your message points.

11:47 It could be a PowerPoint slide, it could be an actual prop, but you need a visual for every single slide.

11:55 That's your homework.

11:56 Do it now.