Now Presenting: Text-Heavy Slides a Real Snooze February 18, 2008
A recently completed survey of 604 people done by Dave Paradi of ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com, found that audiences of PowerPoint presentations are most annoyed by the overuse of text on slides.
The results point to the need for presenters to increase the use of relevant visuals to replace text and allow more of a conversation with the audience instead of a recitation of the slide text, Paradi notes.
When asked to select the top three things that annoy them about bad PowerPoint presentations, the respondents cited the following as the most annoying: • "The speaker read the slides to us" - 67.4% • "Full sentences instead of bullet points" - 45.4% • "Text so small I couldn't read it" - 45%
The participants in the survey see a lot of presentations, with 62% saying they see 100 or more presentations per year. And these annoying elements show up often, with one-third of the respondents saying they spot them in over half of all the presentations they see.
What adds value to a visual is one that is accompanied by some text, but also starts a conversation that enhances the understanding of the audience. The audience also sees the visual and draws its own conclusions that contribute to the discussion. A visual should not be added for decoration, but serve a clear purpose in delivering the message, Paradi says.
More detailed results of the survey, including analysis of more than 360 additional written-in comments, is available at www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
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