EYN #006 - Understand the Split Brain Problem and Change The Way You Present Forever

Read Time: 3 mins

Visual aids are such an important part of presentations and storytelling.  They make the complex simple.  They create deeper emotional engagement.  They make people learn more effectively. 

And yet "Death by Powerpoint" is a proven medical condition :)

So, visual aids are important, but most people are bad at them.  They create ineffective, low impact visual aids that make things worse.

Why are they so bad?!? 

Well, let me tell you about the Split Brain Problem.

The Split Brain problem is where the visual aid distracts the audience from the presenter.  Our attention gets split.  Half our brain is listening, and the other half is engaging with the visual aid.  The narrative and visual aid don’t complement each other.  The narrative is talking about X but they audience are looking at Y.   For all concerned, visual aids like this are bad.

For you as a presenter it has a huge impact:

• The power of the message reduces
• Recall and memorability of your message decreases
• Audience engagement disappears

The two most common scenarios where I see this are:

• Wordy Slides
• Complex diagrams

So let's solve each of those scenarios.

Fix Wordy Slides

1. Move the bullet points to your notes
2. Use an emotionally engaging picture
3. Trust your narrative.

Your notes shouldn't be your visual aid, but don't be scared to used notes.  Either print them off or use Powerpoint Presenter view.  Your notes don't need to be on your slides for all to see. They should be in your hand or on your laptop monitor.  Here's a really simple before and after.  Nobody can distract themselves with bullet point number 5 whilst you're talking about bullet point 1.

Animate and Build Complex Diagrams

Tech is Complex.  Diagrams help people understand that complexity.  But don't just whack it all on the screen straight away. 

Use animations to build the complexity slowly.  It stops you overwhelming people.  It stops you distracting people.  It helps people engage.

 Turn 1 complex diagram into multiple slides, and build the complex from simple blocks.

To do this:

• Paste the diagram as a picture on different slides
• Drop each diagram on each different slide.
• Then use a "Morph" slide transition to move between them.
• You can control the narrative and ensure people are focused on the components you're talking about.

In Summary

Visual Aids should support your narrative, not distract from it.  Put less on the screen, reveal it at the right time and watch the level of audience engagement rise.

Hope this helps

BenP

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