Designing Visual Aids for Impactful Presentations

PowerPoint Is Killing Your Case. Your Brain Checked Out Three Bullets Ago. Use “Visualization Theory” techniques instead. Lawyers cling to PowerPoint like it’s a security blanket. Twelve bullet points. A case citation. A closing sentence no one remembers. Here’s the reality I’ve come to accept — after decades of trying cases, arbitrating, and presenting to rooms full of smart people: PowerPoint is a terrible persuasion tool because it ignores how the human brain actually works. If you want to understand persuasion, start with the people who study how humans process information. John Sweller — Cognitive Load Theory Sweller’s found the brain has very limited working memory. If your audience is reading text and listening to you at the same time, you’ve already lost them. It’s multitasking inside the human head — and the science says we’re not built for it. Richard Mayer — Multimedia Learning Mayer spent decades testing how people learn from words and images. His conclusion: spoken words + a meaningful visual = retention. But spoken words + on-screen text = overload. One reinforces. One competes. Most presenters unknowingly choose the losing side. Picture Superiority Effect (Standing, Nelson, Paivio) For 50 years, memory research has shown the same thing: People remember pictures far better than words. Not a little better. Orders of magnitude better. This is why a single image or metaphor can anchor an entire presentation. IDEO — Low-Fidelity Visuals IDEO is the design firm that changed how the world prototypes. Their insight is counterintuitive: Rough, hand-drawn visuals outperform polished graphics. Sketches invite you in. Slides that look “finished” shut you out. If your visuals look like marketing, your audience treats them like marketing. Ference Marton — Variation Theory Marton showed that people understand concepts better when they see them in multiple forms. It’s how the mind recognizes patterns and builds meaning. If all your slides look the same, your audience learns nothing new after slide one. So what should advocates actually do using Visualization Theory? • Start with a visual metaphor everyone recognizes. • Use simple sketches, not brochure art. • Change the visual form as you move through your themes. • Keep one clean evidence/data slide behind each sketch. • And stop reading to your audience. They can do that without you. If you want your audience — judge, jury, arbitrator, board — to understand and remember you: Give them a story they can see. Visuals persuade. Text numbs. “The soul never thinks without an image.” — Aristotle

Want your audience to remember nearly 6x more of your presentation? Then start leveraging a cognitive science principle called the Picture Superiority Effect. If people only hear information, recall hovers around 10% in 14 days. But if they both hear and see a compelling visual, recall jumps to 65%. That's a 550% increase! Why? Because of Dual Coding. Your brain stores information in two channels: auditory and visual. When both fire together, memory strengthens. You are not just telling… you are encoding. That is why in the LOUD & CLEAR framework from my book "Silver Goldfish," we share that visualization is not decoration. It is communication. Yesterday, outside Philadelphia, I led a presentation skills workshop for IKEA. Talk about preaching to the choir. Their catalogs and internal decks are masterclasses in visual storytelling. Big images. Clear focus. Minimal words. They understand that images move the message. So, here are two rules to apply immediately in your presentations: 1. Use powerful images. Emotion drives attention. Attention drives recall. 2. Make the image the entire slide. No clutter. No bullets. One idea. One visual. Lagniappe Tip: Use the Rule of Thirds Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid with two vertical and two horizontal lines over your slide. Where the lines cross each other creates four intersection points (aka the "Powerpoints"). Then... • Place the subject of your image on one intersection. • Anchor your text on the opposite side/corner. • Leave white space elsewhere. Your audience’s eye goes to the image first, then to the message. That sequencing improves comprehension and retention. Next time you build a deck, ask yourself: 👉 If I removed all the words, would the slide still tell the story? Because in presenting, people remember what they see… not what you said. #SilverGoldfish #PresentationSkills #Retention #DualCoding

The no-bullsh*t playbook for building a winning MBB-style PPT When a client tells me: “Can you make this deck prettier?”. What they mean is: “I don’t understand a damn thing; help me.” Because if the presentation were clear, no one would care about the design. If MBB was about aesthetics, we’d hire cartoonists and museum curators, not top-tier analysts, economists, and engineers. Yet, people struggle with decks because no one teaches you how to structure a presentation that drives decisions. So here’s your no-BS playbook. Save it. Use it EVERY-SINGLE-TIME. 1. Every great deck starts with the storyline Your presentation is a narrative, not a collection of slides. • Start with the problem → “Why are we even discussing this?” • Support with evidence → “What do we know for sure?” • Lay out the options → “What choices do we have?” • Land the recommendation → “What’s the best move forward?” Start always with the main takeaway and then build the flow. Before jumping into slides, summarize your whole deck in five to ten bullet points; otherwise, you won’t have a deck; you will have a mess. 2. Your slide titles should tell the full story A classic MBB rule: You should be able to read just the slide titles and get the full story. • “Market trends” says nothing. • “The market is growing 15%, but only 3 players capture 80% of the upside” makes the insight obvious. If your audience has to read graphs and footnotes to understand the key message, your slide has failed. 3. Use visuals for impact, not decoration Consultants don’t add charts because they “look nice.” We add them because they clarify the story. A giant data dump with no clear takeaway is useless. A bar chart showing a clear comparison, with the key insight highlighted, adds value. Use the right tool for the job: • Bar charts → For comparisons • Line charts → For trends over time • Scatter plots → For correlations • Heatmaps → To emphasize intensity and distribution • Tables → Only if they’re digestible in seconds Your visuals exist to reduce cognitive load, not increase it. 4. Prioritize signal over noise A simple test: If your boss came and said, “Cut this to 10 slides,” could you do it while keeping all the critical insights? If yes, your deck is well structured. If not, you’re adding noise. Every 100-page deck should be distillable into 10 critical pages if needed. Every slide should add new critical insight. If it doesn’t, move it to backup. 5. Make decisions easy The best decks don’t just inform. They drive decisions. Your final slide should answer: So what? What do we do next? A deck that doesn’t lead to action is just another PowerPoint, not a decision-making tool. Bottom line: A great deck isn’t about aesthetics. It’s about clarity, structure, and impact.

If you want your next presentation to inform, engage, and stick, this is the framework you need….. One of my best reads (A summary) Fact: AI slide generators won’t save you. Powerful slides aren’t about automation. Slides aren’t filler. They’re the frame that holds your message; visually, cognitively, and emotionally. A single slide can speak more powerfully than 10 spoken minutes when done well. ——————————————— ➊ 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲 ➜ A slide = one thought. No more. No less. �� Break complex ideas into digestible visuals. ➋ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 “𝟭 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲” ➜ If it takes longer than a minute to explain a slide… 📌 It’s doing too much. Cut or split it. ➌ 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 ➜ “Results” isn’t a heading. 📌 Try: “This method increases accuracy by 37%.” ➍ 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗹𝘆 ➜ If you won’t speak to it, delete it. 📌 Every extra label is cognitive noise. ➎ 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲 ➜ Add references as you build, not at the end. 📌 A polished slide acknowledges others. ➏ 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀 ➜ Visuals aren’t decoration; they’re delivery tools. 📌 Avoid text-only slides. Always. ➐ 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 ➜ 6 elements max. 📌 Use white space, bold selectively, and avoid clutter. ➑ 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 ➜ If they hear nothing, can they still see the takeaway? 📌 Assume your viewer is half-tuned in and still make an impact. ➒ 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 = 𝗦𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 ➜ Your transitions reveal your thinking. 📌 Practicing reveals which slides don’t flow. ➓ 𝗠𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 ➜ PDFs > animations. Backup slides > failed videos. 📌 Assume something will break and prepare for it. ——————————————— 📍Your slides are not your script. They’re not your paper. They’re your audience’s window into your idea. Make every second of their attention count. 💬 Which slide mistake are you guilty of and ready to fix? ♻️ Repost to help someone transform their next research talk. 📄 Reference: Naegle, K. M. (2021). Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides. PLOS Computational Biology, 17(12): e1009554. #PresentationTips #SlideDesign #AcademicCommunication

7 Science-Backed Principles for Powerful Presentations Most presenters focus on their slides. Top communicators focus on their audience’s brain. 🧠 The psychology of presentations is no longer a mystery. I cover it in the opening chapter in my book Message Machine — “Revealing the hidden psychology of communications.” Here are 7 psychology-based principles that will transform how you present: 1) 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞 ↳ Start and end with impact. ↳ People remember the beginning and the end — make those moments count. 2) 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭-𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 ↳ Don’t narrate your slides. ↳ Reading text aloud while it’s on-screen splits focus and reduces retention. Use simple visuals to reinforce, not repeat. 3) 𝐃𝐮𝐚𝐥-𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 ↳ Pair your message with meaningful visuals. ↳ The brain processes visuals and audio separately. Used wisely, this boosts clarity — but irrelevant images just distract. 4) 𝐂𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 ↳ Clarity is king. ↳ Every extra word or graphic adds cognitive strain. Trim slides to essentials that your audience can absorb instantly. 5) 𝐆𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 ↳ Design with the brain in mind. ↳ Group elements logically. Consistency, proximity, and alignment help the brain form patterns — and improve recall. 6) 𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 “𝐒𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬” ↳ If it doesn’t support your point, cut it. ↳ Fun facts or flashy visuals that don’t serve your message? They dilute impact. 7) 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐚𝐬 ↳ Use conversational language. ↳ Audiences absorb more when your delivery sounds natural. Skip jargon. Speak like a trusted guide. 💬 Which principle do you use most — or want to try next? ♻️ Share this to help your network and follow Oliver Aust to become an elite communicator.

𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭? When I ask, “How long is your presentation?” and my client answers, “Twelve slides,” I know we’re in trouble. 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞. If you start building your presentation by creating slides, you may be sabotaging what could be a brilliant message. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭. 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. Use a whiteboard, flip chart, or legal pad to plan what you want to say and why it matters. Once that’s clear, ask: “Where do visuals help tell my story better?” 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝟑 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥: Use fewer words. Your audience can't read and listen at the same time. Spread your content across more slides, use fewer words, and great visuals to communicate your ideas. 𝐆𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝. Want the audience’s attention on you, not the screen? Press “B” for black. It’s a pro move that brings eyes and focus right back to the speaker. 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. Does your slide deck look like it could work for anyone? Personalize it. Add their logo. Refer to their priorities. Speak their language. 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. When I was delivering a virtual presentation for SHRM in Mexico, I removed every image of people and replaced them with pictures of people from Mexico. A week later, I presented to SHRM in Barbados. Yes, you guessed it. These images were replaced with people who live in Barbados. The content was the same as I would deliver in the US. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫… 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. #presentationskillsexpert #keynotespeaker #publicspeaking #frippvt