Text

Text

Limitations of text as a visual aid
Creating text slides
Presenting with text visuals
PowerPoint text
Improving dull pre-made presentations
Special audience needs

Limitations of text as a visual aid

Although commonly used in PowerPoint presentations, text is actually the least effective type of visual aid. This is because on-screen text only repeats what you have just said (or you repeat what the audience has just read). This has the effect of reaching the same part of the brain twice rather than stimulating extra parts. It’s the same as repeating everything you say out loud. Lots of text slides which the speaker reads are known as ‘Death by PowerPoint’ and are disliked by audiences and learners everywhere.

Speech alone stimulates a limited part of the brain

For most adult teaching and presentation situations, on-screen text is best kept to a minimum. If you do use text slides, use them like newspaper headlines (see below).

On-screen words merely ‘hit’ the same part of the brain twice

On-screen text does help learners in the following situations:

teaching a foreign language

displaying new words or names

summarising topics covered so far

Creating text slides

The rule with on-screen text is: 'Less is more'. Don't try to place lots of information on a slide, your words will provide the bulk of the information. The remainder can be provided in handouts. Remember, however compelling you may be as a presenter or teacher, there is still a limit to the amount of new information people can take in at one time!

Limit your text to a brief summary, leaving out as many words as is possible while retaining meaning. Aim to omit 'and', 'the', etc. Look at the two slides below - imagine the speaker is talking about the aims of the company over the next five years, which slide do you think is the most effective?

The slide on the left is better suited to a web based presentation with no speaker

Presenting with text visuals

When presenting or teaching with a text visual, it is still possible to take your listeners into the screen. Ask them, 'Which do you think is the most important of these three things?', or 'What do you think about that statement?'. Try to minimise the amount of words you read aloud from the screen - save that for statements of momentous importance that warrant repeating.

If you are presenting with on-screen text, use the 'Newspaper' technique - treat the on-screen text as the headline and your voice as the article. Avoid reading the 'headline', the audience will already have done that - you provide the interesting detail to go with it.

PowerPoint text sizes, etc

Follow these simple rules to help your audiences read your screen text:

Use a minimum font size of 32

Choose a 'sans serif' font such as Ariel

Avoid whole words in upper case (capitals) as this is harder to read

Use clearly contrasting colours such as black text on white background or yellow on blue

If placing text over a picture, put it on a banner to separate from the picture

Once you have created your slides, go back and remove as many words as you can without losing the meaning

Don't have text whizzing in from one side or spiralling in - it may make you feel creative, but it does nothing for your audiences and actually makes some people feel seasick!

Improving dull ready made presentations

Many teachers and presenters are provided with presentations made up of large numbers of dull text based slides (often referred to as Death by PowerPoint). Don't be afraid to change things around. Try removing some of the 'wordier' slides and giving them instead as handouts. Insert some pictures and charts to break up the run of text slides. If you show the result to the originator, he/she might actually like what you've done and make it a permanent change.

Special audience needs

Following the suggestions above about minimum text size and contrasting backgrounds will help most learners. However, text may not suit audience members who have difficulty reading or are dyslexic. The best plan is to find out about any special needs among your audience or learners before the event so that you can offer an alternative which meets their needs. If there is no way of contacting any of them before the event, you may still be able to offer an adapted version to be sent electronically later.