Archive for category: Blog

My wish for PowerPoint in 2009 is we apply what we’ve learned from research.   Everyone has an opinion on what makes PowerPoint the best, but opinions vary widely.  Research confirms what actually works for most people.  There is not much, but there is some research that we can rely upon as we create PowerPoint.  My recently completed thesis research showed that audiences learn more when presented with multimedia PowerPoint that follows Dr. Mayer’s multimedia learning principles than when presented with bullet point PowerPoint.  Here is a quick summary of other research specific to PowerPoint slide design:
Alley (et. al.) found that students were better able to recall the main assertion of slides when presented with a full-sentence headline written as an assertion compared to a word or phrase headline.
Alley, M., Schreiber, M., Ramsdell, K., & Muffo, J. (2006). How the Design of Headlines in
Presentation Slides Affects Audience Retention. Technical Communication, 53, 225-234.
Bartsch and Cobern discerned that PowerPoint with irrelevant pictures can be detrimental to learning.
Bartsch, R.A. & Cobern, K.M. (2003). Effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations in lectures.
Computers & Education, 41, 77-86.
Bradshaw found that test scores were lower when participants viewed slides that had interference (pink background, ornate font, transition sounds) compared to when they viewed interference-free slides (high-contrast color, easy-to-read text and graphics).
Bradshaw, A. C. (2003). Effects of Presentation Interference in Learning with Visuals. Journal of
Visual Literacy, 23, 41-68.
Mackiewicz found that audiences perceived 2D graphs more clearly than 3D graphs and that cool colors with high contrast were more attractive.
Mackiewicz, J. (2007-1). Perceptions of Clarity and Attractiveness in PowerPoint Graph Slides.
Technical Communication, 54, 145-156.
In a study comparing five serif and five sans-serif fonts in PowerPoint, Mackiewicz found two rose above the rest, Gill Sans and Souvenir Lt, in terms of professional, comfortable-to-read, and interesting variables.
Mackiewicz, J. (2007-2). Audience Perceptions of Fonts in Projected PowerPoint Text Slides.
Technical Communication, 54, 295-306.
So what we learn from the research is:
1.    Follow multimedia learning principles (for summary of principles see http://www.jenniferkammeyer.com/research.htm )
2.    Use full-sentence declarative headlines
3.    Don’t add irrelevant pictures (or anything irrelevant for that matter)
4.    Keep the design interference-free with high-contrast, easy-to-read text & graphs
5.    Use 2D graphs with cool colors and high contrast
6.    Use Gill Sans or Souvenir Lt font
These recommendations are not opinions, but rather facts based on research done by academics following rigorous protocols.  So, my wish for 2009 is that we start listening to what the research says and developing PowerPoint presentations that will increase audience learning and satisfaction.

This Sunday NY Times had an inspirational article about a blind engineer creating technology for blind users. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/business/04blind.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Going%20Where%20No%20Guide%20Dog%20Can&st=cse
T.V. Raman works for Google and specializes in developing technology for when people are not looking at the screen.  This is great for blind people, and for people multitasking — say driving and making a call.
Of course, I think of it from a communication perspective.  Making technology more accessible to blind people opens up an entire new dimension of communication.  Raman uses screen reader technology to access computer technology and listens at a pace of three times a human voice so that he can process at approximately the same speed as someone who is reading the screen.  Right now, he is working on a touch-screen phone that would open the mobile computer world, especially GPS, to the blind.  My hat is off to Mr. Raman and all those working on accessibility.  May the channels of communication be opened.

Not surprizingly a new study shows that groups brainstorming come up with better ideas than individuals.
The individuals are more efficient and create more ideas because they don’t spend the time communicating with others.  But, the groups come up with better ideas because as they communicate, they get to play off each others’ ideas.  http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/articles/2008/summer/49408/where-the-best-and-worst-ideas-come-from/

Guy Kawasaki gives us a lesson on how to use Twitter as a tool http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/30340  I’ll tell you, I need that lesson.  As much as a want to communicate on Twitter because I think it is a cool 21st century communication technology, I have a hard time.  I have trouble thinking of something short enough that people will care about.  Guy gives us the full run down on how he uses it to his advantage.  I learned quite a bit from the article, you might too.  I particularly like the part about reaching the many instead of the ‘influencers’ since most of my communication career has been focused in influencing the influencers.

Yesterday I heard on KCBS radio about a study that showed people tend to lie more when communicating via email then they do when writing a letter.  I discovered the studies came out of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania led by Liuba Belkin and co-authored by Terri Kurtzberg of Rutgers and Charles Maquin of DePaul.  In one of the studies, students were given $89 to divide between themselves and strangers either via email or via written letter.  Those that divided cash via email lied about the amount 92% of the time, while those who divided it via letter lied less than 64% of the time.  “It’s not just that emailers were more deceptive,” Belkin says.  “Its that the magnitude by which they lies was significantly greater.”  Of course, this has implication for everyone, since we now communicate via email so often.  Perhaps when we need to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth, we should ask for it in writing.  The old-fashioned form of writing on paper.

Oh, what I love so much about Halloween is the freedom to be whomever you wish.  Tonight I watched goblins and fairies come to my door and I rewarded their beauty with candy corn.  Little do these tiny humans know that when they grow up people will judge them based on how they dress and who they are.  Young and innocent, with the help of a costume, they get to be who they want to be.  I wish I could wave my magic wand and make every day a day when we could be whomever we wish.  Happy Halloween!

Watching the 2nd Presidential debate tonight I was reminded of the art of answering your own question.  Both candidates displayed it quite well.  No matter the question, the answer always contained the key message the candidate wanted to state.  Asked about retirement, Obama suavely commented that we can’t get to retirement if we don’t deal with taxes and then promptly answered his own question about what to do about taxes. While politician used this technique all the time, it is handy for us every-day communicators as well.  I don’t condone not answering the question asked, but I do marvel at those who can answer the posed question and also incorporate their own agenda.

Check out the recently launched website, Unigo.  http://www.unigo.com/
The site’s purpose is for college students to share the low-down on their university with other students.
Students directly communicating with other students.  According to an article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, the Unigo editors let pretty much anything fly.  Students post thoughts, pictures, video — both good and bad.  I checked the site out — it is very buggy and you can’t use it for long without crashing.  That said, it is a great idea.  Who knows more about a college than the students actually attending the school?  I think the site also represents the shift in communication power caused by social media.  Now the power to communicate is in the hands of the students, not the college adminstrators.

Here is what we all need to hear.  Song to remind us to chill out.
http://www.zefrank.com/zesblog/archives/2008/09/childrens_songs.html
If only this could play continuously in our minds then we would all feel better and communicate more kindly to one another.

Bill Green, partner at Vantage Point Venture Partners interviewed Mayor Reed about how San Jose is leading the charge to go green. S.J. Mayor Chuck Reed has created a Clean Green Roadmap
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/mayor/goals/environment/GreenVision/GreenVision.asp
See his talk at AlwaysOn Going Green conference.
http://alwayson.goingon.com/
Though his body language is still and formal, Reed speaks articulately and gives concrete examples about his ideas.  For example, changing street lights to LEDs with sensors.
Bill Green does a good job of asking some easy questions and some challenging ones.

The month’s MacLife magazine has an article by David Biedny on using Keynote to build killer presentations (www.maclife.com).  While the article has some interesting examples of using Keynote features, my favorite part is the side bar on imitating Steve Jobs.  The words “minimalism”, “multimedia stage”, and the phrase “clear, intelligible sequence of ideas” are what really struck me as on target.  If  presenters emulated the simplicity and multimedia artistic flare of Jobs’ presentations, we would all stay much more engaged.