“Vision trumps all other senses.”
Those are the words of Dr. John Medina, a renowned molecular biologist. I have been fascinated by his book, “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School” for a while now.
According to Medina’s work, we remember pictures. He claims that if we hear a piece of information without a picture as visual support, then three days later we’ll remember only 10% of it. However, if we hear a piece of information with a picture to support it, then three days later we’ll remember 65% of it.
Medina also asserts that we remember pictures much better than we remember text, because our brains see words as lots of little pictures, making the reading part less efficient than simply looking at a picture.
The implication for business presentations? Images beat words. Those dense text slides you’re using or seeing might not be providing the “visual support” benefit you were hoping they would have.
Try images – pictures, simple graphics, or even one-word slides. It takes some forethought and advance planning, but your audience will better remember what you were trying to impart.
And, if you spare them the multi-bullet-pointed slides that have become ubiquitous, they are likely to thank you.
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