WEBVTT

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Okay, ladies and gentlemen, welcome.

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There is a question


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which has puzzled me for quite a while,

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and that is, Why do our PowerPoints
look the way they look?

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Or rather, How on earth, can we accept
that they look the way they look?

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How can you do that?

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And do you know

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what's even more intellectually
challenging for me to understand?

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It's, How can a person sit over here
in this meeting room with 10 others,

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observing this dismally bad PowerPoint

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filled with charts,
graphical elements, page numbers,

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fading away five, seven minutes,
thinking of other things?

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You know the feeling,
the boredom, the waste of time?

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This person, after 40 minutes,

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he or she will stand up, a bit dazed,

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trotting off to his own office,
coming to his own computer,

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flipping it up, going like, 'Oh my god,
I've got a presentation tomorrow,

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and I do have a PowerPoint to build.'

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(Laughter)

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Now, what is the chance that this person
will build an equally bad PowerPoint

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as the one that he or she
was herself tortured by

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in the other conference room?

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Is that a big chance?

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Yeah.

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Now, what is that?

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Why do we do that? Is that vengeance?

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Is that where you go like,
'You did that to me.

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Phew! I'm going to do it to you.
You got it coming, bro'?

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Is that the case? I don't think so.

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I don't think that's got to do
with vengeance, intelligence.

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I think it's got to do
with something else.

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Now, my passion in life is the brain,

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and an even bigger passion
that is presentation skills.

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And I love combining these two.

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And about four years ago,

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I got so, so upset I blew my top

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because the way
that we do neural executions

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all over our boardrooms today is just -

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it's not fair to our intelligence
as being Homo sapiens.

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So I thought there's got to be something
we can do about this,

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so I searched the world,
I looked for seminars,

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I looked for training programs,
I looked for books

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that could solve this question for me,

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but there was none to be found.

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So I thought, 'Well,
I'll just do as Franz Kafka said,

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"If it isn't written, write it yourself."'

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And four years later,

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I have the great honour
to stand here in front of you.

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What am I talking about?

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What are the PowerPoints I'm referring to?

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They can look like this.

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Now, this is one of the top three
universities in the world,

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advising their students and their teachers
on how to build great PowerPoints.

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I received this from a customer,

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and you've got to be semi-blind

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in order to even have something
like this in the company.

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I love this one.

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This one was awarded the prize
of being the worst PowerPoint

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delivered by a public CEO in 2010.

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It's a nice prize to pick up, isn't it?

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'Oh yes, thank you.'

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(Laughs)

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Well done, mate.

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And then you're like,
'This is bad. Can it get worse?'

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Yes, it can.

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(Laughter)

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Now, this is the UN in Afghanistan,

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the US military describing
the situation in the area.

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And, well, there are no comments on that.

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But then we get this one.

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'My god, David Phillips,
this has got to be the thing.

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This has got limited amounts of text.

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It's got a supporting image.

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It's got a clear headline.

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This is the truth.'

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Well, the thing is,


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if you recognise yourself in any of these,

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which I think you do, nodding away,

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I want to make you aware of the following:

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that if you've delivered a presentation
with something like that behind you,

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90% of what you said

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was gone within 30 seconds.

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And then you go, 'No, no, no way, Jose,

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that is way - I know it's bad,
but it can't be that bad,

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can it now, really?'

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Well, just let me give you an example
of really how bad your working memory is,

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and mine, for that case.

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I want you to imagine this situation.

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You're at the train station,
waiting for the train.

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You can see it coming on the horizon.

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You're fiddling away, you finally
find where you put your ticket.

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And you take it out, and you go,
'Car five, seat 42. Got it.'

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Have you?

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(Laughter)

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You have absolutely no idea
where you're going to sit, do you?

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So, you're like, 'Is this only me, or ...
Well, I'll check. Five, 42.'

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You put it down again.

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Have you got it?

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No, you haven't got it.

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You'll do this on an average of six times
before you sit down.

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I've seen people in the train go,

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'Five, 42, five, 42.
Yes, this is my seat, check.'

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Now, the bad news
in the situation is this:

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you do not have a separate
working memory for PowerPoint

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and a separate working
memory for train tickets.

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It's the same dismally bad
working memory for both activities.

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So, I might be harsh when I say this,

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but there is one man on this earth

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who knows more about the brain
than anybody else,

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one of the most leading neurologists
called John Medina,

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and he puts it like this.

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[If companies would have
as little respect for business

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as they have for presentations,

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the majority would go bankrupt.]

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And it's with his words that I welcome you
to 'How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint'.

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Now, my objective for this evening,
for these 18 minutes,

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is to give you five design principles

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that will cognitively and psychologically
optimise your PowerPoint slides.

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And if you haven't used them before,

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they will make a tremendous difference

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to every PowerPoint you'll be delivering
from this day and on.

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So, let's start.

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The first one of these five
is one message.

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I received this from a customer,

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and I said, 'Hey, we've got
a lot of issues in here,

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but let's start with the first one.

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You've got two messages.

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Let's move one of them out of the way,
and just bring one message per slide.'

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So, why should we only
have one message per slide?

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Well, I'll give you
this beautiful example.

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You're at this nice party,
you've got the music going boom-boom,

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you've got this person
you're chatting away to,

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you're having a good time.

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(Imitates chatter)

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And then you hear your name;
you hear your name spoken somewhere.

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Your entire attention
is now diverted in that direction,

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and with this person,
you're just nodding away

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hoping that you're nodding
in the right instances, yeah?

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Yes, yes, yes.

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After a minute, this one
stops talking about you,

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so you divert your attention
straight again.

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Now, that person will then say,
'Well, don't you agree?'

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And don't we just love that situation?

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We have got no clue
what they've been talking about.

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The same thing goes for PowerPoint.

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If you've got more than one message,

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the chance is big they will be focusing
on this one and not that one,

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or that one and not this one.

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Just make it simple for human beings.

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Have one message per slide.

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We are extremely limited
to understanding more.

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Let's move on. Go to working memory.

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I've already given you this bad vibe
that your working memory is bad,

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and I'm afraid I'm not coming
with better news.

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I'm coming with worse news,
and it goes like this.

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This equation has the basis
of John Sweller and Mayer,

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and they come to the conclusion

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that there is something in our brain
called 'the redundancy effect',

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and it works like this.

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If you have text, sentences
on your PowerPoint,

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and you persist with the annoying idea
of speaking at the same time,

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what will be remembered by the audience

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is zero.

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(Laughter)

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Or very close to zero.

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Now, why is that?
How does that come about?

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Well, it can't look like this.
It's just not practical.

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You can't stand and have this
and talk at the same time.

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So, what are you supposed to do?

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Well, use PowerPoint
for what it's supposed to be used for.

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Pick it like this, pull down your text
into the documentation field,

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and use the area up there
for the presentation material:

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short, sweet bits of text and an image.

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That is what enhances your image.

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That is what enhances your message.

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So use PowerPoint
as it's supposed to be used.

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Come to the third
of these five principles,

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and that's size.

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Before I go into that,

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I want to make you aware the following.

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Every time you open your eyes
for the rest of your life,

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you will focus on four things:

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moving objects, signalling colours,
like red, orange and yellow,

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contrast-rich objects and big objects
for the rest of your life.

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Give you a practical example of that.

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Imagine yourself being home
with a friend, a really good friend.

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Now, the television is on,
but the sound is off.

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You're having a great conversation,

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but do you find it easy
to not look at the television?

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No. Why not?

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Because it's got moving objects,

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it's got signalling colours,
it's high in contrast,

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and they're usually very big these times.

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So, why not use this to our benefit?

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If you look at this,
where is your attention drawn to

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without you even having a chance
of controlling it?

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It's going to the big three all the time.

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Have a look at the practical situation;
have a look at this.

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Where are your eyes drawn to?

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I can see that they're drawn
constantly to the headline.

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Now, how often is the headline
the most important part in a PowerPoint?

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It's very rare.

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Even so, every PowerPoint template
is built like this,

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where the headline is the biggest object,
and the content is the smallest -

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going absolute opposite
to our biological reactions.

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So, what does this look like
if we just show you an example?

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Well, now I've reduced the title,
and it looks like this.

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Do you see how your eyes
now fall down into the content?

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Now they're sucked into the headline,

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(Laughter)

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and now they're falling down
into the content.

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So I can control exactly where you are,

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but why do people build PowerPoints

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where people will be spending
70% of the time on the headline

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when it's not the most important part?

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So, what I want you
to take with you from this

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is the most important part
of your PowerPoint

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should also be the biggest, nothing else.

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Moving on to number four, contrast.

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Contrast controls your focus.

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So, what does that look like?

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For instance, if I show you
a list like this,

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your eyes are over the place

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because you don't really know
what to focus on.

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So, I'll use a built-in functionality
into PowerPoint, which goes like this.

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I'll show you the first subject,
I'll take it away with contrast,

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and I'll show you the second one,

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and I'll do it again and again
and again and again.

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You're now following
exactly the white spot.

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If I do this - dun-dun-dun-dun -

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I can see your eyes just wobbling around,

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and you're a bit like a kitten going after
a little laser pointer on the wall,

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going like, 'Where is it?
I've got it. I've got it.'

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Because you're following
where the white spot is, and not the rest.

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Now, this is a beautiful example.

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Please do use this.

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Use it because you can show
amazing big tables like this

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if you use the effect of contrast,
the principle of contrast.

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Look what this looks like.

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Your eyes are all over the place;
you don't know what to focus on,

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but I just apply
the principle of contrast,

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and it looks like that, and suddenly,
you know exactly what to focus on.

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Here, they're all over the place,

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and here, they're exactly
where I want them.

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Now, there's a big,
major drawback with PowerPoints,

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and that is that the majority
of companies on this earth today,

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they persist in having
white backgrounds in PowerPoint.

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Look at that.

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Oh, it's bright, it's shiny.

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Could you tell me who has
the highest contrast, me or the screen?

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Well, the screen.

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Who's usually the biggest,
me or the screen?

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Well, the screen.

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So the only option I have
is dress myself up in signalling colours

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(Laughter)

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and jump around on stage
in order to balance that problem out,

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and that is obviously not
a good corporate strategy

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in the long term, would it be?

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I think the long-term strategy
is to just switch it around.

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PowerPoint is not supposed
to have white backgrounds.

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If I do this, your eyes relax.

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You focus on me.

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I'm the biggest object.

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I'm the most contrast-rich object.

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I got your focus.

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Why is that important?

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It's important because I am,
I always have been,

00:12:45.054 --> 00:12:48.011
and I always will be the presentation.

00:12:48.652 --> 00:12:51.065
That is my visual aid.

00:12:56.895 --> 00:13:01.752
Moving into the last principle,
and that is objects.

00:13:03.336 --> 00:13:06.786
Now, this is one
of the most severe principles,

00:13:06.786 --> 00:13:07.916
and it goes like this.

00:13:07.916 --> 00:13:10.010
How many objects do I have here?

00:13:10.010 --> 00:13:12.741
If you count them quickly,
you'll see that I've got 16.

00:13:12.741 --> 00:13:14.987
Do you see this little beauty
at the end as well

00:13:14.987 --> 00:13:17.400
which goes 'page 12 of 95'?

00:13:17.762 --> 00:13:19.039
What is that?

00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:20.802
Why do we do that?

00:13:20.802 --> 00:13:22.302
That only creates anxiety.

00:13:22.302 --> 00:13:26.487
If anything, you are, 'Oh my god,
I can't take 83 more of those.'

00:13:26.487 --> 00:13:27.890
(Laughter)

00:13:28.390 --> 00:13:30.907
But, it can also create hope

00:13:31.347 --> 00:13:32.789
because imagine ...

00:13:33.339 --> 00:13:36.159
imagine when it's 90 out of 95.

00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:40.008
'Oh, I can see the lights;
I can see the end of the tunnel.'

00:13:42.517 --> 00:13:44.741
Kidding aside, don't do that.

00:13:45.521 --> 00:13:47.866
Now, there are so many ideas out there

00:13:47.866 --> 00:13:51.258
on how many objects
you're supposed to have in PowerPoint,

00:13:51.698 --> 00:13:54.437
and once and for all,
I just want to put my foot down

00:13:54.437 --> 00:13:57.456
and state to you
that this is the perfect amount.

00:13:57.456 --> 00:14:00.130
In order to do that,
I want you to just feel it yourself.

00:14:00.130 --> 00:14:02.640
How many objects are you supposed to have?

00:14:02.640 --> 00:14:06.018
And we're going to do that
by showing you a couple of balls.

00:14:06.018 --> 00:14:07.516
I'll throw up the balls.

00:14:07.516 --> 00:14:09.825
I want you to nod to me
when you've counted them.

00:14:09.825 --> 00:14:12.057
Simple instruction. You with me?

00:14:12.447 --> 00:14:13.655
Cool, here we go.

00:14:13.655 --> 00:14:14.708
Boom.

00:14:16.789 --> 00:14:19.793
Alright, takes you about two seconds.

00:14:19.793 --> 00:14:21.433
Good. Well done.

00:14:21.433 --> 00:14:22.719
Your next set of balls.

00:14:22.719 --> 00:14:25.121
Count them, and nod to me
when you've counted them.

00:14:25.121 --> 00:14:26.251
Here we go.

00:14:27.206 --> 00:14:28.461
Excellent. Yeah.

00:14:28.461 --> 00:14:30.781
That took you about 1.2 seconds
if you're normal,

00:14:30.781 --> 00:14:33.309
which about 90% of you seem to be.

00:14:33.309 --> 00:14:34.469
(Laughter)

00:14:34.469 --> 00:14:37.139
We'll have the third
set of balls, the last one.

00:14:37.139 --> 00:14:39.511
Look at this, nod to me
when you've counted them.

00:14:40.285 --> 00:14:42.785
Oh, what was that?

00:14:43.187 --> 00:14:47.240
I just pressed the button,
and you nodded simultaneously.

00:14:47.469 --> 00:14:51.358
That will, if you are normal,
take you 0.2 seconds,

00:14:51.358 --> 00:14:53.201
two-tenths of a second.

00:14:53.201 --> 00:14:57.682
This will take you 1.2,
this will take you two-tenths of a second.

00:14:57.682 --> 00:15:00.007
And for anyone of you who -
you're good at math,

00:15:00.007 --> 00:15:05.005
you'll find out that that number
is approximately 500% difference.

00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:07.873
How is that even remotely possible?

00:15:07.873 --> 00:15:10.481
There are only two objects in difference.

00:15:11.121 --> 00:15:13.548
Well, might I suggest the following:

00:15:13.548 --> 00:15:15.623
this one you have to count,

00:15:15.623 --> 00:15:17.480
and this one you see.

00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:19.207
Could that be correct?

00:15:20.037 --> 00:15:22.577
So what you've just experienced
is the following:

00:15:22.577 --> 00:15:24.801
that the cognitive process of counting

00:15:24.801 --> 00:15:30.258
takes 500% longer time,
requires 500% more energy resources

00:15:30.803 --> 00:15:34.406
to execute than just seeing.

00:15:36.674 --> 00:15:41.482
So, what I want you
to keep in mind at all times,

00:15:41.962 --> 00:15:44.915
what I want you to keep
in your head is this:

00:15:44.915 --> 00:15:45.915
[Sex]

00:15:45.915 --> 00:15:48.519
which is the Swedish number for this:

00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:49.539
[Six]

00:15:49.539 --> 00:15:51.185
(Laughter)

00:15:51.185 --> 00:15:53.718
The magical number is six.

00:15:53.718 --> 00:15:56.348
It's not five, it's not seven, it's six.

00:15:57.188 --> 00:15:59.151
And I want to make you aware of this.

00:15:59.151 --> 00:16:01.486
When you go into
a presentation in the future,

00:16:01.486 --> 00:16:04.204
and you've built this amazing PowerPoint,

00:16:04.544 --> 00:16:08.080
if you've got more than seven objects,
or seven or more objects,

00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:10.438
you have to be aware
that all the people in there,

00:16:10.438 --> 00:16:13.800
they have to use 500% more energy
and cognitive resources

00:16:13.800 --> 00:16:16.212
to understand what's in your PowerPoint.

00:16:16.212 --> 00:16:17.349
Now, how do you think

00:16:17.349 --> 00:16:19.826
their energy-saving brain
by nature behaves?

00:16:19.826 --> 00:16:24.437
Will it go like, 'Ooh, I'll easily
invest 500% more cognitive resources

00:16:24.437 --> 00:16:26.073
to understand this weird slide'

00:16:26.073 --> 00:16:27.233
or, 'I won't'?

00:16:28.303 --> 00:16:29.615
'I won't.'

00:16:29.615 --> 00:16:32.396
And you've just incurred
death by PowerPoint.

00:16:33.906 --> 00:16:36.010
Now what does this look like in real life?

00:16:36.010 --> 00:16:37.929
Well, have a look at this.

00:16:37.929 --> 00:16:40.546
Sixteen objects - can we agree
that that's too many?

00:16:40.546 --> 00:16:42.174
Yes, we can.

00:16:42.174 --> 00:16:44.946
So, what does it look like
if we reduce it?

00:16:44.946 --> 00:16:47.269
Look at this. We go from this to this.

00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:51.246
And this is where your brain goes, 'Ahh'.

00:16:52.026 --> 00:16:54.885
And this is where your brain goes, 'Ugh'.

00:16:55.835 --> 00:16:57.075
Ahh.

00:16:57.075 --> 00:16:58.160
(Laughter)

00:16:58.860 --> 00:17:00.170
Ugh.

00:17:01.697 --> 00:17:04.506
And I assume that in the future

00:17:04.506 --> 00:17:10.329
when you deliver PowerPoints
to your colleagues, to your fellow people,

00:17:10.329 --> 00:17:14.956
you want them to go, 'Ahh'

00:17:14.956 --> 00:17:16.742
when you show them your slides.

00:17:16.742 --> 00:17:20.512
You don't want them to go, 'Ugh'.

00:17:23.638 --> 00:17:27.199
Now, there is - have you seen this movie,

00:17:27.199 --> 00:17:30.225
'The Rain Man' by Dustin Hoffman?

00:17:30.225 --> 00:17:31.238
Seen that?

00:17:31.238 --> 00:17:32.595
It's a beauty, isn't it?

00:17:33.135 --> 00:17:35.947
He comes into this cafeteria,
and somebody drops toothpicks,

00:17:35.947 --> 00:17:38.590
and he goes like, 'Boom, 247.'

00:17:38.918 --> 00:17:40.529
It's amazing, isn't it?

00:17:40.529 --> 00:17:42.899
His perceptive limit is here.

00:17:43.639 --> 00:17:45.189
Your perceptive limit

00:17:45.189 --> 00:17:47.441
(Laughter)

00:17:47.441 --> 00:17:48.731
is here.

00:17:50.161 --> 00:17:51.831
Now, what amazes me

00:17:51.831 --> 00:17:56.616
is that whichever country I go to,
whichever company I see,

00:17:56.616 --> 00:17:58.995
it seems like they build PowerPoints

00:17:58.995 --> 00:18:04.981
in the hope that all their fellow
colleagues are autistic or savants,

00:18:04.981 --> 00:18:06.266
(Laughter)

00:18:06.266 --> 00:18:08.923
which obviously is not the case.

00:18:11.411 --> 00:18:16.916
So, but then you go like this,
'But, David, my god.

00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:19.886
This means that I have
to have more slides.'

00:18:20.226 --> 00:18:22.166
(Laughter)

00:18:23.952 --> 00:18:26.278
'Yes, that is entirely correct.

00:18:26.278 --> 00:18:28.608
You have understood me clearly.'

00:18:28.968 --> 00:18:30.683
I want to make one thing clear here,

00:18:30.683 --> 00:18:33.774
and that is that the amount of slides
in your PowerPoint

00:18:33.774 --> 00:18:37.227
has never been the problem.

00:18:38.562 --> 00:18:44.453
It is the amount of objects per slide
which has been the problem.

00:18:45.041 --> 00:18:46.136
The stupid idea

00:18:46.136 --> 00:18:48.865
that corporate organisations
all over the world -

00:18:48.865 --> 00:18:51.187
they've come up
with limitations going like,

00:18:51.187 --> 00:18:53.517
'Ooh, we've got this clever idea:

00:18:53.517 --> 00:18:55.989
You can't use 40 slides.
You can only use four.'

00:18:55.989 --> 00:18:57.639
So what do people do?

00:18:57.645 --> 00:18:58.845
(Laughter)

00:18:58.852 --> 00:19:01.057
Well, they take the content
of the rest 36,

00:19:01.057 --> 00:19:03.759
and they jam it in the first four.

00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.122
My god, is that counterproductive or what?

00:19:07.122 --> 00:19:09.675
And we call ourselves intelligent.

00:19:11.726 --> 00:19:12.754
No, no.

00:19:12.754 --> 00:19:14.708
Alright, so compared -

00:19:14.708 --> 00:19:19.071
I started off with 95 of those.

00:19:19.481 --> 00:19:22.958
We ended up with 135 of these.

00:19:23.503 --> 00:19:26.071
And yes, it gave an immediate result

00:19:26.071 --> 00:19:28.578
to the application
that we were working for.

00:19:30.556 --> 00:19:32.683
So, to summarise this.

00:19:33.023 --> 00:19:35.858
Let's have some fun
and do a cross-examination

00:19:35.858 --> 00:19:37.864
because obviously
I have to prove my point.

00:19:37.864 --> 00:19:40.521
Do you remember
more than 90% of what I said?

00:19:41.051 --> 00:19:42.645
I'm not going to be that harsh.

00:19:42.645 --> 00:19:44.588
Let's do a crossword instead.

00:19:45.268 --> 00:19:46.708
It's going to go like this.

00:19:46.708 --> 00:19:48.023
Words are going to come up.

00:19:48.023 --> 00:19:51.706
I'm going to ask you to scream them out
as loud as you can as we go along.

00:19:51.817 --> 00:19:54.719
How many messages
are you supposed to have per slide?

00:19:54.719 --> 00:19:55.764
(Audience) One.

00:19:55.764 --> 00:19:56.767
One. Very good.

00:19:56.767 --> 00:19:58.341
(Laughter)

00:19:58.341 --> 00:20:00.892
I think you were looking
for a different word there.

00:20:00.892 --> 00:20:02.492
(Laughter)

00:20:03.012 --> 00:20:05.362
What can we use to steer our focus?

00:20:05.362 --> 00:20:06.366
(Audience) Contrast.

00:20:06.366 --> 00:20:07.378
Yes, and another one?

00:20:07.378 --> 00:20:08.401
(Audience) Size.

00:20:08.401 --> 00:20:09.424
Well done.

00:20:09.424 --> 00:20:12.063
What should we avoid using
if speaking at the same time?

00:20:12.063 --> 00:20:13.066
(Audience) Sentences.

00:20:13.066 --> 00:20:14.079
Beautiful.

00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:16.420
And what kind of background
should we have?

00:20:16.420 --> 00:20:18.408
We should have dark.

00:20:18.408 --> 00:20:19.936
And finally, now you can say it.

00:20:19.936 --> 00:20:21.886
How many objects per slide?

00:20:21.886 --> 00:20:24.526
Six. That is magnificent.

00:20:24.526 --> 00:20:25.606
Thank you very much.

00:20:25.606 --> 00:20:27.996
(Applause) (Cheers)