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Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations
True or False?
Most PowerPoint presentations
·compelling
·illuminating
·informative
·clear and to the point
False
Make a change following the principles of Stephen
·a world authority on the visual brain
·a clear and engaging writer
Making PowerPoint presentations that are clear, compelling, memorable, and even enjoyable is not an obscure art. In this book, Stephen Kosslyn, a renowned cognitive neuroscientist, presents eight simple principles for constructing a presentation that takes advantage of the information modern science has discovered about perception, memory, and cognition. Using hundreds of images and sample slides, he shows the common mistakes many people make and the simple ways to fix them. For example, never use underlining to emphasize a word--the line will cut off the bottom of letters that have descending lines (such as p and g), which interferes with the brain's ability to recognize text. Other tips include why you should state your conclusion at the beginning of a presentation, when to use a line graph versus a bar graph, and how to use color correctly. By following Kosslyn's principles, anyone will be able to produce a presentation that works!
Most PowerPoint presentations
·compelling
·illuminating
·informative
·clear and to the point
False
Make a change following the principles of Stephen
·a world authority on the visual brain
·a clear and engaging writer
Making PowerPoint presentations that are clear, compelling, memorable, and even enjoyable is not an obscure art. In this book, Stephen Kosslyn, a renowned cognitive neuroscientist, presents eight simple principles for constructing a presentation that takes advantage of the information modern science has discovered about perception, memory, and cognition. Using hundreds of images and sample slides, he shows the common mistakes many people make and the simple ways to fix them. For example, never use underlining to emphasize a word--the line will cut off the bottom of letters that have descending lines (such as p and g), which interferes with the brain's ability to recognize text. Other tips include why you should state your conclusion at the beginning of a presentation, when to use a line graph versus a bar graph, and how to use color correctly. By following Kosslyn's principles, anyone will be able to produce a presentation that works!
222 pages, Paperback
First published July 4, 2007
8 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Stephen M. Kosslyn
97 books38 followersStephen Michael Kosslyn (born 1948) is an American psychologist who specializes in the fields of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Until 31 December 2010 he was John Lindsley Professor of Psychology in Memory of William James and Dean of Social Science at Harvard University, having previously been chair of the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. As of 1 January 2011, he became director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Kosslyn received his B.A. in 1970 from UCLA and his Ph.D. in 1974 from Stanford University, both in psychology. His Ph.D. advisor was Gordon Bower. His former teaching career includes Johns Hopkins and Brandeis Universities.
Kosslyn is known primarily for his research and theories on mental imagery. His theory is that, contrary to common assumption, imagery is not a unified phenomenon. Rather, it consists of a collection of distinct functions, which are responsible for different aspects of imagery. For example, he decomposes imagery into four sets of processes, responsible for generating the image (i.e., activating information stored in long-term memory and constructing a representation in short-term memory), inspecting the object in the image (e.g., by reinterpreting it), maintaining the image over time, and—possibly—transforming the image (e.g., by rotating it, adding or deleting parts, or changing the color). His research, which includes fMRI-imaging and similar techniques, has located some of these functions to different neural networks, some of which are in different cerebral hemispheres of the brain. For example, his laboratory demonstrated that the left half of the brain is better than the right at encoding categories and generating mental images on the basis of categories, whereas the right half of the brain is better than the left at encoding specific examples or continuous distances and at generating images that have such characteristics.
Kosslyn also works on visual display design, showing how psychological principles can be used to produce displays that can be read at a glance. Most recently, he has extended this work to showing how psychological principles of perception, memory, and comprehension can be used to make and deliver PowerPoint presentations.
He has received numerous honors for his research. These include the National Academy of Sciences Initiatives in Research Award, the Prix Jean-Louis Signoret, and three honorary doctorates (from the University of Caen, France; the University of Paris-Descartes, France; the University of Bern, Switzerland). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Society of Experimental Psychologists.
Kosslyn has published over 300 scientific papers and written or co-authored 15 books and edited or co-edited 13 books; his authored books include Image and Mind (1980), Ghosts in the Mind's Machine (1983), Wet Mind (1992, with Olivier Koenig), Elements of Graph Design (1994), Image and Brain (1994), The Case for Mental Imagery (2006, with Thompson and Ganis), Graph Design for the Eye and Mind (2006), Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations (2007), and Better PowerPoint (2010). He is also the co-author (with Rosenberg) of the textbooks Psychology: The Brain, the Person, the World (2000, 2004), Psychology in Context (2006), Abnormal Psychology (2010), and (with Smith) Cognitive Psychology: Mind and Brain. His forthcoming Top Brain/Bottom Brain (with G. W. Miller) develops a new theory of "cognitive modes" -- different thinking styles that affect how each of us approaches the world and interacts with other people.
Kosslyn received his B.A. in 1970 from UCLA and his Ph.D. in 1974 from Stanford University, both in psychology. His Ph.D. advisor was Gordon Bower. His former teaching career includes Johns Hopkins and Brandeis Universities.
Kosslyn is known primarily for his research and theories on mental imagery. His theory is that, contrary to common assumption, imagery is not a unified phenomenon. Rather, it consists of a collection of distinct functions, which are responsible for different aspects of imagery. For example, he decomposes imagery into four sets of processes, responsible for generating the image (i.e., activating information stored in long-term memory and constructing a representation in short-term memory), inspecting the object in the image (e.g., by reinterpreting it), maintaining the image over time, and—possibly—transforming the image (e.g., by rotating it, adding or deleting parts, or changing the color). His research, which includes fMRI-imaging and similar techniques, has located some of these functions to different neural networks, some of which are in different cerebral hemispheres of the brain. For example, his laboratory demonstrated that the left half of the brain is better than the right at encoding categories and generating mental images on the basis of categories, whereas the right half of the brain is better than the left at encoding specific examples or continuous distances and at generating images that have such characteristics.
Kosslyn also works on visual display design, showing how psychological principles can be used to produce displays that can be read at a glance. Most recently, he has extended this work to showing how psychological principles of perception, memory, and comprehension can be used to make and deliver PowerPoint presentations.
He has received numerous honors for his research. These include the National Academy of Sciences Initiatives in Research Award, the Prix Jean-Louis Signoret, and three honorary doctorates (from the University of Caen, France; the University of Paris-Descartes, France; the University of Bern, Switzerland). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Society of Experimental Psychologists.
Kosslyn has published over 300 scientific papers and written or co-authored 15 books and edited or co-edited 13 books; his authored books include Image and Mind (1980), Ghosts in the Mind's Machine (1983), Wet Mind (1992, with Olivier Koenig), Elements of Graph Design (1994), Image and Brain (1994), The Case for Mental Imagery (2006, with Thompson and Ganis), Graph Design for the Eye and Mind (2006), Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations (2007), and Better PowerPoint (2010). He is also the co-author (with Rosenberg) of the textbooks Psychology: The Brain, the Person, the World (2000, 2004), Psychology in Context (2006), Abnormal Psychology (2010), and (with Smith) Cognitive Psychology: Mind and Brain. His forthcoming Top Brain/Bottom Brain (with G. W. Miller) develops a new theory of "cognitive modes" -- different thinking styles that affect how each of us approaches the world and interacts with other people.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 25, 2015
The author forgets the first rule of doing presentations: don't use PowerPoint.
There are so many alternatives to using PP which the author doesn't even consider. The success of a presentation should not be found in the presentation material. This book leads you to believe that all you need is to follow all rules in the book and your presentation will be a success.
This book targets those who overuse PP today. If they manage to follow all rules in the book, they will produce better, clearer presentations, but they will still overuse PP.
Given all the advice in the book, the author fails to realize that PP as a tool for making presentation according to the advices given is quite incompetent. It's not impossible but leaves much of the work to the creator/presenter since few, I'f any, of the principles are enforced by PowerPoint. All work required makes PowerPoint one of the biggest sources of waste in today's work environment.
The author states in the beginning that he doesn’t agree with Tufte on PowerPoint, but fail to reflect over Tufte’s, according to my opinion very legitimate, view that PowerPoint enforces the presenter to model each issue as an hierarchial structure, fitting exactly one slide. This is by far one of the most ”dangerous” aspects of PowerPoint, which Tufte also shows in his analysis of the presentation material leading up to the Colombia crash… As always, PowerPoint leaves it up to the presenter, but indirectly gives very little hints how to present/model the topic other than through hierarchal bulleted lists.
The only good about this book is the principles themselves. Let them stand alone and leave the rest to you. Or to Microsoft for that sake, who should consider what value PP actually leverages given the endless possibilities to fail at creating a presentation.
My advice: get a whiteboard and visualize what your thinking and saying. If your using PP, use it wisely according to the fundamental principles in this book. If you need to apply any of the rules/tips in this book, you have done to much...
There are so many alternatives to using PP which the author doesn't even consider. The success of a presentation should not be found in the presentation material. This book leads you to believe that all you need is to follow all rules in the book and your presentation will be a success.
This book targets those who overuse PP today. If they manage to follow all rules in the book, they will produce better, clearer presentations, but they will still overuse PP.
Given all the advice in the book, the author fails to realize that PP as a tool for making presentation according to the advices given is quite incompetent. It's not impossible but leaves much of the work to the creator/presenter since few, I'f any, of the principles are enforced by PowerPoint. All work required makes PowerPoint one of the biggest sources of waste in today's work environment.
The author states in the beginning that he doesn’t agree with Tufte on PowerPoint, but fail to reflect over Tufte’s, according to my opinion very legitimate, view that PowerPoint enforces the presenter to model each issue as an hierarchial structure, fitting exactly one slide. This is by far one of the most ”dangerous” aspects of PowerPoint, which Tufte also shows in his analysis of the presentation material leading up to the Colombia crash… As always, PowerPoint leaves it up to the presenter, but indirectly gives very little hints how to present/model the topic other than through hierarchal bulleted lists.
The only good about this book is the principles themselves. Let them stand alone and leave the rest to you. Or to Microsoft for that sake, who should consider what value PP actually leverages given the endless possibilities to fail at creating a presentation.
My advice: get a whiteboard and visualize what your thinking and saying. If your using PP, use it wisely according to the fundamental principles in this book. If you need to apply any of the rules/tips in this book, you have done to much...
April 11, 2016
Wow! A book on Powerpoint with an Introduction. And there I find out this guy is a great specialist in what people understand and he decided to help me make better Power Points. Okay. From there everything goes downhill. You get clear and precise advices. Like advice number 1: "Connect with Your Audience". Okay. How? "You need to speak to your audience, not speak at them." Oh! Interesting. Anything more? No. But you get some Principles too. Principle number 1 below advice number 1: "The Principle of Relevance". Great! What does that mean? "Communication is most effective when neither too much nor too little information is presented." Neither too much, nor too little. Wow!
Now throw in some Hemingway quotes. I heard he was a great writer, but I have never seen any of his Power Points. Must trust the author Mr. Hemingway was a delightful corporate presenter.
Now throw in some Hemingway quotes. I heard he was a great writer, but I have never seen any of his Power Points. Must trust the author Mr. Hemingway was a delightful corporate presenter.
June 20, 2009
I'll be honest and say that I didn't finish the book. I tried, I really did, but it's a bit dry to read.
That said, the concepts and information are excellent. Some are obvious, yet I see them broken (even by me!) in many presentations.
I have already used this as a reference source, and the layout of the book makes me wonder if this was a primary purpose of it. I see this as an excellent book to keep around and refer to when building slides for a presentation.
That said, the concepts and information are excellent. Some are obvious, yet I see them broken (even by me!) in many presentations.
I have already used this as a reference source, and the layout of the book makes me wonder if this was a primary purpose of it. I see this as an excellent book to keep around and refer to when building slides for a presentation.
December 9, 2015
Many (most?) presentations suck. That's a fact. What I didn't know is that there is scientific evidence to prove that fact.
This book is probably a bit dry to inspire making good presentations but it gives you eight essential principles to take always into account.
This book is probably a bit dry to inspire making good presentations but it gives you eight essential principles to take always into account.
November 13, 2011
A good reference. Nothing real surprising but gives the psychology behind the common sense reasoning.
January 25, 2013
As dicas são repetidas exaustivamente em todo o livro. Um texto com 10 ou 20 páginas já seria o suficiente para dar o recado.
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July 30, 2010a bit tedious at times, it has breaks down how and the why of a great power point presentation.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews