Visuals or Text? The 13 milliseconds question.

Neuroscience teaches us that our brain can capture a picture in just 13 milliseconds. How long would it take you to read the description of the picture to the right? Many seconds.

Therefore: work with pictures whenever possible.

However, pictures do not always make sense. Trying to draw a picture of a legal agreement with all details would be impossible. This is why legal agreements are written with word processors, not with PowerPoint.

However, in my practice working with sales organizations and startups I continually see PowerPoint presentations full of text. It is like describing a winter scenery with words; it is like a legal text on PowerPoint.?

A study found that using text with pictures significantly improved comprehension and response times. Participants scored higher and took longer to process information when both text and pictures were used together, compared to text alone.

?

Conclusion

Combine a graph or a picture conveying the key point of your message with minimal text when presenting a solution or a concept

The objective of a presentation is to help others understand and, most of the time, convince them of something specific.

?

Call to Action

Review your slide decks and add relevant visuals. Remove any text that doesn't support your objective and condense the remaining messages into a few bullet points. This is a one-time effort, but the impact will be ongoing whenever someone uses the presentation. Even 13 milliseconds can make a big difference.

A tip: Artificial intelligence can help create pictures related to your content.

?

?Sources

Potter, M. C., Wyble, B., Hagmann, C. E., & McCourt, E. S. (2014). Detecting meaning in RSVP at 13 ms per picture. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 76(2), 270-279.?

Samad Sajjadi, Hooshang Yazdani, Mohammad-Reza Sohrabi and Ataollah Maleki, 2012. The Effect of Text and Picture Accompaniments to Audio Materials on Comprehension Level and Response Time of EFL Learners. Journal of Applied Sciences, 12: 1891-1899.

Logra LLC (Visit us!) is a Swiss based company helping you succeed – world-wide – multi-lingual.

We focus on

• Companies who want their leaders to perform extraordinarily
• Companies wanting to be efficiently successful in a B2B sales environment
• Companies who want their professionals to be viewed and treated by internal and/or external clients as consultants rather than as pure subject matter experts

#presentation #persuasion #sales #leadership