Visual aids like PowerPoint are an important part of any business presentation. When done correctly, they strengthen your presentation by boosting audience understanding. In fact, research shows that listeners remember key messages conveyed with the help of visual aids more than six times better after a period of three days than they do messages that were simply presented verbally. The following visual helps put the numbers in perspective.
| Retention After 3 Hours | Retention After 3 Days | |
|
Tell only |
70% |
10% |
|
Show only |
72% |
35% |
|
Show and Tell |
85% |
65% |
Do you want to show off your skills at creating effective PowerPoint slides? My friends at www.Presentation-Process.com are hosting a Creative Diagram Contest 2012. To win, all you have to do is create a visual presentation slide and tell them how you did it.
First, create Before & After Slides: Take a screenshot of a ‘usual’ slide. Makeover the slide with your most creative diagram idea in PowerPoint. Take a screenshot again. Write a few lines on how the diagram solves the issues with the ‘usual’ slide. Tell if your diagram can be used to represent any other business situation as well.
Next, create a short Tutorial (optional): Write a simple step-by-step tutorial for your diagram idea.
Finally, enter the contest: Fill in the contest entry form and upload your screenshot images. That’s it!
Of course, your idea needs to be original. Their panel of judges (Ellen Finkelstein, Geetesh Bajaj, Wendy Russell, Dave Paradi, Elizabeth P. Markie, and Doug Serrano) will decide the final grand prize winners. You can also get your friends to vote on your submission and win the prize for the most popular entry.
The contest started Wednesday, May 23rd and runs until Wednesday, June 20th. You could win one of over a dozen prizes, including 750+ PowerPoint Charts & Diagrams (CEO Pack) or iSpringPro Professional PowerPoint to Flash Conversion. So get your creative ideas flowing and start designing. You could be the lucky grand prize winner! Get your entry form and full contest details here.
May 30th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Thanks for announcing this, Angela.
Incidentally, do you have a source/reference for the data in your table? I’ve seen similar statistics; curious where this one originates.
Cheers-
Michael
June 6th, 2012 at 6:41 am
Hi Michael
I’ve seen that chart often over the years. Most recently I ran across it again in a book entitled Effective Presentation Skills: A Practical Guide to Creating and Delivering More Productive Presentations (2011) by Leslie Magsalay.