I guess when we say, “It’s a bit of an eye chart” we believe that saying that somehow helps. We might as well say “I’ll do the next part of my presentation in Swahili because I know that no one in the audience speaks the language.” “Ni kidogo ya chati ya jicho.”We know complex visuals are a challenge for our audience to understand. The other problem with complex visuals is they can also communicate an unintended message. Things like, this is too complicated to understand (zone out here). And you (or the topic) isn’t important enough for me to make much of an effort to clean this slide up.
There are several ways to “fix” an eye chart. One way is to re-graph the data (but don’t change any data), remove anything that is not needed to support your point. Another way is to slowly reveal one part of the eye chart at a time. Explain each part then reveal the next. With this step by step method you can walk your audience through a complex graphic. Another strategy is to find another way to support your point, an example, story or maybe juggling chainsaws may do the trick.
Great communication is always based on simplicity. Simplicity leads to clarity, clarity leads to understanding, understanding leads to change. Changing people’s mind, perspective or point of view is what presentations are all about.
What do you think?
JP
R2BB