A simple picture and a few words is sometimes all you need to connect your audience to your message. The sample slides in the collage below are a few of my favorites from presentations I have designed.
Images connect us to a special moment, place, emotion, or idea. With the right image you can add drama, emotion, or a sense of urgency to your presentation to reinforce your message. There are stock photography web sites which have a great variety of images, my favorite is www.istockphoto.com. You have to pay a little, but for important presentations I think the investment is worth it. You can also find royalty free sites that will provide images at no cost.
Using powerful images in your presentation will help you connect with your audience. Making this connection allows your audience to engage in your presentation rather than just listen to it. Besides providing a connection, the images on your slides can also reinforce or amplify your ideas. I read once that as much as 42% of a presentation’s ability to be persuasive is visual… another reason why the right images are critical to your presentation’s success. When I am making a key point, I somtimes design the slide so that the image fills the screen (this is called full bleed).
Once your message is “heard” in a visual way, you have a greater chance of being understood. And when a person understands, change can happen.
Affecting change is what having an impact is all about. Even if you design one key slide it can make a difference. Why not give it a try?
Joe Pops
Refuse to be boring
“Baby Blue” rescue photo courtesy of Pierre “the Catman” Filiatreault, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I noted that you quoted a statistic that 42% of the impact is visual. Although I am not surprized I wonder how that could be measured and if it really was measured. Ron Berk has done some literature searching to see what the evidence says about Powerpoint presentations. He has summarized it into 10 conclusions. See his webpage at http://ronberk.blogspot.com/
if you are interested in what the literature says. I think it will support your ideas.
Thanks Roberta
I did check out his blog – interesting colors. Yes the literature does support the impact of images in presentations.
Joe P
Arte over at the LinkedIn Presentation Gurus site make this observation
“The interesting things about your slides is that the image does not simple represent the words. It adds something more. Versatility for example adds the image of the Swiss knife to give some depth to your words. This is something most presenters using images forget. When they say ‘messy’ they add a picture of ‘messy room’ . It adds no additional meaning to the point.”
Great observation Arte
Repetition is not necessarily a bad thing, however I think the images you choose for your presentation should reinforce and amplify you point, not just repeat it.
JP