1. Emotions get our attention

Attention is most easily gripped by emotions, threats, and pleasures: ideas that challenge our deeply-held beliefs, images that shock or arouse us.

2. Meaning before details

We want to know why something is relevant to us. Only then will we be willing to spend the time it takes to understand the details of it.

3. The brain cannot multitask

The idea that multitasking is a myth seems to be well-established by now, although a decade ago it seemed like multitasking was the inevitable future of human consciousness. We are learning to work with, not against, our cognitive limitations. (Max Atkinson touches on the trouble with multitasking).

4. The brain needs a break

We believe in giving audiences freedom, even if it's the freedom to zone out or take a break from one part of a talk to focus on another part. That's how people learn. (Middendorf & Kalish makes the case for breaking up the one-to-many lecture template).

The first two here are perhaps less well-explored, while perhaps being even more important. If you don't hook someone into your presentation at the outset, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage for the remainder of your talk and increasing the risk of audience-noddy-head-syndrome.

So two quick examples of what this means in practice...

Emotions before details: Seth Godin's post on "Really Bad Powerpoint" contains a great example of how to use a Powerpoint slide to your advantage, with an image that has stuck in my mind ever since:

Talking about pollution in Houston? Instead of giving me four bullet points of EPA data, why not read me the stats but show me a photo of a bunch of dead birds, some smog and even a diseased lung? This is cheating! It’s unfair! It works.

Don't *just* show an image of a dead bird without any evidence to back you up, but adding such an image to the data you're trying to convey gives you a head-start in the attention stakes.

Meaning before details: Actually, we're better off thinking about this before emotion. What does our audience want out of our talk? they need to know "What's in it for me?". This is where a different kind of preparation comes in handy. What sort of person is in the audience? Why are they attending the event you're speaking at? How could your content connect with their concerns?

Here, I should point you in the direction of an excellent Thesis Whisperer post telling a tale of a well delivered but poorly received conference presentation, followed by some thoughts on how to avoid the same fate. Don't forget to tailor at least part of your talk to your audience - if you just deliver something verbatim "off the shelf" chances are you won't be asked back.

Wrap-up: While the work on making Powerpoint less text-based and more captivating must continue, good slides alone won't connect with your audience. And while details are crucially important in making a compelling argument, a presentation is not necessarily the best place to reveal a lot of them.

Instead, think about what your audience wants out of your talk, how you can ensure your argument is relveant to their concerns and how you can hook them in with an appeal to their emotions before unleashing a stream of data.

We're always looking for new examples of good practice here at Thunderfly, so what presentations have you seen which grabbed you from the off?