Limit Your Presentation to 3 Themes in 15-20 Minutes
Ever noticed that after sitting through a long talk you feel exhausted and physically depleted?
Your audience may face the same problem.
The solution? Keep your presentation short.
This makes it far easier for audiences to remember the content.
Take, for example, @PaulKing who breaks his weekly three-hour class down to three single sessions, each lasting 50 minutes.
The result? The students retain more information and often score higher on exams.
Presentations at TED conferences usually take 18 minutes, which is considered a good length as it fits perfectly in the optimum period of 15 to 20 minutes.
In addition to keeping your presentation short, keep in mind that it should not cover more than three separate themes.
Why?
In 1956, a researcher from @HarvardUniversity discovered that most people have little trouble remembering seven pieces of new information.
Yet since then, researchers have revised this theory and have divided that figure into three or four basic information units – or “chunks.”
For example, the number 2,222 is far easier to remember than 3,948.
The first number describes one chunk of information (the “2”) and the second, at least two chunks (39 and 48).
So, the fewer the chunks, the easier it is to remember them – which is why a presentation should cover no more than three aspects.
These aspects can be organized in a message map.
To do this, you must first answer the question:
“What's the single most-important message I want my audience to take away?”
Once you've got your answer, write that message at the top of a piece of paper – like a headline.
Next, you have to find the three (or fewer) messages which support your headline message, and list them underneath it.
Finally, beneath each of these three supporting messages, you can outline their specific content: the “meat” of your presentation.
Limit Your Presentation to 3 Themes in 15-20 Minutes
Ever noticed that after sitting through a long talk you feel exhausted and physically depleted?
Your audience may face the same problem.
The solution? Keep your presentation short.
This makes it far easier for audiences to remember the content.
Take, for example, @PaulKing who breaks his weekly three-hour class down to three single sessions, each lasting 50 minutes.
The result? The students retain more information and often score higher on exams.
Presentations at TED conferences usually take 18 minutes, which is considered a good length as it fits perfectly in the optimum period of 15 to 20 minutes.
In addition to keeping your presentation short, keep in mind that it should not cover more than three separate themes.
Why?
In 1956, a researcher from @HarvardUniversity discovered that most people have little trouble remembering seven pieces of new information.
Yet since then, researchers have revised this theory and have divided that figure into three or four basic information units – or “chunks.”
For example, the number 2,222 is far easier to remember than 3,948.
The first number describes one chunk of information (the “2”) and the second, at least two chunks (39 and 48).
So, the fewer the chunks, the easier it is to remember them – which is why a presentation should cover no more than three aspects.
These aspects can be organized in a message map.
To do this, you must first answer the question:
“What's the single most-important message I want my audience to take away?”
Once you've got your answer, write that message at the top of a piece of paper – like a headline.
Next, you have to find the three (or fewer) messages which support your headline message, and list them underneath it.
Finally, beneath each of these three supporting messages, you can outline their specific content: the “meat” of your presentation.
#LimitYourPresentationto3