‘Why You Should Not Repeat What’s On The Slides’ – Sean D’Souza’s Article

You know those presenters who read out from slides? You know how you detest them? Well there’s a reason.

And it comes all the way from Hollywood

The Hollywood saying goes like this: If the scene shows you what the scene is supposed to show you, you’re in deep shit.

What does that mean?

If there are two lovers over a candlelit dinner and they’re saying: “I love you” then the scene is showing you what the scene is showing you.

So in effect it’s treating you like an idiot. You already know that the candlelit, soft scene is about love. That’s
already been clearly shown to you. Now if the actors repeat it, then it’s a complete waste of space. And a waste of your time.

Love can be shown in different ways

So in an episode of Frasier, Daphne and Niles are chopping vegetables and singing a song. And they chop to a rhythm.

There’s love written all over the scene. Unabashed love on Niles’ face.

Unknown love on Daphne’s face. But they never say I love you. They chop veggies.

The same applies to anything whether it goes from cartoons to magazine layouts to presentations The graphic needs to accompany the text. Not be a replica of the text. If the graphics are a replica of the text, it’s boring for the reader/listener/viewer.

So when you read off the points in your slides, you’re causing the listener/viewer a ton of grief. For one, you’re breaking Hollywood’s  rule–that’s never good. And secondly you’re boring me, because  here’s what happens in my brain.

When I see text, I read it

When I read it, it may appear to be a silent reading but in fact my ear is processing the information before sending it to my brain.

You see this more evidently in older folk and young children. They read aloud so that their ear processes the information before sending it to their brain. The same applies to you and me–except that we don’t read aloud. But we’ve still “read aloud” and then along comes the presenter and reads it aloud again.

That’s like saying something twice. That’s like saying something twice

It irritates the reader/viewer. It irritates the reader/viewer.

And in a few minutes it turns the reader/viewer off completely. And in a few minutes it turns the reader/viewer off completely.

Get the point?

P.S. Do you have a Presentation Story? Share your Story here.