For many years I have heard about 7.  Perhaps you have too.  Mostly I have heard (and became interested) in 7 as it related to memory. Most of what I had heard however came through “training” resources that I have grown to be increasingly suspicious of.  Some time ago I set out to find out what was behind 7. Read the rest of this entry »

I remember pretty clearly the day that the February 2000 issue of Presentations Magazine arrived in our Kalamazoo, Michigan office. It contained the results from a Presentations/3M study on the effectiveness of multimedia presentations. Prior to this, I had heard rumblings of “data” from the 1980s studies but had never actually read those research reports. For the next few years, I confidently told audiences and clients that “multimedia presentations could increase comprehension 78% over static visuals.” Like many others, I was eager to use any data that seemed to validate the services we were offering to clients.

So what did this study really tell us about the effectiveness of PowerPoint multimedia presentations? Unfortunately, the answer is: Not much at all. Read the rest of this entry »

Without a doubt the most often quoted presentation related research is the 1981 3M/Wharton study. The second most frequently quoted research is the 1986 University of Minnesota/3M study. The purpose of this Presentation Facts article, and the one that will follow it, will be to provide brief overviews of these two studies.
What does this oft quoted but little understood research really say… and how does it relate to us today? Read the rest of this entry »

How many times have you heard some version of the following?

“It’s estimated that we retain only 10% of what we hear. But by adding visual aids, the retention rate zooms to 50%.”
An internet search will lead you to dozens of different versions of this “statistic.” I quickly found this quote (or a version of it) used over a hundred times on presentation and education related Websites, and not once was any kind of reference provided that might hint at the source of the “data.” The 10% of what we hear numbers are usually given as fact and rarely even include the “it’s estimated” of my example. So is this oft quoted information a true Presentation Fact? Read the rest of this entry »