Rise above PowerPoint's Defaults

For your engineering or scientific talks, using the assertion-evidence approach is superior to following PowerPoint's defaults of a phrase headline supported by a bullet list. ​The assertion headlines and visual evidence lead to higher understanding by the audience, as evidenced by our ​tests of audience comprehension. In addition, our students claim that using the assertion-evidence approach helps them project more confidence because they show ownership of the content through explaining visual evidence, as opposed to reading bullet lists. 

Build talks on messages,
not topics

Building your talks on messages, rather than
phrase ​topics (as most people do), will make your presentations more focused.

Support messages with
​visuals, not bullets

Most speakers project too many words, which overloads the audience. However, audiences can process visual evidence while listening. 

Explain visuals by forming sentences on the spot

​The best speakers fashion sentences on the spot, but do so after planning and practice. Delivering in this way projects much more confidence.