{"id":6812,"date":"2017-10-06T20:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T20:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauriziolacava.com\/?p=6812"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:38:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:38:35","slug":"eye-path-control-for-presentations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauriziolacava.com\/en\/eye-path-control-for-presentations\/","title":{"rendered":"Neuro Presentation Design: How Eye Path Control can dramatically improve your presentations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Do you know how creating an effective presentation in PowerPoint<\/span>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you create slides, start thinking about what you want to say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You identify the information you want the audience to capture, and include them in the slides<\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the information is necessary to the audience, so you keep most of it, and very soon, you realize that your slides<\/span> are overcrowded<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, how many times has it happened that you include all the information that you don\u2019t have the time to tell, directly in your slides<\/span>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By doing so, you end up squeezing the contents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You reduce the font size, you reduce the image size<\/span> and you come up with things like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Eye<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll find yourself giving the speech while your audience<\/strong> will be looking to your slides<\/span>, and not paying attention to you<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the slides will appear a complete mess, and this will cause the audience’s eyes to get lost among the contents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you see how you get caught with the same slides<\/span> you created? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not you leading the speech anymore, the slides<\/span> are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They replaced you!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 2 main problems in the described scenario:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Trying to fit too much onto the slides<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The contents are not organized<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s try to tackle both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>Trying to fit too much onto the slides<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When you start creating an effective presentation in powerpoint, having too much content can be a problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As I said before, it doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be a problem. I know this sounds awkward, being said by a presentation designer, but, as I always teach during my classes, I think that we need to keep contact with reality, and understand that not all presentations are made to be presented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The lean presentation design principle says (image<\/span> below):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Eye<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    However, this does not apply to self-standing presentations where you need to be read and understood without a speaker giving the talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Therefore, if you have a presentation aimed to be presented, the amount of contents in a single slide needs to be reduced as much as possible, ideally to a single key message<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On the other hand, if you are working on a self-standing presentation, the amount of content won\u2019t be the main problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Finally, it is crucial you never end up creating a full-contents presentation for a speech<\/strong> (causing death by PowerPoint<\/a>) or an essential contents presentation to be sent by email (incomprehensible presentation<\/span>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Eye<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    I’ve been working hard to come up with the matrix above. Keep it in mind and strive to be up to the right or down to the left and everything will be alright!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>The contents are not organized<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Even though you can prepare slides to be sent, this doesn\u2019t justify you creating disorganized slides<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you send a business proposal to a potential client, you don\u2019t want to bore them.<\/strong> You\u2019d like your client to read the presentation<\/span> quickly and to immediately understand core messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The trick for creating an effective presentation in powerpoint is that if they like the presentation, they will be probably<\/strong> more likely to follow up and maybe to accept your proposal<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, if you make slides to be presented or to be read, you want the layout to be as effective as possible.<\/strong> If you want to know more about how to better organize your content on PowerPoint, I suggest you to read “The Definitive Guide to effectively presenting data in PowerPoint<\/a>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you’re looking for professional support in creating high-impact presentations, you may consider reaching out to a PowerPoint presentation design agency<\/a> specialized in visual storytelling and business communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For presentations to be presented, you\u2019ll have only essential contents on your slides. Therefore, if you synthesized them correctly, you\u2019ll have a few elements per slides to organize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, if you work with self-standing presentations<\/strong>, you\u2019ll have a lot of contents on your slides, and organizing them will be more challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Eye<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    In both cases, you\u2019ll be always able to leverage some presentation design techniques<\/a> to boost the effectiveness of your presentations<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Eye<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    To do so, I need to tell you more about how your slides are seen by your audience<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/span>How does your audience see your slides?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s suppose you are presenting to an audience, like that shown in the figure below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Eye<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    In an effective presentation, the audience\u2019s eyes should focus on the speaker and only have a quick glance at the slides<\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In this way, the speaker will have most of the attention during the speech, and the slides will just support him allowing the audience<\/span> to visualize the information and to retain them longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Eye<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The human brain is like a computer that only understands images formats. It can retain information, but it needs said information converted into images<\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The conversion process takes time. Therefore, the longer the conversion process, the less effective the stocking process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, if you use visuals to support your messages, you dramatically reduce the effort required to convert contents, and the brain will focus on the stocking process. As a result, the information will be kept for longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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