The Assertion-Evidence Structure for PowerPoint Slide Design

Summary

This video script addresses the common pitfalls of PowerPoint presentations, advocating for the Assertion-Evidence Structure (AES) developed by Michael Alley. It critiques the default topic-bullet point layouts for causing cognitive overload and suggests that AES, with its focus on concise assertions and supporting visual evidence, enhances audience retention and understanding. The script provides practical advice on implementing AES to create more effective and engaging presentations.

Takeaways

• 📌 Most PowerPoint presentations are ineffective due to a lack of proper training and understanding of multimedia learning theory.
• 🎨 The Assertion-Evidence Structure (AES) is a slide design model developed by Michael Alley and colleagues to improve presentation effectiveness.
• 🔍 Typical PowerPoint layouts are outdated, originating from the transition from overhead projectors to computer-based presentations without considering the new capabilities.
• 📚 Research shows that topic-subtopic structures dominate presentations, which are not conducive to conveying complex ideas or relationships.
• 💡 Bullet lists limit communication to basic logical relationships and can dilute thought, making presentations less impactful.
• 🗣️ When presenters read text aloud while it's displayed, it splits the audience's attention and reduces information retention due to cognitive overload.
• 🧠 Cognitive psychology suggests that simultaneous speech and text processing overwhelm the language processor in the brain, leading to lower retention.
• 📈 The Assertion-Evidence Structure recommends starting slides with a full-sentence Assertion to clearly communicate the main point and using visual evidence to support it.
• 📝 Limiting text to no more than two lines helps focus the audience's attention and reduces the time spent reading instead of listening.
• 📊 Visual evidence in AES should clearly support the Assertion, providing a richer understanding of the information and improving retention.
• 🛠️ Implementing AES requires careful development of Assertion headlines and finding or creating visual evidence that directly supports the main point of each slide.

Q & A

Why do many people find PowerPoint presentations to be ineffective?

Many people find PowerPoint presentations ineffective because they are often filled with too much text, following the default topic-bullet point structure, which can dilute thought and fail to communicate complex relationships between ideas effectively.

What is the Assertion-Evidence Structure (AES) for slide design?

The Assertion-Evidence Structure (AES) is a model for structuring slides that focuses on starting with a full-sentence assertion to clearly state the slide's main point, followed by visual evidence that supports the assertion, thus enhancing the audience's understanding and retention of the information.

How does the typical PowerPoint default layout hinder effective communication?

The typical PowerPoint default layout, which is a topic-subtopics or topic-bullet point structure, limits the presenter to only three logical relationships (sequence, priority, membership) and often leads to the presenter reading the text on the slides, which can split the audience's attention and reduce information retention.

What does the research in cognitive psychology tell us about simultaneous speech and text presentation?

Research in cognitive psychology indicates that presenting information through both speech and text simultaneously can overwhelm the language processor in the brain, leading to lower information retention compared to when information is presented through a single channel.

What is the problem with having too much text on a PowerPoint slide?

Having too much text on a PowerPoint slide can lead to the presenter mirroring the information in their speech, causing the audience to split their attention between reading and listening. This dual processing can overwhelm the language-processing part of the brain and result in lower retention of information.

What is the role of the Assertion in the Assertion-Evidence Structure?

In the Assertion-Evidence Structure, the Assertion serves as a clear, concise, full-sentence headline that makes a claim or states the most important information on the slide, guiding the audience's focus and improving retention.

How does the AES improve audience retention compared to traditional slides?

The AES improves audience retention by presenting information in a way that is easier for the brain to process, with clear Assertions and visual evidence that supports the claim, thus avoiding the cognitive overload caused by simultaneous text and speech.

What are the three primary characteristics of the Assertion-Evidence Structure for slide design?

The three primary characteristics of the AES are: 1) Text blocks on the slide should be no more than two lines high, 2) The slide body should provide visual evidence that clearly supports the Assertion, and 3) If used, animation should be purposeful and aid in the audience's understanding of the information.

Why is it important to keep text blocks on a slide to no more than two lines high in the AES?

Keeping text blocks to no more than two lines high in the AES is important because it reduces the time the audience spends reading the slide and not listening to the presenter, thus preventing the split in attention that can lead to lower information retention.

What is the significance of visual evidence in the Assertion-Evidence Structure?

Visual evidence in the AES is significant because it provides a clear and relevant illustration or representation of the Assertion, helping the audience to better understand the complex relationships between ideas and improving the retention of the information presented.

How can the Assertion-Evidence Structure be applied to improve presentations on various topics?

The Assertion-Evidence Structure can be applied to various topics by creating a clear Assertion headline that states the main point and then finding or creating visual evidence that supports this Assertion, whether through graphs, charts, images, or animations, ensuring that the evidence is relevant and enhances the audience's understanding.

Outlines

00:00

📈 Ineffectiveness of Traditional PowerPoint Slides

This paragraph discusses the common perception of PowerPoint presentations as being ineffective and time-consuming. It highlights the lack of proper training in using PowerPoint to create engaging slides. The speaker introduces the Assertion-Evidence Structure (AES) as a solution developed by Michael Alley and colleagues at Penn State University. The paragraph also outlines the video's agenda, which includes examining the weaknesses of typical PowerPoint layouts, exploring multimedia learning theory and cognitive psychology's contributions to slide design, and explaining how to use AES to enhance slide effectiveness.

05:00

📚 The Limitations of Topic-Subtopic Slides

The second paragraph delves into the reasons behind the ineffectiveness of PowerPoint slides, particularly the default topic-subtopic structure. It points out that this layout, which is prevalent across various presentation contexts, limits the communication of complex ideas to only sequence, priority, or membership. The paragraph also discusses the cognitive overload caused by simultaneous speech and text, as supported by research in cognitive psychology, which shows that this approach reduces information retention. The section concludes by advocating for a shift towards the Assertion-Evidence Structure as a more effective alternative.

10:07

🛠 Implementing the Assertion-Evidence Structure

This paragraph introduces the Assertion-Evidence Structure in detail, explaining its origin and the rationale behind its design. It emphasizes the importance of starting slides with a full-sentence Assertion to clearly communicate the slide's main point. The paragraph provides an example of converting a traditional topic-bullet point slide into an AES slide, illustrating how to use visual elements like timelines to enhance understanding and retention. It also discusses the benefits of AES in terms of audience retention and the ability to convey complex relationships between ideas.

15:11

🎨 Crafting Effective Assertion-Evidence Slides

The fourth paragraph focuses on the practical aspects of creating Assertion-Evidence Structure slides. It outlines the three key characteristics of AES slides: limiting text blocks to two lines, providing visual evidence that supports the Assertion, and using purposeful animation. The paragraph includes examples of effective slides and emphasizes the importance of clear, concise Assertion headlines and relevant visual evidence. It also warns against using visual elements that do not support the Assertion, highlighting the need for careful slide design.

20:14

📉 The Importance of Visual Evidence in Slides

The final paragraph reinforces the significance of visual evidence in supporting the Assertion made in the headline of an AES slide. It provides examples of effective visual evidence, such as charts, graphs, and animations, and cautions against using visuals that do not clearly support the Assertion. The paragraph also touches on the creative process of developing visual evidence when none is readily available, encouraging presenters to be innovative in their approach to slide design.

Keywords

💡PowerPoint presentations

PowerPoint presentations are a widely used tool for visual communication in business, education, and other fields. The script discusses the common pitfalls of their use, such as being 'life-sucking wastes of time' when not executed well. The video aims to improve the effectiveness of these presentations by introducing better design structures.

💡Assertion-Evidence Structure (AES)

The Assertion-Evidence Structure is a slide design model developed by Michael Alley and colleagues at Penn State University. It is presented in the script as a solution to the ineffectiveness of traditional PowerPoint slides. AES is characterized by starting with a full-sentence assertion followed by visual evidence that supports the assertion, which is shown to improve audience retention and understanding.

💡Multimedia learning theory

Multimedia learning theory is an educational theory that suggests people learn better when information is presented in multiple modes, such as text and images. The script references this theory as a foundation for improving slide design, arguing that effective slides should integrate both visual and textual elements to enhance learning.

💡Cognitive psychology

Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes such as perception, memory, and thinking. The script uses insights from cognitive psychology to explain why certain presentation techniques, like simultaneous speech and text, can reduce information retention. It suggests that understanding cognitive processes can help in designing more effective presentations.

💡Topic-bullet point structure

The topic-bullet point structure is a common default layout in PowerPoint, where a slide has a main topic and several bullet points underneath. The script criticizes this structure for being ineffective due to its limitation in expressing complex relationships and for causing audience members to read rather than listen.

💡Dilute thought

The term 'dilute thought' comes from a Harvard Business Review article cited in the script, which argues that bullet lists can oversimplify complex ideas, making both the presenter and the presentation less effective. This concept is used to highlight the limitations of traditional slide designs.

💡Sequence, priority, membership

These three logical relationships are the only ones that can be effectively communicated through topic and bullet points, according to the script. It points out that presentations often require conveying more complex relationships, which the default slide layouts do not accommodate.

💡Split attention effect

The split attention effect is a cognitive phenomenon where presenting information in both visual and auditory forms simultaneously can overwhelm the language-processing part of the brain, leading to lower information retention. The script uses this concept to argue against the practice of reading out loud from slides.

💡Full-sentence Assertion

A full-sentence Assertion is a key component of the AES, where the slide's headline is a complete sentence that clearly states the main point. The script emphasizes the importance of this approach over traditional headlines, as it provides a clear and concise message to the audience and is shown to improve recall.

💡Visual evidence

Visual evidence in the context of AES refers to the use of images, graphs, or other visual elements on a slide that support the Assertion made in the headline. The script argues that this evidence should be clearly relevant and purposeful, helping the audience to better understand and remember the information presented.

💡Purposeful animation

Purposeful animation is a recommendation from the script for using animation in slides, where it should serve to enhance understanding of the information rather than being used as a mere decorative element. The script provides an example of an MRI process animation that helps explain how a three-dimensional image is created.

Highlights

Most PowerPoint presentations are ineffective and time-wasting.

People are rarely taught to use PowerPoint effectively.

Developing effective slides requires time, effort, and multimedia learning theory knowledge.

Introduction of the Assertion-Evidence Structure (AES) for slide design.

AES was developed by Michael Alley and colleagues at Penn State University.

Weaknesses of typical PowerPoint slide layouts will be examined.

Multimedia learning theory and cognitive psychology contribute to better slide design.

AES increases the effectiveness of slides compared to traditional topic-bullet point structures.

Harvard Business Review argues that bullet lists dilute thought.

Topic-subtopics structure limits the communication of complex relationships.

Simultaneous speech and text processing overwhelms the language processor and reduces retention.

Cognitive psychology research shows lower retention with simultaneous text and speech.

AES focuses on delivering most information orally and using slides for visual evidence.

AES improves audience retention compared to traditional slide structures.

Implementation of AES involves creating clear, concise Assertion headlines and relevant visual evidence.

AES slides should have no more than two lines of text in any block to reduce reading time.

Visual evidence in AES should unquestionably support the Assertion made in the headline.

Developing Assertion headlines takes extra time for clarity and conciseness.

Visual evidence must be clearly relevant to support the Assertion effectively.

AES can be applied to various topics, even when visual evidence is not readily available.

Numeric information can serve as visual evidence through charts and graphs.

AES helps represent complex relationships and focus audience attention on key information.

Transcripts

Most people, when asked about the quality of the PowerPoint presentations that they've

observed, would probably agree that most PowerPoint presentations are terrible, life-sucking wastes

of time.

A lot of this has to do with the fact that most people are never taught to use PowerPoint

effectively.

“Hey, you know and use a computer; you should have no problem making a good PowerPoint presentation.”

The truth is, developing effective slides to accompany a presentation takes time and

effort, and a little bit of knowledge of multimedia learning theory doesn't hurt either.

In this video I’m going to be introducing the Assertion-Evidence Structure or AES for

slide design.

This is a model for structuring slides developed by Michael Alley and his colleagues at Penn

State University.

As an overview, we’ll start by examining the weaknesses of typical PowerPoint slide

layouts.

We’ll briefly discuss the contributions that research in multimedia learning theory

and cognitive psychology can provide to our quest for better slides.

And finally explain the Assertion-Evidence Structure and how to use it to increase the

effectiveness of your slides.

It turns out that if you have viewed any number of PowerPoint presentations, and at this point

in your career you've probably seen hundreds, it's pretty easy to identify the more effective

design when given two alternatives.

But it's really difficult to just start by designing that more effective slide.

In truth, most people have never really thought seriously about how to design effective PowerPoint

presentations.

For example, over here we can see a typical topic-bullet point structure slide about the

relative approach to business valuation.

You can probably tell that this second example where we’ve set off the headline from the

body of the slide is a little bit more effective.

We might have a little bit more aesthetic appeal if we add some relevant photographs,

and maybe even remove the background from those photographs, or use highlights to draw

attention to the important characteristics of our slide.

But in truth, slides that contain as much text as that first example really are ineffective.

We’re going to be talking a little bit more about why this is in the remainder of this

presentation.

Let's start though by examining why it is that so many PowerPoint presentation slides

are so very ineffective.

It starts with the fact that the defaults in PowerPoint don't do us any favors.

Remember that PowerPoint was developed in 1983 and was largely seen as a vast improvement

over typical overhead projectors with transparencies.

But unfortunately because we were moving from overhead projectors and transparencies to

a computer-based medium; those who were using it most often didn't really think about the

additional abilities that computer graphics provided.

And so, for the most part, those default layouts that we see with the topic-bullet point design

in PowerPoint are the same types of things that people were doing with an overhead projector

and a transparency.

This topic-subtopics structure that's guided by the default slide layouts in PowerPoint

is pervasive across presentation contexts.

For example, one study in the 2009 published in the journal Technical Communication showed

that 59% of industry and government presentations use this topic-subtopic structure.

63% of professional conferences; and 71% of student presentation slides, in their content

analysis, used this default topic-subtopic or topic-bullet point structure.

Well, there are a few problems with this.

First, even if you have a professional theme and relevant images on your slide, there is

still way too much text in a typical default slide layout.

There are a few reasons why this large amount of text is a problem.

First, Harvard Business Review in 1998 published an article arguing that bullet lists as are

typically used in these topic-subtopics structure slides dilute thought.

Essentially they make us stupider and they make our presentations stupider because topics

and bullet points can only communicate three logical relationships.

We can talk about sequence.

First this happened, then this happened, then this other thing happened.

Or we can talk about priority; these are our most important goals for the quarter.

Or we can talk about membership; here is a general topic and hear a bunch of facts that

are sort of related to this general topic.

But the truth is, in our presentations often were talking about information that has relationships

that are far more complex than simply sequence, priority, or membership.

But using the default layouts in PowerPoint doesn't afford us the ability to explain these

complex relationships to our audience.

But beyond simply diluting our thought and hindering us from explaining complex relationships

between ideas to our audience; presenters often, when faced with lots of text on the

screen are obligated to read that to the audience.

We have a need to read text when we see it.

And our audience has a need to read that text as well.

So presenters often mirror the information on their slide with their oral presentation.

Unfortunately, cognitive psychology tells us that simultaneous speech and text are processed

by the same part of the brain; which ultimately splits attention.

Now it might seem to make intuitive sense.

If you hear information you might remember it, and if you see information you might remember

it.

So if you both hear and see information you ought to remember it the best.

But it turns out that research has shown this to be entirely incorrect.

Researchers in cognitive psychology, human learning, and multimedia design have found

that presenting information through both channels simultaneously overwhelms the language processor

and actually results in lower information retention.

In research published in the academic journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, Slava Kalyuga

and colleagues conducted an experiment in which they varied the presentation medium

of training materials designed to teach apprentices about types of solder and how to correctly

solder various types of joints.

Some participants received written instructions only.

Some received written instructions and also were read those instructions orally.

And some received instructions only orally.

Well turns out, and you can see from the graph over here, that overall, the lowest performing

condition was that simultaneous text and speech condition.

It simply was overwhelming the language-processing part of the brain to have both the information

presented as written text and as spoken language.

And unfortunately, most of our PowerPoint presentations are right in this part of the

graph.

Simultaneous text and speech.

In reality, this research suggests that where we really want to be, is to have most of our

presentation delivered orally, through spoken speech.

And this tracks well with what we know about models of human working memory.

Baddeley’s model of working memory suggests that when we receive information through our

senses are Central Executive sends it to one of two places: either the Visuospatial Sketchpad

which processes images and visual information, or, to the Phonological Loop which processes

language.

We know that linguistic information whether it’s presented in a text-based form that

a person can read or in spoken form, both types of information are processed by the

Phonological Loop.

This model of working memory would suggest that we are overloading the Phonological Loop

when we are simultaneously presenting both written and spoken information.

So, what can be done about this?

We know that the typical topic-subtopic structure provides too much text for the audience; overwhelms

the Phonological Loop.

What can we do instead?

Well, one alternative is called the Assertion-Evidence Structure.

This was developed by Michael Alley and his colleagues at Penn State University.

And it calls for a complete rethinking of the way that slides should be designed.

Rather than starting with a topic-based headline, he suggests starting with a full-sentence

Assertion.

So actually tell the audience what the most important information on your slide is.

Here we can see a typical topic-bullet point slide about the history of the iPhone.

If we were to convert that to an Assertion-Evidence Structure slide we might instead see something

like this.

Getting rid of the history of the iPhone topic-based headline and replacing it with of full-sentence

Assertion, “The iPhone has received four major updates since its introduction in June

2007.”

Then, rather than simply listing the model numbers and the dates that they were released,

we might visually orient the audience using a timeline.

That would provide them not only with the dates that each model was released, but also

with an image of each model so we can see the progression of the model over time, and

using a timeline, we can also see additional information like the approximate duration

of time between model releases, and the approximate time of year that new models come out.

All of this provides the audience with a much richer understanding of the relationship between

the pieces of information on the slide.

And that's one of the key strengths of the Assertion-Evidence Structure.

But beyond simply allowing you to provide your audience with a more complex understanding

of the relationship between the information points on your slide; the Assertion-Evidence

Structure also provides much better retention for the audience.

One study was conducted, published in the journal Technical Communication in 2006, that

showed that simply replacing non-full-sentence Assertion headlines with full-sentence Assertion

headlines drastically improved the recall of students who were then tested on this information

later.

You can see here that this example of a slide used in a college-level geology class, more

than doubled student recall simply by turning that headline into a full-sentence Assertion

headline.

Similarly, this one about color in diamonds, by changing that headline from a question

about what causes color in diamonds and instead explaining in the headline itself the things

that cause color in diamonds, again resulted in a doubling of performance when later tested

about that information.

So the Assertion-Evidence Structure gives us the ability to represent more complex relationships

between ideas.

It focuses the audience on the most important information that they should take out of each

section of the presentation.

And finally, it results in much better retention of your audience for the information that

you’re presenting.

So now the question is, how do you implement the Assertion-Evidence Structure in your own

slides?

There are three primary characteristics of the Assertion-Evidence Structure.

It starts with the guideline that all blocks of text on your slide should be no more than

two lines high.

Now this guidance forces you to really think carefully about what text is important to

include on your slide.

So, beyond your two-line Assertion headline, if you have any other text on the slide: whether

that's a callout, or a label of various parts of a diagram, or any other text on the slide,

all blocks should be no more than two lines.

That reduces the amount of time that your audience spends reading your slide and not

listening to what you're saying.

The second key characteristic of an Assertion-Evidence Structure slide is that the slide body should

provide visual evidence that clearly supports the Assertion.

And finally, if you use animation in an Assertion-Evidence slide it should be purposeful.

So it should actually help the audience better understand the information on the slide.

So for example here's a slide that was developed by one of my students that I think is an exemplary

Assertion-Evidence Structure slide.

We have a two-line Assertion headline that claims that “Construction of the Autobahn

highway system accelerated with the expansion of Nazi Germany”.

On the left we have a graph that shows the number of miles completed on the Autobahn

by year.

And on the right we have a map that shows German controlled territories in Europe.

So as we step through, we have very purposeful animation so that we can see as the Autobahn

gets longer and longer we have an increasingly powerful Germany in terms of the amount of

area in Europe that they control.

So we have visual evidence that is supporting a key Assertion.

So when you think about the Assertion-Evidence Structure think about: no more than two lines

in a headline that makes an Assertion, makes a claim.

And then visual evidence that supports the claim made in the headline.

One thing that you'll find when you first start using the Assertion-Evidence Structure

is that it takes a little bit more time to carefully develop your Assertion headlines.

So for example, a typical topic-subtopic slide might have a headline like “The Importance

of Bread”.

This is pretty weak because we don't have any idea what the slide is about.

Why is bread important?

Bread is important for what?

We get closer with a question: “Why is bread critical to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?”

Now we have some idea of where this presentation is going but we still don't know the answer

to the question.

And you shouldn’t force your audience to scour the rest of your slide trying to find

an answer to the question.

It's better, and will result in better audience retention, if you instead include the full

Assertion in your headline.

Something like this: “Bread serves as the handle for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

Now your audience knows exactly where you're going and what you're trying to prove to them

through the use of this slide.

One thing that you'll find when you start developing these Assertion headlines is that

it takes extra time to come up with clear and concise declarative Assertion headlines.

So for example, this presentation that you're watching right now, this particular headline

went through four revisions before I felt that it was clear, concise, and communicated

the information that I wanted to communicate.

After you develop your clear, concise, Assertion headline; its next, your job, to find visual

evidence that will support your Assertion.

So for example, here we have a great visual that shows how to bread is the handle for

a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

We’re not simply being told that it's critical to a PB&J.

We’re shown through this visual evidence how a peanut butter and jelly sandwich simply

wouldn't work without the bread.

Effective Assertion-Evidence Structure slides have succinct headlines and clearly relevant

visual evidence.

And that is the key: clearly relevant visual evidence.

So here we have a clear and concise headline followed by visual evidence that unquestionably

supports the assertion made in the headline.

Here's another one, “A supply chain moves goods from the supplier to the customer.”

And we can see the various stages in the supply chain on this chart that was produced by the

student who developed this slide.

Here’s one makes good use of visualized numeric information.

So, “Identity theft is the most common consumer complaint to the Federal Trade Commission.”

We can see a list of complaints that are made to the Federal Trade Commission and without

a doubt; identity theft is the number one in terms of number of complaints made to the

FTC.

Here’s one that makes really good use of animation and we can see this explanation

of how the MRI process creates a three-dimensional image by taking successive slices of the brain

and layering them together.

One thing to be careful of as you start to use the Assertion-Evidence Structure is that

your visual evidence actually supports your Assertion.

Here’s an example of one, “Modular buildings provide an inexpensive alternative with low

overhead.”

And our visual evidence in this case is a photograph of a modular building.

But unfortunately, although this graphic is related to our Assertion it does not in any

way support the Assertion that it's being made.

There are two key ideas in this assertion.

First, modular buildings provide an inexpensive alternative.

And second, modular buildings have lower overhead compared ostensibly to conventional construction.

But that's not what this visual evidence supports.

A better version of this slide might instead include a chart or a graph showing how modular

buildings are less expensive compared to traditional construction.

Maybe a second slide would provide a chart showing how the modular buildings have lower

maintenance and utility costs compared to traditional construction - talking about overhead.

So make sure that the body visual evidence actually supports the Assertion.

Here's another great example of one that's not really an Assertion-Evidence Structure

slide.

This slide makes the case that of all the people who are targeted for tax return fraud

the most vulnerable are the deceased, the elderly, and children.

But rather than showing us visually how the deceased, elderly, and children, are attacked

more often in terms of tax return fraud.

This simply presents an image of a target; one of the words from the Assertion.

This is not visual evidence that clearly supports the Assertion being made.

So what you'll find as you start to implement the Assertion-Evidence Structure in your own

slides; is that sometimes you need to make your own visual evidence.

Particularly with topics where there isn't visual evidence available.

For numeric information you can do this through charts and graphs, and you might have to get

creative at times to produce visual evidence that clearly supports your Assertion headline.

Hopefully you now have a good understanding of the weaknesses of the typical topic-subtopics

structure in PowerPoint.

You should have an understanding of what we can learn from research in cognitive psychology

and multimedia learning to help us improve our slides.

And finally, you should have a good handle on the Assertion-Evidence Structure and be

able to begin applying it in your own presentations.