Create Engaging Visual Content in Your Next Presentation

在展示中加入吸引眼球的视觉内容

Ben Massen Ben specialises in training presenters to better connect with their audiences through their words, visual content and delivery style. Executives looking to create and deliver outstanding presentations to a multicultural audience would benefit from his workshops or individual coaching.He also facilitates cross-cultural training programmes where he develops individuals to improve their intercultural competence.Ben has over 8 year experience in the Greater China training industry and is a Senior Associate at Sino Associates. He is certified in Facilitation and Reviewing Skills and is a certified Cartus Cross-Cultural trainer.

Copyright © Sino Associates & Ben Massen 2013-2023. All Rights Reserved.

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Presentations are a part of modern day’s business culture.

Everyday hundreds of thousands of executives stand up to

persuade their board to adopt a new policy, or to secure

funding for a new project, or to ask their audience to do

a number of other actions. You would have thought that

with so many important presentations being delivered

that we would see visually engaging content in all of them.

Usually this isn’t the case. Most presentations are dull

and ineffective with visual content distracting from the

speakers words rather than reinforcing them. Think back to

the last few presentations you sat through: Did the visual

content inspire you?

The Picture Superiority Effect

When people leave your presentation and go back into

their hectic business environment, visuals can be the key

in people remembering, and ultimately acting on, your

presentation. In support of using visuals, we can look to

the Picture Superiority Effect. This theory asserts that

people remember 10% of what you say to them three days

later. If you communicate purely through visual content,

your audience will remember 35% of what you show them.

When you use both visuals and spoken communication,

they will remember 65% of your message. That is over six

times as much as only speaking. People’s dominant sense

is vision so it is natural for people to simultaneously pay

attention to both verbal and visual communication. You

just need to ensure your visual content is complementing

your words.

演示报告是现代商业文化的一部分。每天，有

成千上万的高管们要站起来说服董事会采用新的企

业政策，或为新项目筹资，或者是推动听众去做其

他各种各样的事情。你可能会以为这些重要的演示

一定会有特别吸引人的内容。其实不然，大多数演

示都沉闷且效果不佳，视觉内容非但没有强化演讲

者要传达的信息反而分散了听众的注意力。回想一

下你最近参加的几次商务演示会议：那些视觉内容

真的触动了你吗？

图优效应

当人们听完你的商务演示回到他们那紧张忙碌

的工作环境中，视觉图像将会是让他们记住演示内

容并按照这些内容付诸行动的关键。图优效应正是

阐述了运用视觉效果的好处，这个理论指出，如果

仅用语言进行演说，三天之后，人们只能记住你所

说过的话的 10%。如果你仅用视觉方式来传达信息，

观众将会记住其中 35% 的内容。然而结合图像和语

言，他们则能记住 65% 的信息。这种方式所达到的

效果比仅用语言传达信息高出 5 倍以上。视觉是人

体中最主要的感官，所以很自然地，人们会同时注

意到言语和视觉的沟通。因此你需要确保你的视觉

内容能补充你所想说的。

“ When you use both visuals and spoken communication, they will remember 65% of your message

当你结合图像和话语，他们则能记得 65% 的信息 ”

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Find Creative TimeVisuals are often hurriedly put together by copying and

pasting content from reports and editing old slides to

fit with the new topic. PowerPoint’s default bullet-point

pages do not inspire creativity and many people simply

do not put much thought into what their visuals should

be communicating. By investing some time and following

some creative steps, you can start creating visually

engaging content.

I will share three steps you can apply in your next

presentation.

Step away

First, the best creative process to design content that

will inspire your audience requires stepping away from

technology and planning in analogue. Presentation

software is not intended to be a brainstorming tool. One

simple and effective way to plan a presentation is to use

sticky notes. Start by generating as many ideas as possible

that you could include in your talk. Suspend judgement

and aim for quantity over quality as crazy ideas can often

turn into great ideas. Write or draw one idea per sticky to

ensure each idea is simple and concise.

After you have plenty of ideas, filter them, identifying and

only keeping those that reinforce your core message. Just

because an idea is good, interesting or even relevant to

your audience, if it distracts from your goal then ditch it.

Once you have filtered the ideas you’re ready to begin

re-arranging them into logical groupings to fit with the

为创意花点时间

人们总是从报告中复制粘贴或把旧的幻灯

片改一改，就把图像匆匆忙忙地堆在一起了。

Powerpoint 默认的文字纲要 (bullet-point) 页面

设置并不能激发创意，许多人甚至完全没有考虑过

他们的图像应该传达出什么的信息。花点时间并按

照以下的几个激发创意的步骤，你也可以创造出吸

引观众眼球的内容。

以下是三个步骤，你可以在下一次做演示前应

用一下：

暂避高科技

第一步，想要有创造性地设计能触动观众的演

示内容，最好是不用科技手段，在模拟中计划。演

示软件并不是为了进行头脑风暴而设计的工具。一

个简单又有效的设计演示报告的方法是用便利贴。

一开始，你可以尽可能多地想出能纳入你演讲的想

法。暂时先不要评价这些想法的好坏，在这个阶段，

数量比质量重要，有时疯狂的点子能变成很好的想

法。把每一个想法写或画在一张便利贴上，确保每

个想法都清晰准确。

当你有了很多想法之后，筛选它们，找出并只

留下那些能加强你核心信息的想法。有时候，即便

一个想法是好想法，有意思还能与你的观众相关，

但只要它对你的演示目标是起混淆作用的，你还是

必须要把它丢掉。一旦你筛选完这些想法，你可以

开始把它们按逻辑思路来重新归类分组，让其符合

你演示结构。在这里，很重要的一点是不要匆匆忙

忙地结束这个计划阶段，你应该给自己留出充足的

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structure of your presentation. It is important not to rush

the planning stage, so give yourself plenty of time to be

creative and have fun thinking of captivating ideas to give

时间来让思维变得充满创意和乐趣，想出吸引人的

点子来让你的演示特别出色。

用肢体语言来沟通

第二步，记住房间内最重要的视觉演示物就是

你自己。你的身体从你站起来说话的那一刻起就开

始传达信息，只有当你再坐回去后才停止。你要注

意让自己的身体和言语同步，从而强化你的信息，

并让你成为一个更可信的演讲者。以下是三种你下

次演示就能用到的肢体语言技巧：眼神交流、自然

的手势和真诚的笑容。

你大可忘掉那些建议你用眼睛扫视观众或盯着

房间后方的陈旧规则。如果你想和你的观众建立联

系，你需要和他们有眼神交流。作为参考，你每次

和一个听众的眼神交流可以保持 3 到 5 秒。

优秀的演讲者会用手势来作为他们话语的延伸。

自然的手势能让你的信息得到强化，还能展示出你

的激情。当然你也要避免给人留下你用力过度的印

象。在你演讲的时候你要尽量放松，让你的手势随

着你的声调自然地移动。

许多人发现自己在演示时由于紧张导致笑容僵

硬、虚伪，就像在无奈被迫的团体合照里的情况一样。

your presentation a wow factor.

Communicate with your body

Second, remember that the most important visual in the

room is you. Start communicating with your body from

the moment you stand up to begin speaking and only stop

once you sit back down. Synchronise your body with your

words to reinforce your message and make you a more

credible speaker. Below we’ll look at three body language

techniques you can use in your next presentation: eye

communication, natural gestures and a genuine smile.

Forget the old rules of scanning the audience or focusing

on the back of the room. You want to connect with your

audience and to do this you need to make eye contact.

As a guideline, communicate with each member of the

audience for 3-5 seconds at a time.

The best speakers use gestures as an extension of their

words. Natural gestures emphasise importance and show

enthusiasm for your message. You don’t want to come

across as though you’re trying too hard. Relax as you speak

and let your gestures naturally move with the intonation of

your voice.

“ After you have plenty of ideas, filter them, then re-arrange them into logical groupings

当你有很多的想法之后，筛选它们再把它们按逻辑来重新归类分组 ”

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Many people find presentation nerves causes them to

produce a tight, fake smile, similar to those in forced group

photos. Think of a successful outcome and walk onto the

stage with a genuine smile and you’ll have the audience on

your side.

Film your next presentation so you can see what your

audience sees. Consider how you would feel if you were in

the audience. Are you connecting with them? Do you look

authentic? Would you want to hear yourself present? Make

tiny tweaks to your body language and they will equal big

changes to your delivery.

Choose unique images

Third, choose unique images so your content stands out.

A picture of a handshake in front of a globe has been used

time and time again to represent the term partnerships.

Although this might seem like the best picture as people

will know what it means, it has now become a visual cliché

causing audiences’ to sink into their chairs thinking not this

picture again.

Instead, ask yourself what image truly represents the point

you want to make. Create a mind map of ideas, exploring

as many different images as possible. Make sure the images

are relevant to your target audience. They must mean

the same to them as they do to you. Send me an email at

ben.massen@sino-associates.com with the image you

would use to represent partnerships.

You do not have to always use visual content, but if you do,

it must be good. Start with these three steps to creating

great visual presentations. Good luck and have fun being

尝试想象着一个成功的结果并带着真诚的笑容走上

讲台，你已经可以让观众喜欢你了。

把你下次的演示拍摄下来，那么你就能知道观

众所看到的是什么了。想象自己是其中一名观众，

你觉得你的演示跟观众有建立联系吗？你看起来诚

恳吗？你会愿意听自己的演示吗？有时候，肢体语

言上小小的调整将能让你的演示有很大的不同。

选择独特的图片

第三步，选择独特的图片来突出你的内容。像

在地球前握手这样的图片已经被反复多次地用来表

达合作伙伴关系。尽管它可能是最适合的图片，因

为很多人一看就能明白它的意思，但它已经被用滥

了，导致观众一看到它，就会往自己的椅子上一靠，

心想怎么又是这张图片。

问问自己究竟什么样的图片才能真正表达出你

想说的要点。画一个想法的思维导图，探索尽可能

多的不同图片。确保图片与你的目标观众相关，让

图片给观众传达的涵义与你所理解的保持一致。你

可以把一张你想用来表达“合作关系”的图片发到

我的邮箱 ben.massen@sino-associates.com

你不一定总是要用到视觉内容，但如果你用了，

它必须是好的。试试用这三个步骤创造出优秀的视

觉演示吧。祝好运并希望你在创意中找到乐趣！

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