The next time you deliver a PowerPoint presentation that matters, a product launch, investor pitch, new client meeting etc. — take a cue from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and ditch your bullet points. When Bezos unveiled the all-new Kindle Fire HD this month, his presentation slides were light on text and heavy on images. This style of delivering presentations is fresh, engaging, and ultimately far more effective than slide after slide of wordy bullet points.

For more than ten (10) years EffectiveCommunication.com.au has trained thousands of business people with the same proven communication & presentation tools many global business leaders effectively use. Famous leaders such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Light on text and heavy on images works for any leader, in any industry. And no, the leaders noted above did not invent effective communication & presentation styles. Instead, they choose to apply simple and proven tools.

Business leaders across the Asia Pacific & Americas EffectiveCommunication.com.auserves constantly contact us with thanks for revealing the same simple and proven tools.

Now back to Jeff Bezos. The typical PowerPoint slide has forty words. It was nearly impossible to find forty words on ten slides of the Amazon presentation. Bezos told the story behind the new products in images and text.

The human brain processes information more effectively when information is presented in pictures and words instead of words alone. Neuroscientists have also found that when a slide (or advertisement) contains pictures and words, it’s best to have the picture on the left side of the page or slide and words on the right. This is exactly what Bezos did with the majority of his slides.

For example, Bezos introduced the new Kindle Fire HD with a series of slides that just showed images of the products features and services (movies, games, photos). He also played a new video ad (most people don’t use enough multimedia in their presentations. Video clips are engaging and memorable. Just keep them short!!!). On the final slide where Bezos revealed the price, he included a picture of the device on the left and words on the right:

Earlier in the presentation, Bezos unveiled the Kindle Paperwhite, an e-reader with a higher resolution display and patented built-in light. Bezos said, "the battery lasts 8 weeks". Unfortunately, most presenters would have added '8 weeks battery life' to a long list of bullet points/features on one slide. Instead Bezos showed a picture of a calendar with the months September to October highlighted as a visual. That’s memorable!!!

Audiences will recall the text "8 weeks battery life" easier because it was connected with the image of the calendar.

Again, a little text and a lot of pictures speaks more than visual aids full of only text.

Maybe you are thinking - it works for Bezos because he’s revealing products that people can see and touch. Not correct… This proven technique works during any presentation, even for the most complex ideas.

In no way are we advocating that you ditch PowerPoint. Instead we recommend you ditch PowerPoint as most people know and use it - dull, wordy, and overloaded with bullet points.

Image rich presentations work effectively because pictures appeal to the right hemisphere of the brain, the emotional side.

You can have great ideas backed up by data and logic, but if you don’t connect with people emotionally with the use of appropriate visual aids, your ideas won’t matter!!!

All the best with your future presentations.