Improve your audience’s understanding

If you want to make things easier for your audience to understand, look no further than PowerPoint’s animation tools. 

Utilising PowerPoint’s motion animations in your presentation can help you to increase the comprehension of your audience by making your content clearer and easier to digest.

Slide by slide, our attention is drawn to what is different, so moving images work well for helping audiences to process new information. PowerPoint’s animation features provide an ideal opportunity to build new ideas, highlight key points, and consolidate your message by breaking up large chunks of information and reducing cognitive demand. 

Bite-sized chunks

A frequent issue during PowerPoint presentations is cognitive overload. When an audience is presented with too much information over too short a time, no matter how hard they try, they cannot take it all in. To help alleviate this issue, utilise PowerPoint’s motion animations. Used correctly, they can improve your audience's comprehension by breaking up information into tasty, bite-sized chunks.

You can use motion animations to introduce key points in a clear and uncluttered way, as they enter the slide one by one. This form of presenting information allows the audience more time to digest your ideas in smaller amounts, increasing their overall understanding of your key message.

Directing the eye

animated slide example

Our eyes are naturally drawn to moving images. To make the most of this natural response in your presentation, use PowerPoint’s animation tools to direct your audience’s eye wherever you want them. 

A focus on “eye flow” can ensure each key part of your presentation is emphasised as you speak. Just look at the slide above. You find yourself watching each image or piece of text as it appears, right? That’s your eye flow. Highlighting each point in this way will help to ensure your audience digests your message as you intend. 

animated slide example

When the time is right

There’s a time and a place for motion animations in PowerPoint presentations, and it’s certainly not all the time. As with everything to do with design, when it comes to using animations, let purpose be your guide. Ensuring your audience truly understands your message should always be your top priority. 

Going overboard with your new-found animation skills might distract or even annoy your audience, thus undermining your message. Animations should be used sparingly, and only when they can really help to get your ideas across. 

As for which animations to use, it’s best to deliver your information in a clear and simple fashion, not in any way that makes it difficult to read or engage with. Don’t add effects that make your content fly in from all different angles just because you can. Instead, utilise animations that can guide your audience to where they should be focussing at any given moment. 

Simple animations like Fly In, Rise Up, Fade In and Basic Zoom will serve the purpose of breaking up large chunks of information and consolidating your ideas. 

Improve your audience's understanding

To improve your audience's understanding in your next presentation, make the most of PowerPoint’s motion animations. Doing so can help you to build new concepts, highlight key points and create a seamless flow to your presentation.

Clever, restrained use of animations will give you more control over the way in which your audience will engage with your content and help them grasp your ideas more effectively. 

When you see an opportunity to make this happen by adding simple animations, you should seize it. 

If you need help putting together that killer presentation, get in touch with us today. From expertly designed slides, to damn-clever PowerPoint development, no one does presentations like we do.

April 6, 2020

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