So Powerpoint is pointless! How amusing that research by Professor Sweller, of University of New South Wales, has confirmed what business people have always known.
Apparently when confronted with the same information coming from different sources at the same time, such as verbally and on a screen, the human brain shuts one of then off. This explains why so many people nod off at conferences.
Or at Board meetings. There is a serious point about the way Directors convey complex information to each other. Talking the Board through reports that are still warm from the photocopier is a definite turn-off. Now we know why.
Sadly, in my experience the worst offenders tend to be finance people, who read a set of results in a dull monotone, then wonder why they are marginalised.
Perhaps this explains why the most popular business courses are "finance for non-financial managers". Prof Wellers has now shown that what's really needed is "communication for non-communicating managers"
Relevant Links
http://www.unsw.edu.au/news/pad/articles/2007/mar/Cognitive_load_theory.html
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1 comment:
Dad read your blog love it I also read your profile that's so funny reading the tracter a story!
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