94 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE
more easily understand material when it is presented in both
words andpictures. In Mayer’s experiments, groups that were
exposed to multisensory environments—texts and pictures, ani-
mation, and video—always had much more accurate recall of the
information, in some cases up to twenty years later!CONTIGUITY PRINCIPLE
“When giving a multimedia explanation, present correspond-
ing words and pictures contiguously rather than separately,”
Mayer advises.^17 In Mayer’s experiments, he exposed students to
certain types of information and then tested them on what they
had learned. Those students who had read a text containing
captioned illustrations near the corresponding words performed
65 percent better than those students who had read only plain
text. Mayer says this principle is not surprising if you know how
the brain works. When the brain is allowed to build two mental
representations of an explanation—a verbal model and a visual
model—the mental connections are that much stronger.SPLIT-ATTENTION PRINCIPLE
Mayer also advises, “When giving a multimedia explanation,
present words as auditory narration rather than visual on-screen
text.”^18 When presenting information, words delivered orally
have greater impact than words read by your audience on a slide.
Having too many words to process overloads the brain.COHERENCE PRINCIPLE
“When giving a multimedia explanation,” writes Mayer, “use few
rather than many extraneous words and pictures.”^19 Shorter pre-
sentations with more relevant information are more consistentThe task of leaders is to simplify. You should be able to explain
where you have to go in two minutes.^16
JEROEN VAN DER VEER, CEO, ROYAL DUTCH SHELLTwo-Minute Warning