The Definitive Book of Body Language

How to Present Visual Information

Eye Signals

Impact on the brain of information from the

senses during a visual presentation

The Wharton study in the United States found that the reten-

tion of verbal presentations was only 10%. This means that a

verbal presentation requires frequent repetition of key points

to be effective. By comparison, the retention rate of combined

verbal and visual presentations is 50%. This means you will

achieve a 400% increase in efficiency through the use of visual

aids. The study also found that using visual aids cuts the

average business meeting time from 25.7 minutes to 18.6

minutes - a 28% time saving.

The Power Lift

To keep control of where a person is looking, use a pen to
Point to the presentation and, at the same time, verbalise what
he sees. Next, lift the pen from the presentation and hold it

When you are giving a visual presentation using books, charts,

graphs or a laptop it's important to know how to control

where the other person is looking. Research shows that of the

information relayed to the brain in visual presentations, 83%

comes via the eyes, 11% via the ears, and 6% through the

other senses.