The term also refers to a custom of the United States Supreme Court which dictates that if four justices decide that a case is worthy of being heard, the Court will agree to hear it. The Rule of Four is designed to ensure that the court's majority cannot control which cases are heard, as without the Rule of Four, the minority justices might find themselves unable to try cases of interest.
The Rule of Four sounds good and can be used in a completely different context – to improve presentations. Rather than cluttering a slide with too much information, limit each one to have no more than four pieces of information (text or pictures). This rule is based on the fact that the brain can generally only hold four pieces of visual information simultaneously.
One can hold more than four pieces of information in the mind, but when one has to interact with more than four pieces if visual information, the brain becomes confused.
This implies that if you display more than four things at once, some of them are bound to be lost to the members of your audience.
The Rule of Four further supports the Goldilocks Rule and the Rudolph Rule: keep your visual presentations simple and focused.
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This is a picture of a typical reindeer. Do you notice that his nose is not red? His name is probably not Rudolph.
Imagine encountering a herd of reindeer, all having noses of the normal colour. But among them there is one with a red nose. What would be the effect?
Simple. The one with the red nose will stand out. It is as if he is shouting: “look at me – my name is Rudolph – I am different and I am important.”
The Rudolph Rule can be applied to PowerPoint presentations – this rule refers to simple ways in which you can make information stand out and guide the audience to the point you need to emphasize.
One easy way to do this is by making the piece of data you want to call attention to a different colour – put a red nose on it. Or circle the relevant part of a picture in a bold contrasting colour – the eyes of the audience will gravitate to the item that is different. It seems as if it is one of the peculiarities of the human brain that it spots things that are different, our seemingly out of place.
Do not assume that your audience will spot the point you want to make – draw their attention to it. Make use of the Rudolph Rule .
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In the story of Goldilocks and the three bears there were three bowls of porridge: one was too hot; one was too cold; and the other one was just right .
There were three chairs: one was too high; one was too low; the other one was just right .
And then there were three beds: one was too hard; one was too soft; and one was just right .
What is the moral of the story? Just right always hits the right spot.
This principle can be applied to PowerPoint presentations.
Too much information is annoying. Have you ever attended a presentation where a slide of packed information is displayed (and to add insult to injury, the presenter insists on reading every word)? Clearly too much information.
If there is not enough information to make a point, the slide is superfluous and one could have done without it.
The just-right-slide gives enough information to emphasise the point one is trying to make, and provides a mental image that helps the audience to get the point. In my experience, a simple picture, or diagram, is often much more effective than words.
When preparing a PowerPoint presentation, keep the Goldilocks Rule in mind – pause at each slide and ask: is it too much, too little, or just right ? And when all the slides are completed, ask the same question with reference to the number of them: are there too many, too few, or is the number just right to ensure a good flow of the presentation?
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Over the next two weeks postings on this plog will be sporadic (if at all!)
I am taking a much needed vacation break and will be relaxing with my family in Greece and Spain. Within a few hours I will be on my way and am not taking a computer, mobile phone or any other electronic device (except for a camera) with me. Sometimes one needs a complete break from the normal things, doesn’t matter how much we may enjoy them.
There could be occasions when I pass by an internet café and if I have something to share I may leave a brief post (remember, I am going cold turkey, so may suffer from withdrawal symptoms). That is one of the wonders of blogs – you can communicate whatever you like, wherever you are and whenever you want/need to.
Thank you for all your feedback on this blog over the past few years; your comments, suggestions and alternative views influenced my thinking about the use of ICT in schools; this in turn has helped me to shape Khanya into a viable project. Please continue to share your thoughts with me.
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The humble honey bee has become a metaphor for a person who is very active. Chaucer is credited with the first use of the expression as bisy as a bee (sic) in his Canterbury Tales to describe women in their tireless efforts to “deceive silly men”.
During its existence, a bee may fly up to a thousand kilometres, collecting nectar and pollen from many thousands of flowers. Yet, throughout its life span, a bee only produces one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.
This means that the honey that goes on an average sandwich is produced during thirty six bee lifetimes – just imagine how many visits to individual flowers a bee must make to produce enough honey for you to consume within minutes.
A teacher’s experience is not different. To produce one educated person many teachers must contribute countless lessons, encouraging words, corrections, ministrations of discipline and other acts of kindness. A teacher once told me about her efforts to convince the father of a learner to get reading glasses for his daughter – it made the world of difference to the child’s ability to learn. Such labours may be taxing, but the end result very sweet.
The bee-and-honey analogy can be extended to the work of ICT facilitators in schools. How many visits must be made, workshops presented, words of encouragement spoken and support given, to help one teacher to embrace the use of technology as a teaching tool?
A facilitator may sometimes feel that the efforts are not rewarded – some teachers battle to come to grips with the use of new tools and at times there may even be resistance to learning new technologies. Considering the number of schools one must service and the many teachers who must be helped, the task may seem overwhelming.
But take a lesson from the bee. The bee does not focus on the size of the hive, but rather on finding the individual flower, collecting as much nectar as possible, speedily depositing it in the comb and then taking off on another foraging expedition. Honey bees do not simply go through the motions, trying to satisfy the system – these little guys are goal directed. They make every visit count and the cumulative end result is most satisfying.
Ponder this analogy – following the same work ethics of the bee will produce results that are sweeter than honey.
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