Adding images

So, we promote a functional use of images. In the different segments of the presentation, images play typical functions. Here we go through each segment, explaining what purposes images serve, and provide ideas for how to do that.

Beginning

Title slide

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Part of the first impression in a grant interview is your first slide, or title slide. It is the first visual representation of the proposal you show. With the right title slide you prepare your audience for what is coming and trigger a mindset you would like them to have. Just like a good book title shouts ‘read me!’ at you from the book shelve.

When designing a slide, you have two means at your disposal: text and images. Given the same title, different images could significantly influence the effect of your title slide.

For example you could combine the title ‘The influence of synthetic polymers on marine ecosystems’ with a picture of a sea turtle with a plastic straw in its nose, a few plastic bottles, a floating plastic bag, or no picture at all. Each of these options causes a different interpretation of the title. Think about the emotion you want to evoke (neutral, sad, happy, funny, etc.) and think up an image that does that. Sometimes it is possible to use a picture for the title slide that returns in a later segment of the presentation where it supports your story. The curiosity you trigger at the beginning is answered later. Moreover, if the picture is linked to your core message, the repetition of it helps to both remember the core message and makes it feel more preferable (a trick from marketing).

Also the text itself offers an opportunity to influence your audience before you have said your first words. If you write ‘plastic’ instead of ‘synthetic polymers’ people know immediately what you mean. If applicable you could use the term ‘plastic soup’. You might end up with something like: ‘Plastic soup – how does it impact ocean life?’ Try to find words that trigger the right mindset in your audience. Keep in mind that short titles work better than long titles.

Frame: semiotics

Semiotics describes in which ways signs refer to the signified. You can use the categories of signs if you think about how to visualize your messages. Here are the three categories:

• Iconic relations are based on physical resemblance/similarity. If your project is about babies, then a picture of a baby on your title slide is an iconic sign. Also diagrams and metaphors are classified as iconic.
• Indexical relations are based on association and co-occurrence. A diaper, a pacifier, and a bib all indexically refer to a baby, but will give rise to different associations.
• Symbolic relations are based on cultural convention. The word baby, but also the ostrich, or boy/girl signs are symbolically referring to a baby.

Hook

Images can greatly contribute to getting the attention. Think again of the effect you want to produce and find images that will fit the bill. If you start with a fact, show a figure that proves the fact. If you start with a quote by a famous person, show this person. If you start with the patients’ life, show a patient.

Context

Here images play an important rhetoric role. They can in a very direct way alter the mindset of your audience. Regardless of the story, when you see a photo showing the face of Donald Trump, a sunny white beach with palm trees, or a person jumping out of an airplane, you immediately are drawn into a world of associations. The images not just show literally what they show, they engage your audience on a sub-conscious level. Use this power of images when you set the scene.

Finding the right image can be a time consuming process. It helps when you first establish what is the point you want to make. Then think about the ways you can support this point (e.g. examples, data, anecdotes, quotations). Finally think up how you can visualize this. For instance you want to establish the point that liberal democracy is at danger. You can support this by mentioning the number of people in Europe voting for parties that explicitly attack the values of liberal democracy. The visualisation of this fact could be a chart showing a trend or a heatmap of the continent indicating percentages of votes going to illiberal parties. You could support this same point by showing the faces of antidemocratic politicians everyone knows from the news. If you want to sort more effect, show news photos of attacks on judges, journalists, or academics. Or, combine the two. Use a picture of a protesting crowd combined with a trendline.

Think of images to both introduce the constituents of the problem you address, the characters of your story, but also accentuate their character. If you want to give the audience an idea about the scale of the problem of plastic in the ocean, you can show a number or a trend line of tonnes of plastic per time unit (logos), but also show an island of plastic waste in the sea (pathos). This can be done on the same slide. Make sure you use several rhetoric means to underline the importance and urgency of the problem. Since images are much stronger than words, try to restrict the amount of words on the slides in this segment of the presentation.

Problem

When you explain the problem, you enter the world of research. The story becomes a bit more technical. Here images serve the purpose of explaining the key concepts of the problem. Where possible use images to illustrate the concepts (or examples of them) and highlight the relations between them. Images often used in this section are maps, schemes, paintings of historical figures, timelines, etc.

End this section with a slide that just gives an overview of your problem, research questions, or objectives. It is important to do this concisely and to the point. In this way your audience will better be able to remember and understand the problem. In practice, this approach has been shown to give both the speaker and the audience a short break.

Middle

Approach

In working your way towards your hypotheses, research questions or objectives you will primarily need to give a lot of explanations. Images are also very useful in this context. You can for instance offer schematic representations of processes or drawings and photographs of the object of your study. Wherever possible, use the image to provide an explanation: show it while telling it. If you refer to your prior research, include book covers or title pages of articles. At the end of your explanation, it is often helpful to include a slide on which you have written out your hypotheses and research questions. If possible, indicate the difference between main question and sub questions. Again, this can be the natural moment for a short break.

How

Images are also useful when explaining your research methods. Anatomic models and schematic representations are often very insightful. Not all researchers have this opportunity, but if possible, show images that entertain your audience. Show pictures of you in your research habitat (doing fieldwork, in the lab, interviewing a participant), show the objects of your research (animals, medieval books, pottery, bones) and the impressive looking equipment (satellites, particle accelerators, radio telescopes in exotic places). These pictures illustrate what you are talking about, but more-over evoke an emotional response that convince on a subconscious level. Do this within the boundaries of what you feel comfortable with and what’s acceptable in the field.

If you include a slide about your network, think about logos of institutes, a map of the world indicating their locations, pictures of team members, and a schematic overview of the cooperation. And, sometimes a ‘why me?’ or cv slide is required. Think how you can make this more appealing than just a list of bullet points. Include for instance book covers, title pages of papers, or pictures of you in the field.

Textframe: The National Geographic bonus

Some fields of research can benefit from the beauty of their research subject. Biologists, archaeologists, anthropologists, art historians, engineers, astronomers, and medical doctors all have the opportunity to amaze their audience with appealing pictures. Pictures of exotic places, colourful animals, tombs, futuristic machines, maps of the world, and black holes are not just illustrations. They also appeal to the emotions of your audience. National Geographic is famous for the use of these kind of images. Especially in the introduction and the how part of your presentation you can benefit from this.

CV + Network

Here you want to use images to signal the qualities of you and your environment. You can highlight your international career with a map of the world or continent with the logo’s of the institutes you worked at. If you want to emphasize your career path, a timeline containing the most important steppingstones (logos of institutes, snippets of papers) running from the bottom left to the top right pointing at a logo of the grant works well. Or, if you want to show that you and your partners have the right skills for this proposal, you could group photo’s of you and your partners along the lines of needed expertise. By the way, a photo of you in your research environment also demonstrates your ‘street credibility’.

End

Why

The last slide is the slide that will be on while answering questions. We often see a ‘thank you slide’ as the last one. That’s a missed opportunity. We advise to use a slide with deliverables, results or outcomes. This slide contains briefly the scientific (answering research questions and development of method that’s applicable elsewhere) and societal importance (you contribute to solving the problem). In this last part you should never introduce new concepts. That could also be a reason to put a picture you used earlier in the presentation on the last slide. Often this picture is also the picture on the title slide. This nicely closes the loop of the story.

If you follow the above-mentioned guidelines, you will create a presentation in which you alternate slides with images and slides with text, and emotional arguments with rational ones. As a result, your audience will like you more and your arguments will come across more clearly. In this context, it is best to alternate slides with powerful and concise texts with slides with many images. Our experience shows that such slides stimulate people to take notes. If they contain your core message, your audience is more likely to remember it.

In the process of designing your slides, do not take the images you already have as your starting point, but think instead of what you need in order to lend force to your message. This might mean that you have to look for new images or that you have to create your own.