Fireworks as a model for PowerPoint slides

Now before you think I've lost my mind and I'm suggesting that we make our slides look like exploding fireworks displays, rest assured that I am still sane. While watching a fireworks display recently at Disneyland with my family, I noticed how you see the firework explode and then a moment or two later you hear the boom. And it caused me to think that a firework is a good analogy to how our PowerPoint slides should work. Our audience should see the visual, take it in, then then hear us talk. If we are talking while the audience is trying to understand the visual, they won't be listening to us and our message will be lost. The point for presenters is to wait until the audience has seen the visual, comprehended it and then start speaking. This is uaually a delay of only a second or two, but it is important in helping our visuals and words make the greatest impact.