One of the things that most people pay no attention to when giving building their presentationis the concept of control.All presentations are created with an objective: persuade, educate or inform. If we ignore the idea of control in a presentation, then it's a fair bet that an objective is not going to be achieved. People's minds wander or the ygo to sleep. One study I read stated at any one time during a lecture, 25% of the audience is thinking of sex... but I think that might have been only the boys!How then do we maintain control during ...<< MORE >>

Often we dont have a choice over the content of our presentation: it is given to us by the nature of our work or the reason we need to present.  The thing is, its not the content that determines whether we are effective, its how we present that content that makes the difference.

Recently I had the privilege of training a group of staff at a regional city council and they felt half the problem was the 'dry" content of the material.  After working with one individual, he came & saw me the next day and said he had written a 12 bar blues song on the content of his presentation.  I invited him to present to the class that day, firstly using his original technique, secondly using his new "song" so they could see how far he had moved.  It was essentially the same content, just a different mode of delivery.

The difference was, of course, astounding.  The song he had written was both entertaining and informative, but here's the key: at the end of the day I asked the class what he had told us in the song presentation.  Amazingly, everyone remember the detail of the content...and we are talking percentages here.  Everyone remembered the percentages that he mentioned and how they applied!  That is an effective presentation!

Now, I know you aren't going to do a song at your next conference or board room presentation but it does raise a point.  Dont think that a bored audience comes from the content, it comes from the presenter.

As an exercise, pick a simple to remember point from your presentation then try delivering it in a range of different styles.  Use film/movie/TV genres or your impersonation of different actors....Sesame Street, John Wayne, TV Soap...about 6 should do it.  Deliver them to an audience if possible, but in a mirror at least and deliver them "full on".  In other words, let go of your desire to look good and give it everything you've got...an academy award performance please(or at least your attempt at one)!.

Then, go back & rehearse your presentation, looking for different, more interesting ways to deliver the content.  You may surprise yourself at the different energy you will bring to the same material.

I recently came across an article at Teach 42 about the dilemna of what to do if you wish to distribute your slides on paper, effectively making a "mute" presentation where the reader will not have the advantage of the speaker to elucidate the points on each slide.

There are various arguments that slides should have enough detail to able to be followed without the speaker, however I believe that this comes at a significant cost to the audience members who actually attended the presentation.  It must be noted that PowerOint or the like were, and still are, designed to be used for a presentation, not as a document generator.

Nonetheless, practicality sometimes demand that something be given left with audience members to remind them of the presentation content.  The correct approach, however, needs to addressed on 2 fronts:


1.  If you are a commercial organisation you should consider developing leave behind material separate from the slides.  A document should be prepared that will reinforce and, if necessary expand upon, the material in the slides.

2.  If the situation is one where the presentation doesnt warrant the expense of a separate document (read that as the financial return will not be sufficient) then distribute the slides by printing the Notes Pages function and add sufficient detail in the notes section to explain each point.  The process of writing these notes will add significantly to your preparedness for the presentation itself.

Only when you are clear that the slides are there to assist the audience understand and absorb the content of the presentation will you ever be a professional, highly respected presenter.  Every time you do something as a trade off in this area you sell the audience short.

Presentation software is for presentations, not document publication.  Would you write a letter in Excel?  Would you create a spreadsheet in Publisher?  Respect the time & attention your audience gives you and design a presentation SOLELY for them and create appropriate material, using appropriate software, for other occassions.

<< MORE >>

A new client, Thomas Klumpp of Ferag Australia, recently commissioned us to create a presentation for a presentation on polybagging (prepacking newspapers and other items in plastic bags on the print line) at an upcoming  newspaper industry conference.

When I asked Thomas what he would like the audience members to say after he presented, he stated his objective was to have the audince say "If I am interested in polybagging I have to talk to Thomas Klump".  This is very intelligent objective given he has only 15 minutes in front of the audience.

There is a tendency in such presentations to promote your equipment or organisation but that is just being a normal zebra, not an orange one.  Given that there will be at least 10, maybe even 15 speakers at the event on that day, there is no way any audience member is going to remember detail about any particular product  They are certainly not going to make a buying decision for equipment worth millions on the basis of a 15 minute presentation.  Thomas's objective is perfect: use the opportunity to sell himself, his knowledge and integrity to the audience with the aim of raising his profile in the industry.  It is simply to ensure he will be on the RFP list for anyone interested in his equipment.

Always think clearly about what you want to achieve out of your presentation in a long term sense.  All good presentations start with a clear objective.  In such situations as Thomas's, dont try and land a multimillion dollar deal in 15 minutes, you just dont have the time or the audience's attention that way.  Be an orange zebra: make sure your presentation stands out so that you are remembered then build on the opportunities that will present.

What is it that makes someone an orange zebra?  Its not the desire to wear outrageous clothes, although an orange Zebra could do that.  It is not being ostentatious for the sake of it.  Being an orange zebra is being prepared to stand up for what you believe in, being prepared to be different, not for the sake of it but because it is an expression of what and who you are.

Orange Zebras are often very successful because they are prepared to look past conventional "wisdom" and challenge the status quo.  Some who spring to mind are Seth Goddin and Bob Parsons.  They have built businesses based on a big vision, a challenge to the conventional and have a committment to their audience (or customers if you like).  They look past the small stuff and look at athe bigger picture, they look at the overall context of a situation and decide from there.

I had an outstanding experience with Bob Parsons organisation, Godaddy.com, recently.  I changed the location of this blog and had some problems having the site actually be visible.  I contacted Godaddy support and was given the wrong information which led me to expending $20 unnecessarily.  Although the misinformation was an annoyance it was, within a few days, cleared up.  Shit happens...

My main concern, albeit trivial, was that I had expended the money based upon their advice.  Now, $20 is not really here or there, but it was a point of principle.  I requested from support that they give me a $20 credit but I met the usual "we cant do that" from the people concerned.  I contacted the president of Godaddy with a short email and a copy of the correspondence.  Within 24 hours I had received a credit on the account...they didnt even need proof!

This is the sign of an orange zebra!  The president could have haggled, argued or stalled but he didn't, he simply gave me a credit and thanked me for contacting him with the problem.  It is not surprising he has risen in the organisation...he understood that I was, as a customer, worth much more than $20 in the longer term.  The suppurt personnel?  Well, maybe they had limitations on what they could do, or more likely what they were prepared to do.  Possibly, more concerned about losing their job if they tried to get the refund for me.

One of the best pieces of advise I ever recieved, and one that underpins the orange zebra philosophy is:  it is better to seek forgiveness than approval.

If you want to stand out in life, if you want to make a difference in your world, think about that the next time you present.  Sure, you will make mistakes and sometimes it will fail but, if your intentions are consistent with a powerful vision, in the longer term you will succeed.

Yes, 20 years ago the prodigal son of presentation design was born of two software engineers, Robert Gaskins & Denis Austin.

What an impact their child has made in that time.  According to Microsoft there are 30 MILLION PowerPoint presentations made each day.  If you do the maths on that, the money tied up in presentations works out to trillions of dollars each year (6 pax per presentation x 1 hour per presentation x $10/pax x 220 days).

Importantly, as they point out in an interview with Marc Valdez, blaming PowerPoint for poor presentations is akin to blaming the printing press for poor literature. 

It shouldn't come as a shock to any reader that bullet points weren't invented by Gaskins & Austin but existed in presentations since they began.  It is an important point to remember that we have moved on since the days of the typewriter...we've invented all sorts of things since then: colour TV, the internet...the international space station yet we seem committed to using bullet points in presentations for all eternity.

I beg you...indeed plead with you...look further than bullet points in your presentation, for the sake of your audience, your employer, for all mankind!

Stephen Bailey in the book he co-authored, "Life's a Pitch" makes the very clear point that if you want to be remembered if you want to look like everyone else.  The point is very valid with presentations.  If you want to have you & your presentation remembered, you have be prepared to spep away from the ordinary and be different from those that precede you.

being different isnt about<< MORE >>

Info to ink...how to keep it simple. In his outstanding book "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", Edward R. Tufte speaks of the "Data to Ink Ratio". In this he describes how to rid a chart of all unnecessary information so that the only components remaining communicate the information for which the chart was created.<< MORE >>

At a dinner party last night the subject about what we do at PowerfulPresentations arose, as it often does. It is interesting the how concept of a slideware (PowerPoint, Keynote, etc) can arouse vocal comments even from those who would normally be very demure.A Filipino lady who had just completed a course on how to use PowerPoint was waxing lyrical about the virtues of the product and how much she enjoyed using it. She was not stating she was an expert by any means but, like others I have met, there is a belief that the use of ...<< MORE >>