The YouBlog

Improving Your Presentations in 2009

THERE'S AN INTERESTING TOPIC being bandied about by some of us presentation blogger types that you might find valuable. The theme is "What would you like to see in PowerPoint slide design in 2009?" The idea was sparked by Olivia Mitchell (I'll give you the back story in a minute) and I couldn't resist the invitation to join the discussion.
        My short answer is . . . "Nothing." 
        PowerPoint slides have been sliced and diced, filled and drained, complexified and simplified in virtually every way imaginable. Sure, most of the 30 million presentations given every day are of the classic bullet-mania type, so they could definitely use a makeover. And Garr Reynolds and Nancy Duarte (among others) have given us outstanding examples of how to improve the effectiveness of our visual communications.
        So we've probably covered the range of PowerPoint slides from a design standpoint — unless we all want to follow Tom Peters's lead and make flaming red the new "white" for backgrounds (check out this example) (and then never, ever do it).

Let me then revise Olivia's charter (as did others) to focus on what I'd like to see in PowerPoint, or even just what I'd like to see in presentations in 2009. And, rather than give you a long list, I'll give you just one thing — one thing that, if you do it, will change both how you interact with your audience and, very likely, what your slides look like.

        Make your first slide a "goal" slide, not a title slide.

That's it. Start off with what your audience is trying to achieve or what you want them to understand. That will give them a powerful and (hopefully) succinct way to think about what is to come. And if that goal is sufficiently compelling, they'll be involved with you the whole way.
        In fact, they'll stay engaged whether your slides look like something from Duarte Design or from Bubba's Bullets-R-Us. Give them a reason to care — right from the start — about what you're going to cover, and PowerPoint doesn't really matter. You could bombard them (as did Tom Peters in this example) or you could leave PowerPoint completely out of the picture (as Edward Tufte did in the story at the end of this, my favorite YouBlog post).
        So that's what I'd like to see from PowerPoint users in 2009: a stronger connection with their audiences. Everyone wins in that scenario.

<THE BACKSTORY>

Olivia got the idea for this group writing project after she read a provocative post by Laura Bergells, entitled "PowerPoint, Propaganda, and You". I get what sparked Olivia's theme, but I'm of a different mind than Laura on where we are or where we're headed with the current direction of slide design. Laura seems to find simple graphics manipulative, and maybe she's seen some presentations that left her feeling that way.
        But I don't think the vast majority of PowerPoint users have the skills or insights to be consciously manipulative. When you consider that a LOT of engineers and highly-paid management consultants use PowerPoint as their word processing tool, you know that we're not close to eliminating the bullet-mania approach. In fact, of the 30 million presentations given every day, I'd guess that at least 90% are bullet-fests. Of those other 10%, which tend toward the Presentation Zen style, only a fraction are likely in the truly manipulative style. And the people who are skilled manipulators don't need PowerPoint to weave their tales. Ever walked onto a car lot? (Here's a story about that.)
        Anything that improves communication between people is a winner in my book, so I have no problem with the simpler, more refined approach that Garr and Nancy and others espouse. If, however, you feel someone is manipulating you, call them on it — but don't think that it's a movement.
        As for the group writing project, Olivia has rolled out her initial recap. You can find it here. 40 people contributed to this and there's an interesting mix of ideas. Happy reading :-)

Take the Lead

IF YOU WANT TO BE REALLY EFFECTIVE in influencing or persuading others, it's critical that you tune into their needs, issues, and goals. But sometimes it's not enough to ask them "What's your pain?" or "Tell me about your situation." Sometimes, that gets you too deep in the weeds toooo quickly. Sure, you're covering (or at least hearing about) what's affecting them, but you (and they) may be missing the bigger context.
        This is a really easy trap to fall into. We've become so accustomed, as buyers of products and services, to slogging through mountains of details and features and such, that we start narrowing our focus to those details and features. Which then perpetuates this limiting cycle.
        But every now and then, someone stops us and says, "What do you really want to accomplish?" or "How are you planning to use this?" or "Why does this matter?"

        Wow.
        What a concept.

        And then the conversation continues on a higher plane, one that reveals deeper motivations than just "I want this feature." or "I'd like a window over there."
        It also transforms the connection or relationship between the parties. When you pose questions like that — or, rather, when you elevate the discussion in this way, you show that you care about their goals, not just about pushing features or functions. And that type of connection is incredibly powerful.
        Talking about their higher objectives works in all kinds of situations, not only sales presentations and cold calls, but also internal presentations and really any situation where you're trying to persuade or influence someone.
        And all it takes is for you to ask that big question. Don't just sit and listen to what they say they want, and then give them a direct answer. Take the lead and ask them "Why?" It can change your conversation dramatically.

Do You See the Difference?

LOGIC ALONE rarely persuades someone. And logic may also be out the window when we are preparing our presentation or pitch.
        "Huh?" I hear you say.
        That's right. All those cherished phrases we love to spout, like "We're the leader in" or "We've been recognized as" or even "We have offices in " — these can actually get in your way.
        I'm not saying these aren't relevant, nor am I suggesting you shouldn't use them. In the right time and place, and with the right set up, they can help cement your case.
        Where these phrases hurt your chances is when you lead with them and/or when you don't give a context for why such pronouncements are important to the people you want to influence.
        Here's an example from a recent training session. I was working with some construction executives, and one of them wanted to be really bold about a recent award they'd received for safety. He was adamant about leading with: "We have the best safety record in the nation for a firm of our size."
        Okay. Definitely something to be proud of. And behind that award are all the things that they did to receive such high recognition — things that would be meaningful for a new client who might be concerned about safety.
        But just laying it out there, as he wanted to do, leaves behind all the juicy details (meaningful, visceral details) and forces the prospective client to decide how relevant it is.
        It was interesting to watch him clutch onto this idea, even when several of his colleagues (who were getting the idea of "You" v. "Me") challenged him on it. So we did some role playing. One of his co-workers said, "Jerry, I'm really concerned about several aspects of safety on this project."

JERRY'S APPROACH: "Well, we have the best safety record in the nation for a firm of our size, so we can handle all aspects of safety on this project."

"YOU"-FOCUSED APPROACH: "We share your concerns about safety on this project and here is how we're going to manage it." [then detail three specific aspects] "And as evidence of our commitment and results, we were recently recognized for having the best safety record in the nation for a firm of our size."

Do you see the difference?

Jerry's approach is all about "Me". Sure it's a meaningful piece of information, but the client isn't choosing them for their awards, the client is choosing them for their ability to get this specific job done. The "You"-focused approach, on the other hand, answers the question more directly and with richer detail, and then uses the safety award as the icing on the cake.
        You should do the same. Focus on the needs, interests, and goals of the ones you want to influence (the "You") and add in details about "Me" (yourself or your company) as needed to help make your case.

Something Bigger Than Expected

SETH GODIN HAS AN INTRIGUING NEW POST today, entitled "Thinking Bigger". He covers a lot of territory in a few words, but what I like about it for presenters is this: What are you doing to go beyond the expectations of your audience?
        Given that the vast majority of presentations are stale, boring, bullet-laden dirges, it doesn't take a lot. Even simplifying your visual presentation, as so well defined by Garr Reynolds and Nancy Duarte, is a major leap forward for most.
        But what about changing the conversation — or, rather, making your presentation into a conversation? What about starting with the end of your presentation and then working backwards? Or closing your laptop after you've shown the first slide, moving closer to your audience, and saying, "Here's what's really important for us to talk about."
        What are you doing to engage their minds? That's where "Bigger" grows.

The Blink of an Eye

THAT'S HOW LONG IT TAKES most people to make very sophisticated judgements. I've written about this before (in "Snap Judgements"), but there's new scientific evidence that further substantiates it. I came across this in a New York Times article, "Gut Instinct's Surprising Role in Math". And while it's written from a perspective of mathematics, the underlying lesson applies quite strongly to how people make decisions — a subject that every sales person, marketer, or presenter should care a lot about.
        To drive their point home, they created a quick test that you've got to try. It's fast and fun and quite compelling. It also shows, in a visual, visceral way, that people know a lot in very little time. Most people will get your point long before you fully deliver it, and they'll decide how they feel about it — yea or nea — long before you get to your "money slide" (i.e. the big payoff). In fact, they'll probably make their judgement before you leave your first slide and, most of the time, they'll stick with that assessment.
        So take the test — and then remember it the next time you're preparing a presentation.

(NB: I got 8 out of 10 right. How about you?)

The Metronome Effect

IT'S EASY TO MISS THIS when you're putting together your presentation. You've got so much to say or so much that you want/need to cover. So you start bashing it into PowerPoint, thinking about all the important points you're going to make. And you look at it when you've finalized your slide deck and, yep, you've got it all there.
        But lost in all that deep thinking and planning and preparing is this: the effect that your presentation has on the people who will be experiencing it. If you have lots of bullet points, spanning several slides, all that text and all those bullets become like a metronome.
        Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
        Pretty soon, your audience has even stopped reading the text on your slides, because it's too daunting to try to figure it all out.
        And then all that deep thinking and all that preparation you did is pretty much lost (as is maybe your opportunity?).
        Sure, you can throw some graphics in there, but those become part of the metronomic rhythm if there's not a compelling story told by the graphics.

So what do you do?
Have no more than one slide with bullet points on it, and put that near the end, when you want them to remember the most important ideas or items (which are what you put on that one bullet slide).
        For everything else, use a picture, use a single word or two in a big graphic fashion — or don't use anything and have a slide deck with only one slide.
        Wouldn't that be memorable? Absolutely.

What Will They Remember You By?

MEMORIES ARE SUCH FASCINATING THINGS. Do we really remember things exactly as they appeared or occurred or were presented to us? Sometimes, if the experience was so moving or transformative that it burned a clear, visceral image in our brains. More often, though, memories are established based on a feeling or an overall impression or maybe just some garish green shoes. And they rarely encompass everything that was expressed. More often, it's the highlights that remain — highlights which color opinions, decisions, and actions.
        I'm not pushing you achieve outbursts of "Oh, my God, that was the most extraordinary thing I've ever sat through!" You just can't guarantee that people will respond in such a fashion. And if they do, it's because of what's happened inside them, not strictly because of something exceptional that you've thrown at them.
        So let's take the simpler, and more repeatable, route of "What will they remember you by?"

        Your view of the world? Possibly, but not likely.
        Your Features & Benefits, or your service's methodology? Nope.
        Their uneasy feeling as you waffle around for a closing? Yep.

Here are a few more:

        Their relief at finding an answer to their needs? Yes.
        Their excitement about discovering a better way? Yes.
        Their feeling like they found a kindred spirit? Yes.

And what's the key difference between these two sets? The first group is focused on what you're trying to push. The second group comes from the feelings that your audience or prospects experience, as they connect what you're saying to what they need or want.
        Sure, your product's features might help them achieve a sense of relief, but if you don't lead with why those features are relevant to your audience, you're just like one of those grey boxes above.
        So the idea to consider today is what they will remember you by. And if you don't have a clear, concise idea that connects to their needs, issues, or goals, then write down how you'd like them to remember you, and then work backwards from there.
        Don't make it a long list. Just write down one or two short phrases — ideas that they might express —  and then see how you can reach that point in what you have to say.

[For a related post, check out: "Remember This!"]

One Thing at a Time

OKAY, IT'S ONE OF MY MANTRAS — use graphics to help tell your story. But that doesn't mean that any image works. This is particularly true with diagrams or pictographic representations of technical matters. You've probably seen these — wild collections of boxes and circles and cylinders, washed over by text and arrows and a varied assortment of colors. They're visual nightmares, at least for the audience.
        And that's where the disconnect happens. To the person who creates images like that (or directs others to do so) (often with the charge of "There's still space on that slide. Fill it up!") (like an old boss of mine, who actually said that) (but I digress).
        So someone creates an image that they feel is the perfect encapsulation of a process or technical set up or a "solution" to a problem. It has all the elements that need to be considered — except how the audience is going to absorb it.
        What may seem "perfect" to the presenter is often a sensory overload for the audience. Too many things to divert one's attention. No hierarchy of elements. No big-picture context in which to arrange the details that fill out that vision. No parsing or sequencing of steps to help develop the story. It's all just barfed out on one slide. And after the audience recovers from their initial, visual battering, they struggle to follow the presenter's descriptions of this visual hash.
        Ugh.

So what do you do?

One approach is to choose a central element and build your story around that. Is there a critical part of the process where things are breaking down, or where your "solution" makes everything right again? Establish that as the key element, so they get the context, then go back to what leads up to that, and what follows beyond the central point. Layer in the pieces only when they're needed, and this will be a much more manageable and effective experience for your audience.
        Another approach is to show how things are today (in as simple an arrangement as is possible), and then show how things can/should evolve in the future. This is the approach suggested by Bruce Wyman in his post, Simplification of Things, Part 1 of Some (hat tip to Brad Feld for highlighting Bruce's post in Why Does This Slide Suck?). Bruce converts an overly complex slide into a Before/After sequence with far fewer elements. His makeover is clean and simple, and far easier for an audience to follow.

Here are two other ideas to consider:

1) Have all the elements you need already visible, but gray everything out except the central piece. Don't make any of the text elements visible yet either. Then, as you go through the story and highlight different parts, bring those pieces into full-color view (with text labels as needed). This requires extra work to achieve such a build, but your audience will get much more out of this approach (versus barf-it-all-out-there-at-once).

2) As a variation on the last idea, make each of the visual elements a clickable zone, so you can jump around to different parts of the "story". This makes the discussion far more interactive, since you can focus in on those elements that matter most to your audience. Taking this approach requires even more time in preparation, since you have to set up which slide each element links to, but it's really effective in establishing a dialog — and a shared depiction of what matters most.

Gone Fishin'

GREAT QUOTE from Henry David Thoreau: "Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not the fish they are after."
        And what are you really after with your presentations or sales calls or press releases and such? Is it to hear yourself talk or see your words in print, or is it to affect and influence someone else?
        Start from that and work backwards, and you'll be far more effective than if you just hurl your line out there and hope someone takes your bait.

Don't Take the Easy Route

RAISE YOUR HAND if you use a slide template. Okay, it's a trick question — even blank slides rely on a template of, well, blank slides. Templates are good in providing a consistent look to a presentation, which helps your audience concentrate on your message, not on abrupt changes in slide design. (There are, of course, things to be wary of. Read this and this.)
        Templates make the task of creating a presentation easier, but they also can make us lazy. Worse, they can even weaken how we present our ideas, by giving us a seductively simple — and potentially ineffective — form into which to pour our thoughts.
        Need a new slide? Just click the "New Slide" button. Then fill in the box that says "slide title" and start bashing in your bullets. (Or filling in some other prefab form. Pie chart, anyone?)
        Result? Another potentially good presentation gone bad.

A first step in a better direction
Let's look at that "slide title" bit. It seems logical. We want to label what the slide is about, so the audience will understand what's coming up and we'll know what to talk about, right?
        But who is giving the presentation? The slide deck or you?
        Let's go back to the basic purpose of using slides, which is to help illuminate or explain things for which words aren't enough — or to feature the three or four bits you absolutely want your audience to remember.
        If you buy that premise, then individual slide titles are virtually irrelevant. They become the equivalent of saying, "Here's what I'm going to tell you now." That just gets in the way of the story you're telling and risks talking down to your audience.
        Slide titles can sometimes help set a tone for the content within, or can anchor a series of slides on a particular theme (if you're doing builds and such). But in those cases, the title should be only one to three words in length, no more.
        And if you're thinking you need slide titles for the print-outs of your presentation you plan to leave behind, then please read Powerpoint ≠ Word.
        So leave the titles out and just paint your vision. Your audience will be more tuned in every time.