by Terry Gault
Laura Bergells from the Maniactive blog has written a provocative post on the current fashion in PowerPoint and called for a new direction in 2009. Olivia Mitchell of Speaking about Presenting invited a number of bloggers to write a post on their own blogs on the theme “What I’d like to see in PowerPoint slide design in 2009". My contribution follows:
Stephen Denning would not agree.
The post seems to posit that simple visuals need to be balanced by data and analysis in order to enhance the credibility of the speaker. Data and analysis will be useful for a certain segment of the audience (engineers, geeks, scientists, left-brainers) and will enhance the credibility of the speaker. Having researched data and having done analysis will enhance the confidence of the speaker which will be communicated through a thousand subtle non-verbal signals that the audience will subconsciously process.
However, data and analysis is far less critical than a compelling and well-constructed story. In fact, data and analysis is not even necessary to sway an audience.
I offer as an example the case of Stephen Denning as put forth in his book, “The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations.” Denning’s book describes how his life and career were transformed by the age-old art and practice of storytelling.
Denning was in charge of a Knowledge Management initiative at the World Bank in the spring of 1996. He crafted a presentation with impeccable logic supporting his argument for knowledge management with well-crafted charts and metrics. The result? Audiences were lukewarm or even openly skeptical. The most common response was, “We’re a bank, right?” He was making no headway at all. He writes that the audiences were “eyeing the exits and looking for a way to escape.”
Then during a conversation over lunch, a colleague shared a story that became the centerpiece of his presentations. Denning notices immediately that his audiences are getting it. They understand the meaning and the value of sharing knowledge. His presentation begins to click.
However, when Denning does not use the story, the conversation ends up in a tangle of debate. His audiences question the feasibility of the idea. When this happens, he tries telling the story but he finds it much “less effective in extinguishing a fire than in getting one started.”
When he uses the story, he doesn’t get the same kinds of debate. Instead, the audiences begin to search for ways to implement it within their organization. People ask him, “Why don’t we do it? What’s the next step?”
During this period, he attends a conference delivered by an expert in knowledge management. As he listened to the speaker expound on his elaborate flow charts, he found himself struggling to follow along, even though he was invested in understanding the material! He says, “Here I am, already practicing the very process of knowledge sharing … and I am having difficulty following it. Imagine what a newcomer must be feeling!” At this point, Denning realizes that his audiences are having the same experience of his flow charts. He is beginning to suspect that the analysis is part of the problem, not the solution.
Finally, Denning gets an opportunity to present his thinking to the top level management. This may be the moment his project attains executive sponsorship. The catch is that his time is very limited. He does not have time to cover the analytics and charts as well as the story. He decides instead to tell the story and just extrapolate from the story to his ideas about knowledge sharing. That’s all he has time for.
The results seem even more positive. He notices that though there are people in the audience who have seen his charts in previous presentations but not a single one ever asks what happens to the chart. It’s not just that no one misses it. No one even remembers it. It’s disappeared into a black hole of oblivion.
The presentation is easier to deliver. He doesn’t have to answer any questions about the boxes in the chart. It’s easier to listen to, simpler, more interesting, more easily understood … without the charts.
There is a deeper, more fundamental question than striking a balance between “Lotsa bullet points” and “Simple pictures”.
The key is that the story must reflect a fundamental truth that the audience buys into. If it does not buy into it, data and analysis will NOT add any value whatsoever, and may actually muddy the waters. I am not saying “Don’t do analysis” or “Don’t have data to support your case.” You should do your homework and have those at the ready, if requested. My experience is that audiences simply don’t need data and analysis to make a decision. They are comparing your story to their own real-world experience. If your story passes the basic “sniff test” (“Do I believe this story?”) audiences rarely care about your data and analysis.
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by Terry Gault
Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III relied on countless hours of practice making decisions in fear-inducing situations when he successfully ditched US Air flight 1549 in the Hudson River , saving everyone aboard. It’s the very process that I teach clients about how to stay calm during presentations when things start to go awry.
It’s called metacognition defined by Webster’s as “awareness or analysis of one's own learning or thinking processes.” It originates from the Greek “meta” meaning beyond and “cognition” from the Latin “cognitio” which means knowledge or recognition.
It has a transcendent quality, this awareness of one’s own thinking, this “beyond-knowledge.” And how can one achieve it, especially when having to make decisions quickly in moments of duress? Practice.
Fear of public speaking is prevalent among people of all ages and all walks of life.
According to a nationwide survey conducted by R. H. Bruskin Associates (“What are Americans afraid of?” 1973), public speaking ranked as people's number one fear. More than anything else on a list that included heights, insects, flying, sickness, and death, 40.6 percent of those surveyed said they were most afraid of speaking in public. In a 1988 study, Michael T. Motley confirmed the finding that public speaking was people's number one fear.
You can find a process involving metacognition at a previous post that I practice when I face fear leading workshops or delivering presentations.
'Deliberate calm' guided US Airways crewA mental state called megacognition probably kept Flight 1549's captain cool and collected. By Jonah Lehrer (From the LA Times), January 17, 2009
picture credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital
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by Terry Gault
This video is the second that I've posted on the blog from comedian Tim Lee. His comedy mixes stand-up with science and PowerPoint visuals. Tim developed his science humor while working on his PhD, as he notes in the video.
Notice his use of the Rule of 3. The punch line always comes third in a series of statements.
Watch the Introduction to The Henderson Group video here>>
by Terry Gault
Last night I was at Pecha Kucha #30 in SF with Robert Graham of GrahamComm, a fellow presentation trainer. This was my 3rd time, Robert’s first.
I first heard about the event in 2007 when I read an article in Wired. It first started in Tokyo and there are chapters all over the planet. However, the SF chapter is the second most active going and just completed their 30th edition. Pecha Kucha is Japanese for "chatter” and they have strict guidelines for presentations: exactly 20 slides displayed for 20 seconds each. Hence, all presentations are limited to 6 minutes and 40 seconds: Presentation Haiku. You can get a sense of the event from this YouTube video.
Pecha Kucha has recently picked up Autodesk as a sponsor which seems a perfect fit for both since the event was started by and features designers. The event was held at Autodesk’s new lobby museum in the Landmark building at 1 Market which I’d read about in Fortune’s article last November. The space is only open to the public one day a month, so this was a Triple Treat and a great experience!
I saw the semi-famous XO Laptop from the terrific One Laptop Per Child project.
It was Pecha Kucha’s second event in the space, a BIG upgrade on their previous space a restaurant and club in SOMA.
I saw the hip and charming duo behind MuniManners.com. They delivered the best presentation by far, in my estimation.
Usually, the presentations are done by designers who show striking images and beautiful design work but have treated the spoken piece as an afterthought. Several came across as inarticulate, using the verbal filler phrase “sort of” as though it's taught in design schools across the country. One exception stood out: the divas behind MuniManners.com, a nifty little blog about etiquette on riding SF’s Muni that is read all over the planet.
It seems they’ve tapped a nerve. I’ve asked my blogging associate Nicole to do a post about their blog later this week.
As for their presentation, they had clearly thought through their message and had worked on their timing. They tag-teamed their patter, trading off as a new slide appeared. Their speech was crisp but informal and they were enjoying themselves.
The genius of these two marketing professionals was clear when they told their story about starting up the blog anonymously. They were only known as Muni Lady 1 and Muni Lady 2. That changed in Sept of 2008 when Angelie Agarwal and Julie Hayes came out on KTVU TV.
Their use of mystery, clean simple design and cheerful, fun, friendly but never snarky style are evident both in their presentation and their blog.
Bravo, Muni Manners Mavens, Angelie Agarwal and Julie Hayes!
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