Bezos and the Age Of the Narrative
The demise of Power Point has been often wished for, but rarely acted on. Who hasn’t doodled their way through a 66 slide deck and wished for either a coffee break or maybe even a fire drill to break the monotony? Enter Jeff Bezos. He has decreed that Power Point presentations are no longer acceptable. In their place, Bezos wants his executives to present a narrative. A 30 minute story of their idea or business plan told as a story and to be read in detail after the presentation.
First off, bravo. And second, I don’t think Power Point as a presentation format is the issue here. It is still the most effective way to mix visuals, data and text. No one will escape that as long as sales and marketing meetings exist. The problem with Power Point is that presenters miss the sense of story. They lean on the format. And as a format it should be full of symbols and images to convey a concept or plan. But presenters rarely include compelling images or symbols that convert a sense of coherence.
Narratives are a welcome development and an opportunity to improve presentations. They the play by play and the color commentary to a plan, execution or even a big idea. For all the bullshit out there about the storyteller being the most powerful person in the company (c’mon man) a trend toward narrative can at least bring the story back to the executive level.
The new problem: How to craft and present said narrative if and when you are expected to create one. I’ve worked with all styles of executives and all kinds of audiences for narratives as well as Power Point decks. I have some ideas about effective narratives. They don’t fit very well into a neat bullet point list, and after all we’re trying to get away from that, right? But for the sake of the topic, the Medium and your time, here’s three to start with:
1. Look at the narrative as your TED talk. Most TED talks are narratives and track from 12 to 18 minutes. The best ones don’t lean on slides, they are an occasional illustration of a point or sometimes an important set of data. TED talks start with a dramatic promise (I’m going to show you how healthcare can be cured) then they walk back to some history behind the promise (healthcare used to be economically efficient and now its not) and then they lay out the path to the promise (Here’s a detailed plan for improving healthcare).
2. Think visually. I know that’s a bit counterintuitive, but envision the flow of the narrative. Maybe it looks like a nautilus shell with different chambers bringing the content from an inaccessible center out to the customer. Maybe its a roadmap. Maybe its a straight hierarchy like a pyramid. Maybe you set up block on a paper with each idea contained within, and organize them later. Visualizing a narrative is no secret. New Yorker author John McPhee often uses a visual diagram before he writes a book or a magazine article. Some of them have been seen as a trip down a river or even an algebra problem. He won a Pulitzer Prize and has sold millions of books based on what would seem to be boring topics like the Jersey Pine Barrens or the geography of the Mississippi Delta. Be John McPhee.
3. Focus on part three first. A lot of time gets wasted trying to craft a flashy or witty beginning or worse yet, a corny conclusion. This is business, not a poetry slam. Your narrative will be as effective as the path to the promise. Get that done first. It will probably inform your story (part 2) and then the intro.
If you’re like most people I’ve worked with, you have been constructing narratives your whole life. You just got sidetracked like everyone else by thinking in Power Point, and presenting in crowded rectangles. It’s OK. Jeff Bezos, and a new look at narrative business content, has come to the rescue.
