Apocalyptic Presentations
The situation is dire here at Global Conspiracy Inc. As planned, our nanotechnology division secretly incorporated tracking devices into all the world’s drinking water…but they subsequently discovered some bugs in their bugs and now need to deploy an update.
Unfortunately, the developers, under pressure to meet tight deadlines, had left out the update mechanism and can’t build it quickly enough to avert poisoning of all the water on earth. That’s a disaster — our share price would never recover from the ensuing PR fiasco.
Luckily, Really Ingenious Consulting House (RICH) claim to have experience with similar situations, and we are about to get a presentation from their Manager of Scientific Solutions, Will Borem.
Will starts out introducing himself, his team and and his company. Not a great way to start: the world is about to end, so we just need him to explain what RICH is going to do to save our bacon. If he can do that, we’ll be more than happy to hear how many PhDs they all have, but the proof hasn’t be extracted from the pudding yet.
We get to the end of the opening salvo after several minutes of Will droning on about his company’s history, then finally he puts up a slide with the word “solutions” in it. I hope that means he’s about to solve something rather than dissolve something:
He continues his monotonal monologue without pausing for a breath. I’m guessing the answer to our prayers is buried in the copious details, but now I’m torn between listening to his verbal dirge and reading the screen. I read a paragraph here, hear a phrase there, unable to decide where to focus.
Next up is a diagram. I feel like I might be able to follow it if I knew what all the boxes were for:
Unfortunately, Will isn’t interested in explaining each box. He seems to assume we understood his diagram at a glance and has moved on to talking about the benefits it implies. By the time Will has finished with that slide, I’m sliding into foggy incomprehension.
Other, densely populated slides follow, and after 10 more minutes of the reading-listening competition, my ability to stay focused has left the building. I’m reminded of a scene at the end of Star Wars Episode IV, with the good guys trying to line up a shot that will save the day, while under heavy fire. A voice shouts “stay on target!”, but then…
Oh. Looks like Will has finished his presentation and is asking for questions. I glance at the others on my team — I hope they took in more than I did, otherwise billions are going to die. After a few moments consideration I think I shouldn’t leave it to chance, so I timidly oblige him with a question.
“Could you go into some more detail about how the update gets delivered?”
Delivery is the crux of the whole thing, so I’m taking the risk Will realizes that while he was speaking I was completely checked out and half way to the airport. My colleagues give me a look of relief, indicating they absorbed no more than I did, so it’s a good thing one of us spoke up.
A note of irritation creeps into Will’s voice as he clicks back to one of the slides in the middle of his deck. From there it’s a repeat: he drones, while we try in vain to read and listen simultaneously. Once he’s finished it seems impolite to ask essentially the same question again, so we thank him and send him on his way.
If you survive the apocalypse (your odds are about 0.05%), I would suggest you rebuild society with some clear rules around PowerPoint presentations as follows:
Minimize the writing
If you are giving an oral presentation, avoid having a lot of text on the screen at once. People can’t read and listen simultaneously any more than you can read this paragraph while multiplying 24 by 13 in your head.
Try just having a title and an image, saying aloud whatever it is you would otherwise write on the slide.
Animate
If you do need some text, start with a blank page and use animation to introduce one line at a time. Read each line as it appears on the page exactly as it is written, so you are not creating a conflict between what is written and what the audience is hearing.
Similarly, diagrams can easily get complex with multiple boxes and arrows between them. When confronted with such an image for the first time, it is hard to know even what to look at first, so using animation to bring in each element as you discuss it, teaches your audience how everything fits together.
Use meaningful images
A well chosen image can help tell your story. It subtly poses a question, such as “what is the exploding letter about?” leaving you to explain, verbally, how the image ties into your narrative.
One caveat: you’ve heard the adage that a picture says a thousand words? Well that’s not true in this case:
These kinds of images — showing attractive actors apparently engaged in some work-related activity — have lost their meaning due to overuse. I believe this is because it’s widely accepted that people like seeing images of other people, a fact that advertisers have exploited for decades.
However, unlike a billboard on the freeway, you don’t need to subconsciously catch the attention of a disinterested commuter. You already have an audience that have decided to give you their attention. Don’t squander it with meaningless imagery.
Leave out the leave-behind
When giving a presentation, there’s often an expectation that you will provide the audience with your PowerPoint/Keynote deck. This works if your deck is like Will Borem’s above, because its slides already read like a book…but that’s precisely why it doesn’t work as a live presentation.
First and foremost, concentrate on making a great live presentation, without the profuse verbiage. Then you can do one of two things to create the “leave-behind” material:
- Easiest: add in detailed speaker notes, which are essentially the spoken information from the live talk.
- Most thorough: create a separate deck or document which is designed to be read, not presented. This is the best option if someone is threatening to send it to people who didn’t attend the live presentation.
Carnegie Hall
Finally, as per the joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall, you must practice, practice, practice. Bring up each slide and say it out loud. This can feel uncomfy if you haven’t done it before, but find a quiet room and you’ll get over it after a few slides. Make sure you have a good opening line, a good closing line, and transitions from slide to slide.
You’ll find that once you start practicing you’ll want to edit the slides themselves. Also, with repetition, you’ll be able to get to the point more quickly.
And speaking of speed— time yourself. You will probably have some time limit for your talk, so if you’re going over time, you’ll need to figure out some parts to leave out. (Almost no one has the problem of being too short-winded.)
Don’t be like Will Borem and consign the earth to the cockroaches, for want of the ability to hold people’s attention. What you have to say is important, so by placing some importance on the preparation, you might just save the world.
