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Powerful Presentations

Part I

The first step to creating and designing great presentations is to be mindful of the current state of what passes for “normal” presentations, and that what is “normal” today, is off-kilter with how people actually learn and communicate. If we want to communicate with more clarity, integrity, beauty, and intelligence, then we must move beyond what is considered to be “normal” to something different and far more effective. The future belongs to a different type of person… designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers- creative and empathetic right-brain thinkers. This is an age in which those who “think different” will be valued more than ever! We are living in an age that is “animated by a different form of thinking and a new approach to life- one that prizes “high-aptitude” and “high-touch”. High concept involves the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative.

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Powerful

Presentations

Part I

Agenda

Preparation

Presentation Planning
The Art of Presenting
Presentation Mediums
Leveraging “Right-Brain Thinking”
Presentation Structure
The Key Principles to Effective Presentation Design

Design

Presentation Structure
Design and Style

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Agenda

Design

Presentation Structure
Design and Style
Presentation Resources
Tools and Tips

Delivery

Engaging the Audience
Communicating Effectively

Powerful

Presentations

Part II

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Presentation Zen

Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery

Author: Garr Reynolds

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The “art of presentation” transcends technique and enables an individual to remove walls and connect with an audience- to inform or persuade in a very meaningful, unique moment in time. We are wired for face-to-face communication. This face-to-face connection has evolved throughout history, and still remains to be one of the most powerful tools for impacting the masses. When someone speaks, there is a resonance in all of the receiving brains. Then the whole group, assesses, internalizes, and acts together. This is the connective tissue of the human super organism in action. Now, THAT, is powerful.

Computer generated slides have only been around for the last 20-25 years. Powerpoint COULD be the most powerful tool on your computer, but at times, it can fail us due to operator error. Time and time again, users leverage Powerpoint slides as containers for text, offering minimal support for the audience to absorb the content and the purpose of the message. It is difficult for us to process information if it is coming at us both verbally and in written form at the same time. On the contrary, multimedia that displays visual information, including visualizations of quantitative information, can be processed while listening to someone speak about visual content.

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SIX SENSES

Story

Symphony

Empathy

Play

Meaning

Design

Success will be achieved once each of these aptitudes are mastered and leveraged. Engaging each of these “right-brain” senses will help you achieve both personal and professional achievement. These six aptitudes can be applied to achieve success not matter the journey that is ahead of you, whether you use them in game-design, project management, programming, product design, health care, teaching, retail, etc.

1. Design: Icing on the cake it not critical, it is simply a decoration. The cake is the substantive component. Decoration, for better or worse, is noticeable. When design is effectively executed- on-looking observers do not notice the design. Design starts at the beginning, not at the end. It cannot, and should not be an afterthought. It is the driving force for the overarching concept and objectives. The design takes place in the form of an outline, brainmap, sketches, and other forms of visual plans.

2. Story: Narrative imagining is a key instrument of thought. We are all wired to tell and receive stories. We are born story-tellers and story listeners. Personality, character, and experiences enhance content which makes a narrative more engaging and memorable.

3. Symphony: The ability to synthesize unrelated pieces to culminate a “big-picture” concept is becoming a specialization. When using this aptitude, you will discover relationships between relationships. This requires the skill to discover patterns and nuances that exist in a complex problem.

4. Empathy: This sense is all about emotional awareness and connection. Leveraging this can make you aware of other’s non-verbal cues and will help you elevate your own awareness of the non-verbal cues that you are sending your audience. The empathetic presenter has a unique ability to understand when the audience “get’s the big picture message” and when the audience seems lost

5. Play: Playfulness and humor leads to laughter. Humorous people are perceived as more “creative people” and more “productive people”.

6. Meaning: Presenting to an audience gives you an opportunity to make a small difference in the world, whether in a class, in the community, or within your future company. A presentation that goes badly can negatively impact your spirit and devastate your career. We live for self-expression and meaning. Remember to take ownership in the fact that you have taken an opportunity to share what is important to you with the masses. It is extremely rewarding when you are able to realize that you have taught someone something new. When you present in a different, unique, and impactful way, you are more likely to pay that meaning forward, and motivate someone else to communicate and impact others.

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Sales

Time

Start

Grow

Mature

Decline

Business Transformation

You are the future leaders in today’s organizational environment. Today, I am asking each of you to strive to be different. Organizations set the pace of which change occurs. Continual shifts and improvements allow for organizations to stay healthy. This directly impacts their longevity and your long-term success. This means that even the simplest of presentations, whether in your classes, or in future weekly staff meetings, should be considered as platforms for persuasion. Your presentations can have the power to either improve the pace in which your organization improves, or it can pull the organization’s success down. Staying ahead of these curves will require that you have courage in your communication. Each of you will become a leader in your own right. It is important to remember that leaders at every level in an organization needs to be skillful at creating resonance in order to control the company’s destiny.

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Preparation and Planning

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Ask the Right Questions

How much time do I have?

What is the venue like?

What time of day will I be speaking?

Who is the audience?

What is their background?

What does the audience expect of me?

Why was I asked to speak?

What do I want the audience to do?

What is the purpose of the presentation?

What is the story here?

What is my CORE point?

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The Planning Process

Step 1: Brainstorming

Step 2: Group and identify CORE

Step 3: Storyboarding off of the computer

Step 4: Sketch your visuals

Step 5: Storyboarding on the computer

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Sketching Your Visuals

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What makes messages stick?

Simplicity
Unexpectedness
Concreteness
Credibility
Emotions
Stories

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Workshop Exercise: �Presentation Preparation and Brainstorming

Part I

Part 2

Analyze your audience
Select a topic
Define the objective of the presentation
Craft the “story” (body of presentation)
Prepare introduction and conclusion

Prepare for body of presentation

Present data and facts
Read quotes from experts
Relate personal experiences’
Provide vivid descriptions

Prepare introduction and conclusion

Make the introduction relevant to the listeners' goals, values, and needs
Ask questions to stimulate thinking
Share a personal experience
Begin with a joke or humorous story
Project a cartoon or colorful visual
Make a stimulating or inspirational statement
Give a unique demonstration

�

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Visuals

Structure

Story

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Key Principles

Restraint in Preparation

Simplicity in Design

Naturalness in Delivery

3

2

1

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What

could be…

What

could be…

What

could be…

What is…

“New Bliss”

(new norm)

BEGINNING

END

MIDDLE

Every presentation should include a beginning (“what is” – past and present) and a middle (“what could be” – objective and end goal) and an end (“New Bliss”- a call to action). The gap should be highlighted in the first ”turning point”. Here, you will articulate an imbalance, calling action for and adventure; truly, asking your audience to enter the journey with you.

The call to action (final turning point) should be given in a poetic and dramatic way. It should articulate the finish line that you want your audience to cross. The call to action connects various concepts throughout the presentation and provides a final summary of what has been uncovered.

1. What could be: This is a day we all have been looking forward to.

2. Model for audience: “Isn’t this awesome?” “Isn’t this beautiful?”

3. Tell a personal story

4. End with new bliss (change and development quote)

Use metaphors and visual words to create scenes for the audience. This will help you make complicated ideas memorable, this way the audience can better envision what it is that you’re trying to say. Promises to the people.

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Workshop Exercise: �Case Study: Cisco Systems- Hop to It

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“Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

-George Bernard Shaw