We've all been subjected to "death by Powerpoint" - presentations that steal your valuable time so I started looking for great presentations - ones that left the audience inspired and wanting more.
Steve Jobs from Apple always delivers great presentations. Like everything, what appears simple and natural usually means highly crafted.
So, I spent the last month looking at what makes highly effective presentations. The sources ranged from a whole lot of different things - from advertising, to public speaking, from emails to articles and blogs. They also included script writing to internet videos.
The initial driver being three separate events -
- Our first CLIVE ALIVE event at the beginning of the month
- Another client who is presenting to a group of builders this Wednesday night.
- Constantly improving our CLIVEvideo script writing and presentation skills
It wasn't hard to find some good presentations - you only have to look at the TED conferences and read up on some thoughts of marketing guru Seth Godin.
Four books filtered to the top and were consumed -
- Seths Godins Purple Cow
- On the back of a napkin
- Ignore Everybody
- Presentation Zen
The end result is some good basic guidelines for presentations (too numerous to try and write all down here)
BUT the key, break those sacred cows of presentations process.
When putting your presentation together
- Get away from the computer and use Postit notes to storyboard and title header first
- Focus on the audience and What's In It For Them - tell a story, keep it real and human.
- Focus on the core message then break slides into topic headings.
- Use high quality relevant images to support headings.
- Reduce all clutter - Maximum seven words on a slide - remove logos etc
- Leave the detailed information for handouts after the event.
- No one every got shot for a slightly shorter presentation
