Visual Presentations: From Bullet Points to Story Telling
Most people’s use of Powerpoint is appalling. Times New Roman. Stock Powerpoint templates. Way too much text. Not sure of the next slide. Eek. Combine this with the fact that most people giving a Powerpoint presentation are actually trying to persuade their audience, and we quickly understand the oxymoron that is “Powerpoint persuasion.”
Edward Tufte – the father of visual representation of data – has a wonderful essay on the perils of Powerpoint. He writes, “the popular PowerPoint templates (ready-made designs) usually weaken verbal and spatial reasoning, and almost always corrupt statistical analysis.” Zing.
Into this morass of bad fonts and poor communication lands an emerging school of “visual thinking.” Dan Roam’s book The Back of a Napkin is a fabulous “how-to” guide for using diagrams and sketches to present ideas. It’s so basic – yet so profound.
A friend recently introduced me to the workshops, consulting, and writing of Nancy Duarte. Her books – resonate and slide:ology – layout her VisualStory methodology that uses graphics to communicate a persuasive story. The books themselves are works of art. Check out this video for a bit about her storytelling approach.
When it comes to actually sitting down to create your presentation, consider using Prezi.com, an awesome tool for communicating ideas. Everytime I use Prezi, at least a dozen folks come and ask me about it! It’s really superb and works nicely with the design thinking approach I discussed earlier. Check out this prezi presentation by clicking the “play” button below.
One of the best ways to continue to improve your presentation skills is to be critical and thoughtful as you sit through the presentations of others. Think through what worked and didn’t work. If you keep incorporating the best tricks from great communicators, you’ll be a pro in no time.
What are some of your best strategies for presenting ideas? Any great tips for using powerpoint? I’d love to learn what has worked best for you.