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Branding Yourself With Smart, Effective Presentations
Having just attended a couple of conferences in the last month, I have seen an onslaught of PowerPoint presentations. While some of the content was good, a number of the presentations were just abysmal. People I know to be smart came off looking second-rate because their presentations just don’t manage the evidence of their quality of thinking.
For some reason I fail to grasp, otherwise smart people don’t understand that presentation quality makes a big impression. It seems obvious to me, but in this day of the knowledge worker – at a time when ideas and strategies compete for attention and markets – one has to package ideas like one packages consumer products. 
By packaging, I’m not just referring to how audio-visual environments are crafted for information. Narrative, expository form, surprise, humor, tone, and pacing are also vitally important to packaging information. What I'm talking about is not just look, but also strategy.
When I speak to students, young professional groups, emerging leaders, et al, I’m almost always asked, “If you had one piece of advice to give me to advance my career, what would you say?� Well, here’s my answer:
Learn to present your ideas effectively. Treat any audience you have with extreme respect by disciplining yourself to prepare for any public presentation like a concert artist prepares for a performance. When I was still playing concerts, there was a rule of thumb about preparing for performance: 60 hours of presentation for every minute on stage. Now, that’s a high standard, but it is what’s required of a classical music artist. Believe it or not, this formula is often not enough preparation for an artist, but that’s another subject.
Preparation is also critical in business. But preparation isn’t enough in terms of the intention you should bring to developing your presentations. You’ve got to think in creative terms and construct your presentation using creative devices. Informing just isn’t enough these days. People want to be entertained, stimulated, and challenged, as well. More, they want these experiences in a clear, organized context. In a complex world, clarity and insight are valued enormously.
This morning, I’ve resolved to write a series of blog entries about how to create effective presentations in nuts-and-bolts terms. Over the course of the next month or so, I’ll be addressing key points and key devices that help make a presentation really work – for the presenter, for the audience, and for the organization.
For those who want a preview outline of what I’ll be covering in the blog, here it is:
1. Planning the Presentation
2. Deciding on Expository Form
3. Establishing Message Priorities
4. Storytelling
5. Entertaining while Informing
6. Graphic Design Considerations
7. Animation, Video, Sound
8. How to Leverage Learning Modalities
9. Rhetorical and Persuasive Devices
10. Timing and Pacing
11. Scripting
12. Sacrificing for Clarity
13. Summarizing
Posted on June 7, 2006 09:09 AM | Permalink
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Comments
Hey!
This is information that ANYone can use. As a conference attender myself, I share your concern about presentation; few things irk me like shelling out big bucks for a conference, to find that the presenters are READING papers that have been distributed—and don't even have the common sense to enlarge the type so they don't have their eyes on the paper constantly! I want to kill—or at least get my money back.
Granted, not all of us have the time—nor the expertise—to use sophisticated presentation software, but even the first five proposed sections about messaging will be instructive and useful. You go, Neill!
Having worked with Neill and seen numerous presentations he's made, I can testify to the fact that he knows what he's talking about.
Today's tools are making it easier to craft better LOOKING presentations, but where Mr. Roan's comments ring so true are in his admonition to pay attention to CONTENT and the many nuances of it's delivery beyond just the look of it. I have seen so many great looking presentations of mediocre, lifeless content, and as a designer I may have even contributed to the problem by simply spiffing up my clients' PowerPoint templates.
There are perhaps many of you out there who, like me, feel like less than a star when it comes to your 'stage presence'. Watching Neill present is like watching a great stage performance -- rehearsed, thought through, prepared, full of energy -- but one thing I have learned from him is that everyone has a personal style for presenting that can be leverarged to make effective presentations. One need not give up if you feel you're not especially talented in this area, and this is a particular issue I hope we'll see covered in this series.
Ladies and gentlemen, you're about to get an excellent education in making presentations that you probably couldn't even find in the best of MBA programs or even MFA programs for that matter. I just hope none of you are going to then end up pitching against me somewhere!
Thanks Neill! What a desperately needed service this will be to arts conferences, board presentations, and anyone that says anything about anything of importance.
Once you've worked through your weblogs, please also consider gathering them all together into a single downloadable guide!
Bring it on.
Amen! Your contribution to this arena is sorely needed. Death by PowerPoint is all too common. Thanks for letting us peek behind the Roan curtain and learn from your experience and ideas on this one.
I'm excited about gaining more Roan perspectives and insights after just one conversation with Neill!
I agree with Peter - this information is for everyone regardless of discipline.
Thank you Neill!!