Beyond Bullet Points
A great PowerPoint presentation is a story well-told. A bad
PowerPoint is a mind-deadener. Thousands of businesspeople are
snoozing away at this moment as slide after slide of
fancy-transitioned words, words, and more bulleted words evaporate a
fortune in productivity. Don't get me started on how badly made
PowerPoint presentations are blunting the sharpest minds of today's
college students. Google "Gettysburg Address"+"PowerPoint" to see for
yourself.
It doesn't have to be that way! Beyond Bullet Points shows you how
to achieve excellence in presentations. I just looked at my bookshelf
and noticed that my third copy of Beyond Bullet Points is missing,
having been pressed into the hands of some startled friend,
executive, teacher, activist, who was only trying to get out the door
of my office.
Here's what it teaches in a nutshell: The medium of PowerPoint is one
of visual storytelling. An excellent presentation is an excellent
story. So, the structure of the story is first. Then a storyboard is
needed. A storyboard is a series of sketches, or notes, about what
you will talk about. These are not bullet points that the audience
are meant to read, but visual reminders about what you are planning
to say. Last, and least important, you add the words or text. The
images rule! You can download admirable Word templates from the
book's website, and get started storyboarding right away.
The emerging storyboard
With images in place
Following the approach of this book, I have spent dozens of hours
storyboarding my own recent presentations, and hundreds of dollars on
custom photographs and image research. It has paid off. I've used
this approach on all kinds of audiences all over the world, and it
works. Right now, anyone using these techniques has a strategic
advantage in being heard -- after listening to the second or third
speaker reading words on the screen, audiences who see a
well-orchestrated visual accompaniment to a well-plotted narrative
start waking up and paying attention.
Do not advance one slide further without reading this book.
-- Howard Rheingold
Beyond Bullet Points
Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations that Inform,
Motivate, and Inspire
Cliff Atkinson
2005, 223 pages
$16
Amazon
Sample excerpts:
It might sound counterintuitive, but when you put less information on
a slide, you increase the audience's attention because the audience
is then dependent on the speaker for explanation, and the speaker is
dependent on the audience for feedback.
*
The protagonist of every presentation is your audience, and you are a
supporting character. This is the crucial spin on crafting stories
for live presentations.
*
Stories are about how people respond to something that has changed in
their environment. We like stories of how other people handle changes
in circumstances and what their choices reveal about their characters.
When a protagonist experiences a change, an imbalance is created
because things are no longer like they used to be. In screenwriting,
this change is called the inciting incident that sets a story in
motion. Scene 3 of the story template should help your audience to
understand why they are there for the presentation -- usually,
because a change has happened that has created an imbalance.
Defining the imbalance that has brought everyone to the presentation
can be easy or difficult, depending on your situation. The imbalance
could be caused by a crisis brought on by an external force that has
changed your organization's environment, such as a sudden economic
shift or the action of a competitor. It could be the result of an
internal change, such as a revised opinion or mindset, a new piece of
information, a new research report, or an anecdote from the field.
*
Once you get the hang of writing an Act 1 with your group, try
applying these techniques to other communications scenarios beyond
your PowerPoint presentations. Crafting Act 1 of a presentation is a
problem-solving framework that can also help a group to clarify
strategy, develop marketing messages, create project plans, and
resolve other challenges.
Comments (
0)
Favorite (15)
