How to Change the World: Slideshare Announces “World’s Best Presentation Contest”

Calling a slide deck “a presentation” is a big pet peeve, but I REALLY enjoyed the results of this contest last year. It brought the excellent work of Scott Schwertly and Ethos3 to my attention.

Seen (or have) a deck you think absolutely rocks? Enter it before July 31st.

Client: “Should I have a PowerPoint?”

Pistachio: “Why?”

Client: “I don’t want them to be bored.”

Pistachio: “Then don’t.”

Pistachio: “Is there anything you need to tell them that you cannot do with your body or your voice?”

Client: “No.”

Pistachio: “There you go.”

Pistachio: “Uh, do you mind if I write this down for a blog post?”

Nice tidbit from The Tipping Point, Sesame Street researchers noticed how closely attention was tied to comprehension. Whenever the program got confusing, contentious or *flashy just for flashy’s sake, attention wandered. When the children understood what was going on, they paid rapt attention.

Now, anyone who had to read long, difficult academic papers in college (or any point in their lives) won’t find this the least bit surprising.

I say over and over to clients. You’re not “spoon feeding” information because they’re dumb, you’re packaging and framing it so that it’s easy to parse. Especially important when you consider keeping in mind the zillions of things battling for your listener’s attention.

*Anyone mesmerized by slide transitions, animations, fonts, effects & colors in PowerPoint should softly whisper this point over and over to themselves while editing a slide deck.

I want to snark at this, I really do. The possibilities are endless.

University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business will soon require presentation “slides” with their applications. Hmpf. Much sighing and keening will ensue. It begins with the snark about “corporate America’s surrender to…” But read this:

“We wanted to have a freeform space for students to be able to say what they think is important, not always having the school run that dialogue,” said Rose Martinelli, associate dean. “To me this is just four pieces of blank paper. You do what you want. It can be a presentation. It can be poetry. It can be anything.”

Thank you Rose. Are the rest of you are listening? Your slides are only so many pieces of blank paper. What are YOU going to fill them with?

Oldie but a goodie. Thanks Scott Monty for the reminder that this has been eating a hole in my “blog about” bookmarks file!!!

PPT Angst — The Beat Goes On, in a new direction. Jeff Nolan’s refreshing post adds clearer thinking to the “Ditch PowerPoint” meme. Let’s change how we’re using PowerPoint, and let’s make it easier (sourcing good design) to do so.

Everyone knows a company (or person) that swallowed the kool-aid and relies “too much” on PowerPoint. But is “too much” the problem?

In any given PPT rant, substitute the word “outline” for the word “PowerPoint” (that’s what most PPT abusers are doing anyways) and the problem becomes relying too much on outlines.

Presenting a new idea? Outlines keep you organized, but don’t belong in your visual aids. Summarizing a project for management? A written report/executive summary outline is great in addition to your presentation (you gotta keep ‘em separated). If an outline is NOT the best tool to use, don’t make your PowerPoint into one.

Pretend the projector breaks. Would you post that entire bulleted outline and heavy text onto a whiteboard, flip chart or blackboard? Or, would you draw a few diagrams and key illustrations, particularly the ones that spontaneously arose during the conversation? (Because you DO promote conversation when you’re presenting, RIGHT?)

For any given Pistachio client, it’s not (necessarily) how much PowerPoint is used, it’s how it’s used.

UPDATE: My favorite post (Stephen Colbert) about how bullets CAN work and, this brilliance from Hugh

Dear PowerPoint critics, Edward Tufte, et al,

(Cartoon by Hugh McLeod, hat tip to Adriana Lukas, Media Influencer)

Scott at Presentation Revolution offers this very true-funny post:

“…after four years we still have not seen a drastic change in the way presentations are built, designed, and delivered today. The bottom line: most presenters are insane…

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Now, I love what Ethos3 is doing. Meet Henry is brilliant. AND, I do enjoy this post about insanity.

BUT (Yeah you saw that coming. Sorry Scott.)

To play devil’s advocate, why WOULD there be drastic change on the whole? We’ve been mediocre at presentations for millenia. Cicero, Carnegie, lots of smart folks been chipping away at it. Same for how people overall put together memos, writings, music… Drastic improvements don’t follow just because we realize things matter, or even how to improve them. Some can, and do, make drastic improvements, but overall?

As much as communicating well matters, it’s just one thing successful people need to be good at. Presentations “built, designed and delivered” by individuals probably won’t get drastically better anymore than emails will on the whole improve. Or fitness. Or personal finance. The many who know what they *should* do, don’t. And most books on the topic offer little beyond formulaic “rules” and tricks.

When it really really matters, well, that’s when Scott and I earn our keep. We help people do their jobs better by communicating effectively.

Now, if an individual kept schlepping into meetings with the same awful slides and never understood why they weren’t making progress, sure. Insane. If an organization could not break through its “sliditis”-dependent tendencies, well… ok, maybe a lot of large organizations are pretty insane.

All this said, YES, a thousand times, I wish everyday presentations were evolving faster. But I do think the major presentations, the big conferences, we have seen some pretty cool stuff. We just gotta keep plugging away at it and showing where excellence can take us.

Good tips from Mike Elgan on how to use your presentation laptop for good and not evil. Money quote (paraphrased):

…generic suit… (with) fake smile and a clicker stands uneasily… people who would rather be somewhere else. …He slogs laboriously through slide after boring slide, glancing at them to remind himself what he’s talking about… The audience fights narcolepsy… The slides… make a long series of points mainly irrelevant to the audience. The presentation exceeds its time, despite the fact that he glanced at his watch several times during the talk.

This account describes 90% of the PowerPoint presentations I’ve witnessed, and I’ve seen thousands.

So true. WHY? WHY? WHY?

Mike shares how to use your laptop as 1) a notes display, 2) a timer, or 3) a coworker cue system(think the neck slitting “wrap it up” gesture from the back of the room, without the neck slitting gesture from the back of the room), all while presenting your slide deck.

Hat tip: Steve Rubel

UPDATE ah-ha, Lifehacker found it too and as usual, there are some really strong ideas in the comments section.

Social Media Consultant Josh Hallett offers this great primer on what NOT to say, couched as a translation tool for corporate press releases and statements. Avoid meaningless crud in ALL your communications, from press releases to presentations and beyond.

(As seen on Global Neighbourhoods)

UPDATE: And this just in, brilliant excerpt on jargon — Leverage Your Core Competencies by Off-Loading Jargon – from Penelope Trunk’s new book The Brazen Careerist. Don’t skip jargon because you “should,” skip it because of what it communicates about you. (And what it fails to communicate.) Meaning (and response) are the whole point of communication, so you’d better know what meaning and response your words really generate.