When Visuals Are Just Pointless
I've had to sit though some presentations recently where when it came to visuals, the presenters took cramming information in the audience's face to a whole new level. One one projector, we had the slide deck and on the other, a demo. Pretty innocuous there, outside the typical excess text and map shock-laden diagrams. What the presenter did next was simply amazing. He pulled the paper away from his easel to reveal three 14" x 11" printouts of PowerPoint slides like the one to the right.
What was amazing wasn't merely that they did this at all (that would have been bad enough). What took the cake is that he repeated this performance. He knew we couldn't read it. He said so himself. However, he still presented it to his audience as a guide to help explain the slides on projector 1 and the tasks performed on projector 2.
In a previous article, I wrote about a couple large visuals that I created that could not be read, even by myself. However, it was not meant to be read. I was after visual impact, demonstrating a large scope of effort. What he had on his easel was intended to be a reference for the audience, but in turn ended up merely a pointless distraction.
When using visuals, it goes without saying: make sure they serve a purpose. Do you need it to gain the audience's attention? Do you need it to help tell your story? Do you need it to help make a point? If it doesn't fulfill its intended purpose or if it really has no purpose, then leave it out. Time is limited. Your audience knows when you're wasting their time. If they think you're wasting their time, they'll tune you out.
Breathe
This last week, I got to give a presentation in the office. Time to get the conference room set up was short, but the slides were ready and I had practiced ahead of time. It was one of those days where there were back-to-back meetings with other responsibilities keeping me running around.
It happens. It goes with the territory.
Well, when it came time for the presentation, I was scrambling to get the laptop set up, the virtual machine launched, and everything else that needed to be hooked up hooked up. Desptie all this, there was a good reason to not abandon the slides. There were some key visuals in there, that if not used, would have made comprehension of the material much, much more difficult.
After I got everything all set up and configured, I was already 5 or so minutes late in getting started. As soon as I was sure that everything was set to go, I started with my presentation.
Big mistake.
With the adrenaline pumping from the effort to get set up as quickly as possible, I dove right into the talk without giving myself a chance to catch a breath. I was a few words per minute slower than John Moschitta in the famous FedEx commercials. OK, that's a bit of an exageration, but you get the idea. If I had taken just ten seconds to catch my breath, my pace would have been more measured and would have conveyed the confidence and authority that I needed.
Ten seconds out of a twenty minute presentation in a fourty-five minute meeting.
If circumstances out of your control force you to rush to get set up, invest in a brief pause to catch your breath and relax. You don't have to look like you're doing it. You can also use it as a moment to get your audience to get quiet to listen to you.
Image credit: dlemieux, used under a Creative Commons license.
Get the A1. It’s Time To Kill Some Sacred Cows!
Lately, I've been having a blast reading Death To All Sacred Cows
Well, it's time to get the steak sauce out and have ourselves a feast, because we're taking the cows to the slaughter house. It's kind of a gruesome way to put it, but it has to be done. This is going to be the first of many sacred cows that we will send to their timely demise. First up:
Presentations Need PowerPoint Slides
How many times have you been told by a superior, "Put together a PowerPoint presentation for that meeting next week!" What was the reason for the requirement for PowerPoint slides? Chances are, that boss of yours is riding a sacred cow. You don't have the heart to tell him it's not that Harley he's been fantasizing about, but someone's got to take Bessie from him and put her out of her (and our) misery.
When presenting, your slides aren't your presentation. It's you and what you've got to say. Your audience is there to listen to you (You hope. We'll get to that at a later date.), not watch a bunch of slides. If all they wanted or needed were the slides, then there's no need for the meeting. So, where does that leave your slides? They're visual aides; not for you, but for them. If simple visual aids won't help you convey your message, or if your message doesn't translate well to simple visuals, then don't use slides at all! Your business isn't going to fall apart just because you didn't use slides. Heck, you just might yourself more effective delivering your message and/or call to action.
What if it does make sense to use slides? Well, another way to approach this sacred cow (and peacefully end its existence) is this: Why use PowerPoint? If you have control over the technology, use what makes sense. That could mean Keynote, SlideRocket, 280 Slides, OpenOffice, or Google Docs. There is no holy scripture that commands use of Microsoft's slideware.
One Down...
Well, that's one sacred cow. I've got a bunch more lined up ready to be carted off and turned into juicy steaks, one at a time.
Image credit: Jennifer Buehrer, used under a Creative Commons license.
Dealing With Nerves
We've all heard that Americans fear public speaking more than death. There was even that line from "Seinfeld,"
“According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
Frankly, it makes sense. When speaking in front of an audience, you're in an extremely vulnerable position. You're up there in front of 10, 20, 50, 100, or more people all of whom (hopefully) are all looking at you and paying close attention to everything you have to say. Unless you have a true phobia, how you react to this situation says more about your preparation, than anything else. The unprepared crack and fumble. The prepared can deal with virtually any pressure or situation Murphy throws at them.
So, what does it mean to be prepared? It surely doesn't mean you have your presentation memorized. Just look at Chief Justice Roberts' swearing in of President Obama and Vice President Biden's swearing in of Secretary of State Clinton. Those are examples that show just how fragile your performance becomes when counting on the precise word-by-word repeating of text. One little slip-up quickly becomes a highly-visible train wreck.
Being prepared means knowing your material. It means knowing your story. If someone were to completely deny you your slides, can you still give your presentation? Sure, your word-for-word performance will be different, but can you get your message across? Can you still sell your big idea? An obvious way to get prepared is practice, practice, practice. Keep practicing your presentation. Don't try to memorize anything outside of quotes that may be up on the screen. Those shouldn't be a big deal anyway because any on-screen quote that's not going to detract from your presentation will be brief.
Well, how about slides with facts and figures? Don't memorize them either. The point should be to practice the presentation enough such that if you couldn't see your slides, you know which slide follows the next. That way, when you advance to the next slide, you know what's up there. If you know your material, then you know the story that the chart on the screen is supporting.
Another way to learn your material is to write out your story in narrative form for the handouts that you (may) hand out after your presentation. I have found this to be an effective way to reinforce in my mind what it is I'm sharing with my audience. The organization of the content also gets reinforced through this process.
I've been in that zone where even though I could look at the laptop that showed the next slide, I advanced on and on, continuing with my presentation, all without looking at the laptop. It's a wonderful situation and can be compared to a runner's high. What I even find is that in situations such as those, I'm talking on auto pilot. This is thanks to practicing enough so that I literally knew my material inside and out. Fear and nerves are tossed aside and I am on a roll.
Keynote
If you're not lucky enough to experience the speaker's high, then what else can you do in addition to preparation? One thing you can do is to take advantage of the presenter's tools in your slide program. Don't be staring down at them, but glance every now and then, as needed, to maintain your sense of place. Don't use them to read your material to your audience, either. However, merely having them there can be a mental support to help you stay in sync with your audience's visual aids or nail that quote on the screen without looking at either the on-screen or on-laptop version. I can't say why that helps, but it surely seems to help me. Maybe just knowing it's there is enough to calm nerves, allowing me to focus on the content I'm sharing rather than the slide itself.
Lastly, one piece of advice that has helped me over the years came from a college friend of mine who would also be the Best Man at my wedding. It was simply, "What are they going to do, hate me?" They're not going to assault you physically. You're not going to be leaving by way of an ambulance. So, if the audience hating you is the worst that could happen, you're going to be OK.
Do you have your own ways to deal with nerves when presenting?
My Thoughts On the MacWorld Keynote
In this post, I'm not going to focus on the products that were announced. Granted I can't wait to see the changes to Keynote beyond what was discussed, but I'm more interested at this moment in Phil Shiller's delivery of the keynote itself.
Early on in his pitch, it was clear that he was nervous. He was racing along at a fast pace and at about 6 minutes and 40 seconds into it, he turned back at the screen, not to point something out, but to gain a visual cue for himself. It's a classic example of someone whose nerves are getting the better of them. However, as time went on, it was obvious that he was starting to hit a groove and feel more comfortable up there. In the end, he seemed on his game and did as good a job as anyone could be expected to (except Steve Jobs himself, but Phil's not Steve).
One thing he did do, though, that I couldn't help but to notice every time he advanced to the next slide is he held his remote out there for all to see and made sure, unconsciously, I'm certain, that we all saw him click that remote. You can hold remotes like that more discreetly such that even if your audience knows you have a remote, they're not focusing on it and each time you move to the next slide it appears to be through the very magic you're trying to create on stage.
Yes this has got to be one of my shorter posts in this category, but not every one needs to exceed 1,000 words. 
Did you see anything else that Phil Shiller did well or could have done better?
