On About.com: Grammar & Composition, Richard Nordquist writes about Barack Obama’s uncanny ability to stir a crowd. A large chunk of his article is devoted to a technique called a tricolon – that is, a series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses. Here are some examples:

• "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." -Benjamin Franklin
• "…Government of the people, by the people, for the people." -Abraham Lincoln
• "We cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow…" -Abraham Lincoln
• "I came; I saw; I conquered." -Julius Ceasar

You might notice that Abraham Lincoln got two mentions above. The tricolon is a repeated theme in Lincoln’s rhetoric, and I don’t think it’s any accident that Senator Obama is emulating his style. Mr. Nordquist writes:

…Rhetoric is an ancient art and a fairly consequential skill. Thomas Jefferson knew how to use words. So did Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. As it happened, echoes of the words of all four men could be heard in Tuesday night's speech.

It’s a powerful oratorical technique, and, when coupled with repetition and alliteration, the power of three strengthens any argument. It’s a style of speaking that is reminiscent of a pulpit. Think “faith, hope, and love,” “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” “the things we touched, saw, and heard,” etc. How many good sermons follow a three point structure?

Until recently, I didn’t know an official name for this kind of rhetoric. I’ve just affectionally called it The Rule of Three. While tripods are not the steadiest of structures, a speech centered around the number three can be extremely successful at an emotional level, making your message all the more memorable to your audience.

Tags: barack obama, language, rule of three

A good presentation tells a story. You are conveying a message to your audience in such a way that you hook them in and keep them interested in your given topic – be it reasons to use your product or service over someone else's or the techniques Egyptians used to mummify their dead. A presenters job is to relay that information in a way that leaves the audience not only informed, but longing to know more.

One of the more interesting mediums of storytelling/marketing in our culture is the movie trailer. It is a one-to-two minute vignette intended to give you an idea of what a movie is about while providing incentive to see the entire film. Some trailers go too far and basically spoon-feed the entire storyline to the audience (Free Willy, for example) while others just fail to convey anything attractive about the movie (like The Love Guru). There are a few, though, that capture the feel and tone of their source material perfectly and create a compelling package. One such trailer is the most recent for The Dark Knight.


"I see now what I have to become to stop men like him."

Stay On Message

This third trailer for The Dark Knight centers primarily around the character of the Joker, and it makes three main statements about him. (Alternately, my propensity for three point outlines perhaps biases me toward seeing this format!)


"Here's my card," and "You look tense."

The first point is simply that the Joker is in charge. The trailer makes it clear that he is the one calling the shots, and Gotham City is at his mercy. Secondly, the Joker makes his vendetta against order personal when he approaches the District Attorney's love interest, and finally we see that Joker's ultimate aim is to take down the Batman or become a martyr to the criminal element in the process. The preview hints at other plot points, but it only deeply explores the Joker and his anarchy.

The trailer stays clearly on message, and our presentations should do likewise. People leaving our sessions should have a clear picture in their minds of what we were covering. I've walked out of too many presentations where the speaker felt the need to cover as much as possible related to his/her topic in the given time. The result is always the same – a series of shallow, often disjointed points, with deeper information glossed over or rushed through. Decide: what three or four big ideas do you want your audience to walk away with? Focus on these.

Illicit a Reaction

My wife when she saw The Dark Knight's trailer: "I don't like that. Joker's just a terrorist. He's too evil." My response was one of goosebumps and fevered anticipation for the theatrical release. A good friend: "That was awesome." Every person I know who has seen one of the trailers for this movie has had a strong reaction. The trailer demands you react to it. The portrayals of Batman, the Joker, the nature of the crimes and conflicts – all of these force the audience to respond.

A good presentation does the same. Hundreds of talks have been given on global climate change over the past couple of decades. Why does Al Gore's illicit such strong responses? Why do thousands download videos of Steve Jobs' keynote speeches who would otherwise avoid business/technical presentations? Why does Richard Dawkins polarize audiences so much more than many others presenting similar material? Quite simply, these speakers demand reaction.

My wife (who loves visual arts) often tells me that a work of art is successful when it creates a response. It doesn't matter if you subjectively like the piece. What matters is that it garners reactions. Then the artist is successful. Likewise, you know your presentation is successful when you illicit reactions from the audience.

Leave Open Ends

Your presentation shouldn't only be informative, it should encourage your audience to want to go discover more for themselves. In the trailer for The Dark Knight, several hints are dropped regarding the character of Harvey Dent that should whet the appetite of any Batman fan.


"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Small bits of info heavily infer that this film will not feature one prominent villain from the Batman universe, but two. How will this fall from grace unfold? Will his alter-ego be a pivotal character, or will this movie merely introduce him? What will he look like as Two-Face? None of the trailers really answer these questions about Harvey Dent, but they don't have to. Just letting the audience know that there is more to be revealed is enough.

Don't feel you have to cover every last detail about the topic you are presenting. Stay focused. Inform the audience, but give them room to discover things on their own. Make them want to know more.

A good movie trailer makes you want to see the movie, plain and simple. It leaves the audience with a desire to discover "the rest of the story." Think of your presentations as trailers for larger concepts and opportunities for discovery. Tell a story that will illicit a response from your audience and make them interested in knowing even more. If your presentation was a movie trailer, would your audience be excited for the movie?

Tags: connections, impression, story

In his recent blog post, Podcast to Oblivion, Iconfactory co-founder Gedeon Maheux writes about podcasters risking losing their audiences due to the increasing lengths of their productions. It's a good read, especially if you listen to podcasts or create podcasts yourself, but the issue he raises is also relevant to presenters.

Toward the end if his article, Mr. Maheux writes:

So how long should your average audio podcast be? Not surprisingly if you ask a podcast producer they’ll probably tell you “As long as it needs to be.” Unfortunately this attitude often reflects the desires of the creator and not those of the audience.

This seems to be the attitude of many presenters I've seen – I do not except myself from this criticism. We have a topic to talk about, and we will cram as much information about that topic into our presentation as we can. We may have a 45-minute time slot in which to present, but we've prepared two hours worth of material. On the other hand, I've sat through two hour presentations that could easily have been delivered in 45-minutes.

I've posted images of this slide deck before, and here it is again. This was my first attempt at creating a presentation about reactive attachment disorder (RAD).



This was 118 (give or take) bullet points over thirty-two slides. This presentation was not about what my audience really needed to know about RAD – it was about looking at all the stuff I learned! DId I mention that I had thirty minutes in which to deliver all of this material?

When we are planning a presentation, we should be thinking about length from the beginning. We should be remembering that our presentation is for the benefit of our audience members – not for our own benefit. Part of benefitting our audience is presenting the content in a way that is easy to digest (as possible) and that respects their time and attention spans.

Regarding podcasts, Gedeon Maheux writes:

When podcasts approach the length of feature films, people start to lose interest.

The same can be said about presentations. Keep the information manageable by focusing in on what is most important. What do you want your audience to walk away remembering? Focus on that. The rest is details.

Tags: time use

In a late-February post (yes, that's how far behind I am), Garr Reynolds shared some presentation tips from Ken Robinson, one of my favorite speakers to appear at TED over the last couple of years. Among his tips is this gem: "Prepare, but don't rehearse. Think and plan ahead instead."

image by torli on stock.xchng

I used to prepare for my presentations the same way I would prepare for a music recital. I'd go over the material exactly how I wrote it until I could deliver it flawlessly the same way over and over. One French horn performer once told me that I'm not done practicing a passage until I can play it perfectly ten times in a row, and I took this exacting principle over to public speaking.

The problem is that over-rehearsal of a talk can make it sound ... rehearsed. It can sound too perfect, and a certain human element – that element necessary for connecting with audiences – can disappear in the measured recital.

The best musical performances I can think of do not sound rehearsed, even though I know they are. It sounds as if the musician is creating the music spontaneously before the audience. The music is alive at that moment, and that is the way our presentations should be. Our audience should feel as if we are delivering our message for each of them individually and that we are caught up in this moment.

This leads right into another tip from Mr. Robinson: "Leave room for improvisation." He compares the act of public speaking to a good jazz performance, but even a good classical performer demonstrates an ability to take liberties with the given material, making it fully his or her own. When we are presenting, spontaneous points may occur to us. Things might go wrong. Someone might interrupt with a brilliant question, and we should be willing to improvise for a few minutes.

In its purest form, a presentation is a form of conversation, and your best conversations are not completely scripted, over-rehearsed events. Spontaneous creativity is alive and well in the art of conversation. Don't get me wrong. Preparation is exceedingly important, but stay flexible. Stay alive. Don't recite your presentation. Connect it with the people in your audience.

Tags: prep, TED

For some time, I've been wanting to write about Barack Obama, but I've had a hard time finding the correct angle. He is a modern phenomenon on the United States political scene, and much of his success can be attributed to his effectiveness as a communicator. Obama connects with his audiences in a way many other politicians find difficult. His supporters identify with him like few others. They don't speak of how "he" will do in the election. They speak of how "we" will do.

Take a minute (or twenty) to watch Senator Obama's speech on Super Tuesday, and notice the reactions he gets from his audience throughout.



After watching him speak a few times, here are some of the techniques I've noticed him use time and again in connecting with his audience.

Repetition. Like many great speakers before him, Barack Obama uses metered repetition as a way of driving clear messages throughout his speech. Garr Reynolds already has a great article about this very point that I hope you'll take a look at. The use of repetition gives your audience a clear anchor of reference throughout a talk, and your listeners more clearly remember the speech. It's a simple but powerful tool that cannot be overstated.

Spontaneity. Somewhere around 2:23 in the video, Obama, in response to someone calling out at him from the audience, says, "You know I love you back." He breaks down a barrier that usually exists between citizens and politicians with those simple words, and his audience responds energetically and positively towards the simple gesture. Most public figures would have ignored such an individual or perhaps even responded callously. Senator Obama takes such moments in stride, allowing for spontaneous give-and-take while not derailing the message he has prepared.

A Bigger Cause. Barack Obama speaks often in terms of movements and causes. While speaking of his own progress and successes, he diverts attention from himself and onto the larger picture he represents. In doing so, he solidifies his position all the more. He states that this campaign is not about "me," but rather it is about "you," and he delivers this in a convincing and earnest manner. His audience feels connected to history, and they see their involvement as something larger than just another political event. His audience feels connected to all that he represents, leading them to feel connected to him.

All political leanings aside, any speaker could learn much from watching Barack Obama in action. For more, take a look at his YouTube page: YouTube – BarackObamadotcom's Channel.

Tags: connections, barack obama, inspiration

Earlier this month, Seattlepi.com ran a comparative language analysis of Steve Jobs' and Bill Gates' keynotes for Macworld Expo and CES respectively. Simply put, Steve Jobs rated as the easier speaker to understand, and the site attributes this as a factor in Mr. Jobs' overall effectiveness as a speaker.

The language we use when speaking can either help us connect with our audience or distance ourselves from them. How many times have you groaned in a seminar of conference room presentation when something like this flits through the air?

We can phosfluorescently redefine out-of-the-box best practices before timely expertise and efficiently re-engineer inexpensive e-tailers with focused customer service. This allows us to enthusiastically synergize ubiquitous benefits for interactive methodologies.

In this, we credibly visualize integrated experiences through vertical best practices, giving us leverage to enthusiastically generate empowered technology and holistic total linkage and assertively redefine resource-leveling solutions via accurate potentialities.

bizarre buzz-speak courtesy of Corporate Ispsum

Speech like this requires so much time to digest and translate that the meaning is lost before it is reached. (To be fair, the above example is pure gibberish.) Kathy Sierra refers to one who speaks like this as a glib and as someone who should be ignored at all costs. Deep down, I think we already know this, and an audience is more likely to tune out a speaker following this pattern than engage him or her.

When giving a public presentation, think about how you are sating what you are saying. If you are using Microsoft Word to draft your talk, use the built-in Flesch-Kincaid readability scale. Easier to understand passages rate closer to 100 in Flesch Reading Ease, and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level gives you an approximation of the vocabulary level.


readability statistics in Word

Communicate clearly. Eliminate buzzwords, excessive acronyms, and unnecessary jargon from your speech. Think of how you would converse with the individuals in your audience, and take that approach to communicating your ideas. Remember, for anyone to connect with your presentation, they must first be able to understand it.

Tags: steve jobs, bill gates, language, connections

David Pogue spoke on three separate occasions during this year's ICE conference, and the effectiveness of his delivery never ceases to amaze me. He connects with and holds his audiences with seeming ease. One way he accomplishes this through the way he plays his strengths when he is onstage.

Other than being an incredibly friendly individual (which is a great asset in itself), Mr. Pogue stands out thanks to his humor and musicianship. In a former life, David Pogue was a Broadway accompanist and conductor. He is a musician, and he is not afraid to show his talent off when he's speaking before a group of left-brained geeks. In fact, he seems to enjoy it. His tech-centered song parodies always bring a smile, and I find myself wanting to request favorite Pogue hits when I see him sit behind a piano during one of his presentations.

Mr. Pogue is also a funny individual. In a seemingly dry profession, he finds humor all around. Whether he's taking jabs at the RIAA or poking fun at teachers' collective ignorance of technology or parodying Steve Jobs, his content is riddled with humor. Through this, he presents meaningful and relevant content, but he makes the speaker-audience connection deeper because he knows how to play to his strengths.

What are you good at? How can your own talents enhance your presentations? Discover those qualities about yourself that enable you to connect with people on a personal level and carry them to the professional level. It comes back to viewing a presentation as a form of conversation, and your personality should shine as much as the content – allowing your audience to connect with your content through connecting to you.

Tags: impression, david pogue

I was visiting Microsoft's Mac Mojo blog today when I noticed that many of the images on the blog overflowed past the sidebar – escaping the content borders and obscuring tags and archives.



To get all of the images clear of the sidebar, I had to widen my browser window to almost 1400 pixels. Mac Mojo uses a flexible width, allowing the site's borders and sections adjust to the width of your browser window. Unfortunately, images do not have flexible widths, and these images seem particularly problematic. After all, how many people reading this blog have displays 1400+ pixels wide? Between my computer at work, my PowerMac, and my MacBook Pro, only the MacBook has a display wide enough to properly display the blog with these images.

The pictures are very aesthetically pleasing, but they exist to the detriment of the site's usability. This brings to mind how many merely adequate presentations I've listened to and given that would have been better if only some of the excess had been cut. Too often, we feel the need to cram as much material as possible into a 30-45 minute talk, and the quality suffers due to the quantity. There is so much material that it is difficult for the audience to determine what is most important, and irrelevance may end up covering up the most vital parts.



I keep this slide deck around as a reminder of how cluttered my slides once were. Here are 118 bullet points over 32 slides. The presentation is about Attachment Disorder behavior classes and how to best intervene for some of the symptomatic behaviors. Of those 32 slides, 13 of them are introductory material. When I gave this talk in a 45-minute block for the first time, you can guess what happened. I ended up spending 30 minutes on the introduction and had to fly through the rest of the material in the remaining 15 minutes. My content was lost in overflow.



This is a later revision of that same presentation. Now I'm down to twelve slides of content. I still feel like those slides perhaps have too much text, but now I'm allowing myself to cover the most vital information without it being buried in a wash of corollary facts that could just be included in a supplemental handout. This talk is much more focused than my previous effort, and it can be easily covered in 30 minutes.

When practicing your presentations, ask yourself, "Is this really necessary?" What information serves as padding? Chances are there is a fair amount of unnecessary material in the first draft of your presentation. Look for the details that bury the meaning, and cut them out. Don't let an overflow of supplemental information crowd out the actual point of your talk.

Tags: prep, clutter

We are trained to expect walls between speakers and audiences. These walls can take many forms – notecards, lecterns, body language, even slides. Often, we don't even notice them, but they are there, creating barriers to our audience members being able to fully absorb the message of our talks.


image from stock.xchng

Look Up. Look Out. Staring down at notecards or back at slides creates a separation between speaker and audience. The speaker is not giving them his/her full attention. The audience will have a hard time giving undivided attention in return. When reading your talk, you tend to not sound interested, and you lose eye contact with with those you are trying to communicate. The only solution is to know your talk well enough that you don't need these aids. Yes, you should have notes if your mind blanks, but they should not be the primary focus of your attention.

Open Up. Body language is powerful. Keep your hands free. Walk around a bit while you talk. Smile. Avoid the humorous mistake of folding your fingers during a presentation No one likes being compared to Mr. Burns!

image by apple
Come Out in the Open. The lectern is a powerful barrier between you and the people in your audience. It's more than a psychological separation. It's a physical one. Standing behind a lecturn and staring down at notes is a convention of many veteran speakers, but it is not the best method of communication. Get out where your audience can see you. Just gaining the comfort level to discard this barrier will be a huge step in more closely connecting with your audience.

Too many public speaking classes actively promote these bad habits as "best practices." We are taught to hold notecards. We are encouraged to create crutch slides. We are trained to stand behind podiums, remaining stiff and formal as we present. However, tradition is not always correct. If we want to connect with the people in our audiences, we have to be willing to tear down those psychological and physical walls and expose ourselves to some extent. To make an impact, we must be open to being vulnerable.

Tags: atmosphere, connections, speaking

Time to dust off some old notes and finish this post! Way back in January, I talked about Stan Sigman's yawn-inducing contribution to the unveiling of the iPhone. At the time I wrote:

Mr. Sigman's talk was stiff and formal. It was basically read right off his cards, and it was full of corporate jargon and buzzwords. Mr. Jobs, in contrast, spoke passionately about his company's products. Any notes he might have had were fairly transparent, and he spoke in clear, easily understood language. Also, Steve Jobs kept things moving and kept the audience anticipating the next revelation about these products.

I think one of the most tedious elements of Mr. Sigman's talk was his use of (large) note cards. He actually started out okay, but then he whipped those cards out, and everything went downhill from there. You could almost hear the life being sucked off the stage. (It happens around 1:35:40 in the video for those of you playing at home.)

image from stock.xchng


I have to admit some bias. I have never used note cards (with one or two exceptions). Even in speech classes through middle school, high school, and college that required the use of note cards, I would just walk up to the front of the class with a handful of blank index cards – until I got busted and lost some points! Basically, even with my social challenges, I realized early on that reading a speech created a disconnect between the speaker and the audience.

Reading notes makes for stiff presentations that quickly lose the audience's attention, and the speaker ends up paying more attention to those cards than to those who have come to listen. Even "crutch slides" are preferable to holding notes in one's hands or staring down at a podium for the entire talk. Practice and preparation are essential to being able to speak without relying on notes. Yes, having notes accessible during your talk is a good idea, but they should only serve as a reference tool as-needed.

Breaking away from reading a speech may take some practice. You might catch yourself forgetting to include some information. You might make some mistakes, but the connection you gain with your audience is worth those hurdles.

Tags: impression, prep, connections

At the recent C4 conference, blogger DrunkenBatman, made a bold statement during his panel discussion: "Black people don't use Macs."


I have a feeling this is not going to go well.
original photo by rtmfd

Reactions by bloggers were mixed. Some criticized his approach (scroll through the C4 Twitter page for more) while others defended his character. I think Daring Fireball's John Gruber has a very good take on the controversy:

There’s a fine line between a moderator challenging his panelists (good) and ambushing them (bad). This came across as the latter; an unanswerable “Do you still beat your wife?” question...

...It was a mistake the discussion never recovered from. Audience reaction ranged from offended to embarrassed (and, by the end, bored). Much like a train, once a discussion like this falls off the rails, it doesn’t come back.

The fact is controversial statements may make your talk memorable. (After all, who can forget this slide once you see it?) Unfortunately, your talk may not be remembered for good reasons. Controversial statements can be polarizing, and they must be used judiciously.

I begin my talk about giving presentations by saying, "Most PowerPoint slides suck." While a little harsh, many audience members will nod in agreement and are now open to suggestions. However, if I said, "Chances are your PowerPoint slides suck," then I put the audience on the defensive. Often, we want to challenge the thinking of our audience, but we have to be careful not to cross a line that will alienate them from us.

DB might have been caught off guard by how many people took his statement as offensive and racist, but we are often not the best judges of our own material. I may not find something offensive, but a whole lot of others might, and Gruber is absolutely right. If a discussion or a presentation is derailed too hard by something someone says, recovery becomes very unlikely. The takeaway lesson? Simply think before you say something potentially offensive.

Tags: atmosphere, impression, connections

To reach the broadest possible audience with your message, you have to care what others think of you. You are being judged by the audience every bit as much as your content, and, if the audience does not buy into you, they will generally not buy into your material. Think of political debates you or your family may get into as well as when the media tackles issues. Inevitably, the person behind the issues will be as much a subject as the issue itself.

Whenever you present, it's important to wear as small a target as possible. To do so, you must be very conscious of self – your appearance, the way you dress, your mannerisms and idiosyncrasies that may distract your audience from your presentation. I've seen perfectly competent presentations fail in delivery (and some great deliveries of poor material) because the presenters seemed oblivious or unconcerned with the impressions they left with the audience.

A good presentation is essentially a small-scale production, and productions need good performers.

Take these presenters as positive examples:


left to right: Steve Jobs, Guy Kawasaki, Garr Reynolds, Al Gore

These individuals are great illustrations of good performers in presentation. They are very conscious of how they carry themselves, how they speak, how they dress. I believe "refined" would be a good word for it. They realize that they are every bit as much a part of the overall presentation as any notes, handouts, slides, or other visuals. They have roles to play in the delivery of their messages, and their presence is just as orchestrated as the technology involved. As a result, the presentations are very engaging and a cut above much of what we are used to seeing.

Being an individualistic society, we value the mantra of not caring what others think of ourselves, but, if we want people to accept what we have to say, we need to make sure we are not getting in the way of our own message. Do some presentations succeed despite the speakers' imperfections? Absolutely. However, giving ourselves as much attention as our notes or visuals will go a long way in removing obstacles between our presentation and our audience's attention.

Additional Viewing and Reading

• Garr Rynolds: Top Ten Delivery Tips
• Guy Kawasaki: How to Get a Standing Ovation
• Al Gore at TED
• Zentation: Guy Kawasaki – The Art of Innovation
• QuickTime Guide – Apple Events

Tags: prep, impression, steve jobs, al gore, guy kawasaki, garr reynolds, examples

I saw a speaker today who was clearly having problems with the technology involved in his presentation. The technology was nonessential, but he still kept stopping every few words to fiddle with the projector and its settings, trying to get things focused, trying to account for some other visual anomalies. This went on for at least thirty minutes, and, each time he stopped, he had a harder time regaining his audience's attention. In fact, he had entirely lost a small chunk of his audience before the issues were resolved (but that may have been for other reasons).

If your technology is giving you problems, and it's time for you to start talking, go ahead without it. If there is something you feel is absolutely essential to your talk that is tied to the tech, get someone who works at the facility you are presenting in to work on it while you begin delivery. Technology is meant to enhance presentations, but, if we give it more attention than we give our audience, it has become a diminishing factor to the message you are delivering.

Tags: prep, atmosphere, time use

On his Presentation Zen blog, Garr Reynolds takes some time to write about the value of real dynamic range in music. In fact, he titles his post "When there is no quiet, there can be no loud," and he ends with a challenge to take this principle and apply it to our presentations.

He writes:

"When there is no quiet, there can be no loud. And where there is no nothing, there can be no something. In what ways, then, can we apply the spirit of “dynamic range” to all aspects of our live presentations?"

I remember seeing a preacher a few years ago who spoke loudly throughout his entire sermon. He frequently overloaded the speakers through which his voice boomed, and the audience was clearly uncomfortable with his volume. He defended his style by saying (something like), "If there's no fire in the preacher, you ought to fire the preacher." However, fieriness does not always equate to effectiveness, and perpetual loudness can cause your audience to tune you out.

A quiet statement can sometimes be more effective than a loud one. Other times, silence can be the most powerful element of all. For that matter, if we prepare slides, they should not be loud themselves. They should not be visually distracting or cluttered. Sometimes, points can be simply made with a single word, a single image, or even a completely blank slide. Lack of aural and visual stimulation can, by paradox, create greater impact. As the saying goes, silence is golden.

Contrast is important. Merely presenting differently than your peers may provide the contrast needed to get you noticed. Discarding conventions and focusing on creating a talk that is uniquely you will differentiate your presence from others who might be more easily tuned out. Sometimes you should be visually and orally bold, but other times subtlety and quiet assuredness will speak even louder.

Tags: philosophy, atmosphere

Even though Stephen Colbert is parodying Bill O'Reilly during his The WØRD segments, he also effectively improves on the format. Look at this contrast.

x

O'Reilly's screen is much more visually distracting, completely ignoring the fact that a viewer's listening capabilities are impeded when reading. The bullet point is one long sentence, and this distration is compounded by a rotating Fox logo and an ever-present news ticker. This is opposed to The Colbert Report which has a pretty clean visual style (purposefully similar to that of O'Reilly's), no ticker, and brief bullets that add to the presentation without distracting from it.

In a recent post, Garr Rynolds quotes John Sweller on verbal-textual redundancies:

"... It is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented."

By putting too much information on our slides – like bullet points that restate our words – we actually place obstacles between our audience and their full understanding of our presentations. The less your audience has distracting them, the more they can focus on you and your content.

Tags: text, examples, connections

Bullet points can be very harmful to your presentation, especially if you begin packing in too many per slide. However, if you've ever seen The WØRD on The Colbert Report, then you've seen a very effective use of bullet points during a talk. Look at these points and quotes below. Can you figure out which bullet point goes with each quote?



images © Comedy Central

1. "... In 2005, the army fell 24,000 short of its recruitment goals ..."

2. "Republicans aren't even telling John McCain!"

3. "... Although I bet you anything if Yo-Yo Ma had 42DD breasts and had just given birth to a love child, they'd be all over it."

4. "Forget everything."

Use your mouse to highlight right after this sentence for the answers (1=B, 2=D, 3=A, 4=C). Really, though, you probably have a pretty good idea of which bullet accompanies each quote.

Here are some quick thoughts on why these bullet points are so effective.

They can't stand alone. If Colbert were to walk away and let his points keep running, it would make no sense. Colbert provides the context, and the bullets fit into the context he creates. This stands in stark contrast to typical bullet points that spell out every detail of the presenter's discussion to the point where they can serves as handouts or notes.

They are short. You can't read and listen well at the same time, yet bullet points often take too long to read – thereby detracting from the presenter. Mr. Colbert's bullet points take a split second to digest, and the audience doesn't miss a beat of what Colbert is saying.

They say what you are thinking. Chances are, you really weren't thinking these points ahead of time, but, as soon as you see the bullet point, you wish you had been. These serve to fill in the blanks of the presentation. Again, they cannot act as the presentation itself, but they enhance the overall delivery.

Even though this format is presented in a humorous manner, it really illustrates an effective use of bullet points. Your slides should rely on you, not vice versa, and keep any text on your slides short and to-the-point. Avoid overwhelming walls of text, and allow your presentation to reinforce you as the speaker – not supplant you. People tune in to see Colbert, not his bullet points. Likewise, make sure your audiences are tuned into you more than your slides.


For some short videos of Stephen Colbert in action, visit his category on Crooks and Liars.

Tags: text, examples

Like buzzwords, acronyms are more beneficial to a speaker or an author than they are to the audience. Some have purpose in life. For example, who wants to go around saying "Bluray Disc - Read Only Memory" when speaking of BD-ROM? "USDA approved" rolls off the tongue much more easily than "United States Department of Agriculture approved." However, with the use of acronyms comes a language bias that assumes your audience knows what you are referring to. These examples are actually abbreviations (sometimes confused for acronyms) and do have a place in writing and public speaking, but they should be used sparingly and only when the reader/listener clearly understands the meaning of the abbreviation.

The real culprit of this post is the acronym, those words that have other meanings when dissected. Granted, some are unavoidable. Did you know that laser, scuba, and radar are all acronyms? These are examples of acronyms that have become words in and of themselves. However, when we present, we can overuse acronyms because we believe they make us sound more intelligent or because we believe they help the audience retain a concept.

How often have we seen slides like these in a presentation?

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This is not so much acronym-use as it is acronym-abuse. Using acronyms like these is actually patronizing to the audience. When I've seen acronyms like these used in presentations, I've asked people around me how they feel about the acronyms. Do the acronyms help them retain the information? The response is almost universally negative, and the most common adjective used to describe these acronyms is "patronizing." These acronyms may make the presenter feel clever, but they fail to make a positive impression on the audience.

How can we make an impact while avoiding acronyms then? I think presenting more visually provides a compelling alternative. Let's take the "WOW" (not World of Warcraft) slide as an example. Could something like this be more memorable to the audience?

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Taking this approach, I don't have to try to cram my message into a specific set of letters, and these slides, while still minimalist and simple, are much more visually interesting than the use of acronyms and bullets. Next time you find yourself trying to create an acronym for some points in your next presentation, ask yourself if the ideas can be presented in a more effective manner that doesn't patronize the audience as much? Think simplistically and visually, and give your audience something memorable and unique.

We've discussed the length of our presentations in a couple of different posts now, but watching Stan Sigman deliver his talk during the Macworld keynote got me thinking again about length and audience attention span.


Every sentence read adds an hour to each minute...

The saying goes that time is relative. We save time, waste time, borrow time, and spend time. The minutes spent waiting in a doctor's office can seem much longer than the minutes spent playing video games at home. Mr. Sigman was on stage for all of seven minutes – seven very long minutes. When I checked the time in the podcast, I was surprised. I had expected to see him onstage for fifteen or twenty minutes. His talk really did seem that long.

Contrast this to Steve Jobs' portion of the presentation. The entire keynote was 1:45 long, and Mr. Jobs was speaking for all but about twenty minutes of that. Yet his portion did not feel as drawn out as Mr. Sigman's.


"I could talk for days, and you'd hardly notice."

What's the difference? I think a lot of it comes from my previous post. Mr. Sigman's talk was stiff and formal. It was basically read right off his cards, and it was full of corporate jargon and buzzwords. Mr. Jobs, in contrast, spoke passionately about his company's products. Any notes he might have had were fairly transparent, and he spoke in clear, easily understood language. Also, Steve Jobs kept things moving and kept the audience anticipating the next revelation about these products.

Timing is a very important part of your presentation. Sometimes shorter is better, but other times you may have to spend some serious time giving your talk. In either scenario, don't just be aware of the literal time, but ask yourself how long your presentation feels to your audience. Do you look and sound like you actually care about your topic? Are you keeping the flow moving? Is the audience anticipating your next points? If you can positively answer these questions, then relative time will work in your favor.

Tags: examples, time use, atmosphere, impression, connections

This is one of a few posts I have had gestating in my brain since watching Steve Job's Macworld 2007 keynote. By now, you probably know the products announced during the keynote, and you've possibly seen and/or read reaction to those products from various sources. However, reading and viewing commentary just doesn't have the same impact as watching Steve Jobs speak.



Throughout his talks, Mr. Jobs will demo his own products, but he does so with an enthusiasm that's contagious. He doesn't just share facts, figures, and specifications about the product – he shares excitement. He connects with the audience at an emotional level. He doesn't just say, "This product is great." He says, "This is why I think this product is amazing, and let me show you! Don't you think this is great?" He exudes passion for the products he is presenting, and that passion is contagious.


"Unbelievable."

Who else can make scrolling through a playlist feel revolutionary? Who else makes Google Maps and HTML email feel fresh and exciting? People notice Apple products (and are polarized by them) partly because of the man who evangelizes them the most – CEO Steve Jobs. You can't ignore how much he cares about his pitch. His enthusiasm and passion demand reaction, whether its positive or negative. The one thing you can't do is remain passive when he speaks.

What about your own presentations? How does your audience see you? Are you viewed as someone just presenting material that is expected to be presented in a totally mundane, dispassionate, and predictable manner? Are you excited about your topics? Do you communicate that excitement in your presentation? Passion connects. Passion engages. Be passionate during your talks, and your audience will respond with greater enthusiasm for whatever topic you are presenting about.

Tags: steve jobs, examples, atmosphere, impression, connections, speaking

In my very first post on this blog, I emphasized the importance of trying to be concise with one's material. There are many examples of long, very engaging presentations, but, for the most part, you don't want to make a habit out of speaking for long stretches of time.



No matter your intentions, though, avoid beginning your presentation with something like this: "I'm only going to keep you for a little while;" "I'm planning on keeping this short;" or "This won't take long." Think back about talks you've heard starting with similar phrases. What's the common theme? Chances are most to all of them did take a long time.

I think we try to talk ourselves into believing our presentation is not as long as it really is. With good intentions, we try to fool ourselves and the audience about the time we are going to spend, but telling an audience that your talk is going to be short does not make the talk feel shorter. In fact, the opposite is true. The time you take to deliver your material will seem even more prolonged due to the expectation you planted in the minds of your audience.

Long or short, if your talk is engaging, length is relative. Don't sabotage yourself by planting a false expectation before you begin.

Tags: time use, speaking

You just finished your presentation. you gave your summation, and now you launch into the question-and-answer section. Ten to fifteen minutes later, the questions fizzle out, and the crowd trickles away. Is this really how you want to conclude your talk?

In my last post (about summations), I stated that your summation is important because it leaves a final impression on your audience. This is only true, though, if the summation is the last thing that happens. If you save the Q&A for the conclusion, that will leave the final impression. Unfortunately, presentations that end with Q&A sessions often end on an uncertain note because there is little sense of closure. No matter how strong the overall session, a concluding Q&A can weaken the overall experience.

The solution? Conduct the Q&A before the summation. I've gotten into the habit of wrapping up my final point, launching into a timed question/answer session, then delivering my summation. Make sure you have contact information on your handout because you will likely not get to everyone's questions, but this allows the conversational portion of the presentation to take place under controlled settings. (Timing the Q&A also helps with schedule management.)

Once you conclude the Q&A, you can launch into the summation and wrap up your presentation with a definitive conclusion. As a result, you and your audience will walk away feeling better about your presentation.

Tags: time use, atmosphere, speaking

Back in September, Garr Reynolds posted this image on his blog without comment. Regular readers knew what he was trying to get across.


Image by Zach Graham

One easy way to kill the momentum of our presentations is to bog the conclusion down with tedious bullet points. (The other way is by ending with your Q & A session, but we'll talk about that another time.) I remember the conclusion to a Jensen Harris presentation on Office 2007 where I noticed how excited he seemed about the product, but his conclusion slide seemed sterile and stoic. I wondered, "How can this be improved?"

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Again, minimalism is my starting point, and I felt that these three words pretty much encapsulated the entire summary. ("Find the right feature" + "Be more efficient" = "Simplify" in my book.) The word "Create" is by far the largest because that is the driving point of Office – to create content that you are likely to share with others. Also, I arced the path of the builds to create a sense of movement and perspective.

Of course, as I look through some of my presentations that haven't been updated in a year or so, I'm finding some concluding slides I want to change. Here are some summations I like and others I don't from my own material. Which ones would you change? How would you give them more impact?

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Of course, it can be hard to judge a summation without context of an entire presentation, but experiment with these slides and see how you can alter or improve them. Remember, your summation will be the final impression you leave on your audience. Don't let it be injured by stray bullets.

Tags: examples, text, garr reynolds, connections

In presentations, getting "naked" refers to giving a talk without the aid of slides. This can be difficult because so many of us have grown to use slides as a crutch. (See this entry at Presentation Zen for a great illustration of that fact.) However, in many circumstances, abandoning slides is a good idea.



One example of this comes from my obsessive downloading of featured TED Talks, one of which has Sir Ken Robinson speaking about how education can sometimes "educate" the creativity right out of the child. His speech is engaging and thought-provoking, but not one slide is shown during his talk. In fact, slides would have probably distracted from the overall feel of his presentation.

Slides can greatly reinforce of our content, and they can often help create connections between our material and multiple areas of our audience's brains. However, sometimes they are just unnecessary filler. If this is the case, leave the laptop at home (or in the hotel room), and present naked. Don't hide behind your slides. Just let your audience see you for who you are.

For more tips on presenting naked or nearly-naked, follow these links (all by Garr Reynolds):

• Make Your Next Presentation Naked
• Clear Visuals With as Little Text as Possible
• Great Presentations Are Great Conversations

Tags: TED, examples, conventions, garr reynolds, connections

Dearest laser pointer, how do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways ...

In many business and technical presentations (as well as in the education field) it is not unusual to see someone whip out a laser pointer during his of her presentation to highlight important details on the slides. Somehow, if the important points are not already clear enough, this tiny shaking red dot is supposed to bring clarity to the situation.

The simple fact of the matter is this: if you prepared your slides well, you will never – and I mean never – need to use a laser pointer. Never.

Why do we even use those little things? Do we really think they are effective at highlighting points, or do we just feel more professional holding it? Like bulleted slides, does the pointer create a sense of security and comfort when we are presenting? I don't know. I've never used one, but I've seen them plenty of times and have played "find the dot" during many presentations – even some given at church!

Like slides, we have come to use the pointer as a crutch. Our slides are not clear, so we use the red dot to light the way – separating important bullets and charts from the filler we put in so we don't look unprepared.

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The above are two slides that we might feel merit the use of a laser pointer. There is a ton of information on each slide, and we want to make sure our audience knows exactly what the most important facts on each slide are. However, instead of using a pointer, what if we just simplified our approach?

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Stripping out the unnecessary makes it easier to emphasize the vital information. In this case, the most important facts include how much laptops are outpacing desktops by and the reasons consumers are choosing laptops over desktops. (By the way, these figures are completely made up, so don't cite them elsewhere.)

Still, there might be times that we feel the inspiration to highlight something that seems earth-shattering to us. In this case, during my talk, I might decide to draw my audience's attention to the fact that many modern laptops are perceived to be every bit as capable as desktops. At this point, a handy little utility called OmniDazzle comes to my rescue.



Using a designated keystroke, OmniDazzle creates a spotlight effect (or one of several other effects) in the cursor location, enabling me to highlight this text much more effectively than if I began waving a red pinpoint around. Alternatively, if I had this point planned out, I could have created a similar effect from within Keynote without needing to resort to an additional application.

Laser pointers are wholly unnecessary. They don't help you clarify your points; they can be difficult for the audience to see; and they are often symptomatic of slides that are too cluttered to begin with. Before you think to pack that pointer, rethink your slides and how you can simplify them.

Bonus: While I was working on this post, I found this article on KeynoteUser that has a ton of great tips on how to avoid using pointers. Go check it out!

Tags: conventions, clutter, readability

One of the things that caught me off guard in the video of David Pogue speaking at TED was the fact that his talk began with him sitting behind a piano, singing about tech support woes in a parody of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence."



In and of itself, Mr. Pogue's talk was pretty good. It was humorous and insightful, and it was delivered very competently. What made it stand out, though, was Pogue's use of songs throughout his presentation. Quite suddenly, he would just bolt to the piano, and regale his audience with a modified rendition of Simon & Garfunkel, Barry Manilow, and even Andrew Lloyd Webber.

See, David Pogue used his unique background as a musician to bring an element of surprise and humor to his talk. What unique abilities or insights do you have that can make your presentations unique and unforgettable? What is something that makes you uniquely you? Remember, your presentations don't have to merely consist of slides and droning. Allow your individuality to shine through, and you might find your talks more enjoyable for you and your listeners.

Tags: TED, examples, atmosphere, impression, connections, david pogue

One speaker whom I've really begun to appreciate (much to my own surprise) is Al Gore, self-described as having "used to be the next president of the United States." Recently, he has been evangelizing a message of conservation and energy reform in response to what he coins "The Climate Crisis." Additionally, this presentation has been turned into a documentary called An Inconvenient Truth.

Recently, I downloaded a video of Mr. Gore giving a follow-up talk to his crisis presentation at TED where he covers some pragmatic ways in which his audience can make a difference. (If you watch the video, please keep in mind that he is speaking to an audience consisting mostly of rather affluent people.) However, I couldn't help but be distracted by the amount of "back time" Mr. Gore was giving to his audience – time he spent looking at his slides rather than at his listeners.

I see this all too often during presentations where the presenter uses his or her slides as a crutch or as a substitute for notes. Unfortunately, if we spend too much time with our back to the audience, we will create a disconnect with them, and they will pay us less attention.

First and foremost, your talk is a conversation with your audience – not with PowerPoint. You should know your material well enough (and have good enough notes) that looking back at your slides is all but unnecessary. (I do check my slides periodically to see that things are running smoothly, though.)

Now, in Mr. Gore's defense, during the video, it does sound like this talk was prepared very hastily. This is probably a case where he has to lean on his slides some because of short preparation time. Still, when you know you have a talk coming, and you have ample time to prepare, prepare well, so your eyes can connect with your audience rather than remain glued to your slides.

Tags: al gore, TED, examples, connections, speaking

Through the character of Zaphod Beeblebrox, Douglas Adams once wrote, "I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I do not know the answer." How such wise words came from the two-headed, egocentric President of the Galaxy is beyond me, but there it is.

Have you ever seen a teacher, instructor, or presenter clearly talk around in circles after a question, and it's apparent that the speaker just plain doesn't know the answer? Have you ever been stymied by a question yet found yourself babbling through something that almost resembles an answer? I know I have (on both counts).

I think one of the toughest lessons in public speaking is that "I don't know" is an acceptable answer. Your brain has finite capacity, and you will miss things or forget things in your research and preparation. You don't have to save face by responding with an unsatisfactory answer.

In a presentation setting, try something like this: "That's a great question, but I don't think I can give you a good answer right now. Can you give me your email address, so I can contact you later?" Assuming you follow through, you avoid looking silly, you buy yourself some time to supply a good answer, and you give the issue closure.

You don't know everything, and you can't fool your audience into thinking you do. If you get a question that you don't know the answer to, think back to our friend Zaphod.

Tags: conventions, speaking

I've seen way too many keynotes, seminars, and presentations now, and I've seen a ton of introductions. If you are at a keynote of some kind, the keynote speaker is usually somehow formally introduced. ("Our speaker today is known for..." or "Ladies and gentlemen, Insert Name!") If it is something smaller scale, you may get a one-sheet introducing your speaker, or you may have the speaker introducing him- or herself. ("...I want to wish you the best of mornings and tell you how truly fortunate I feel...") Once in a while, you get a presenter who wants to play some kind of get-to-know you game, but those shall not be spoken of here.

The video mentioned in my prior post has Steve Jobs being introduced by another speaker, and it distracted me because this is so unusual for Mr. Jobs. The usual Steve Jobs intro goes something like this: Lights dim; Steve Jobs walks out, says, "Good morning. Thanks for coming. We have a lot of great announcements today, so let's get started," and the presentation begins. That's it.

Your introduction will make an early impression on your audience. In my experience, respectful but concise is a good idea. You've acknowledged your audience and have expressed appreciation for their presence, but you're not going to waste their time either. There's not much more an audience appreciates than a presenter who avoids wasting time.

Tags: steve jobs, examples, conventions, time use, impression, connections

If you visit my Links Blog, you recently saw yet another Presentation Zen entry I linked to. Again, Garr Reynolds writes about Steve Jobs, but, instead of focusing on a modern example of Steve's speeches, he rewinds back to 1997 and looks at the day Steve Jobs returned to Apple's Board of Directors.

Days then were dark for Apple. They were bordering on irrelevancy and financial failure, but the momentum began to change when Steve Jobs reclaimed the MacWorld stage in the summer of 1997 to immense enthusiasm, but he brought a very unwelcome announcement in his wake.

Apple would have a $150 million investment from none other than Microsoft. In recent history, with the friendly (and sometimes less than friendly) barbs Apple shoots at the Redmond giant, it's hard to imagine a time when Apple would need to turn to the company that seemed to symbolize everything that was wrong with the technology industry, yet it happened. In August of 1997 Microsoft purchased $150 million of non-voting Apple stock; the two companies entered into a cross patent agreement; Microsoft committed to at least five more years of Mac Office, and Apple made IE the default browser on Macintosh computers.

The audience went wild ... but not with enthusiasm.

In the video, the developers in attendance actually began jeering and booing while Steve Jobs was talking about the partnership. The man who could barely introduce himself among the cheers that greeted his arrival onstage now had problems getting two sentences out of his mouth without some form of hostile reaction from his audience.

Through it all, Steve kept his cool. His tone was very matter-of-fact. He was not messing around, but neither did he shoot back at his now hostile audience. Presenters sometimes end up in front of hostile audiences such as this, but the important thing is to, like Steve, keep our cool. Remain professional. Stay on task, and do not let yourself be derailed into justifying yourself or firing back at the nay-sayers.

Check the video out. It's about 40-minutes long, and you can find it right here.

Tags: steve jobs, examples, connections

Sometimes, you just can't avoid a long sermon. Many of my cousins are gospel preachers – very good preachers – and one of them just made a short blog post about a very long sermon he recently did that covered recent interest in the DaVinci Code. The sermon lasted 62 minutes.

In my first post about Breaking Rules, I noted that Vincent van Gogh is not considered a great artist because of his strict adherence to all the rules. In fact, the case is quite the opposite, and I would surmise that many members of the congregation my cousin preached at hardly felt the extended time period despite the 10-20-30 rule.

So how do you present 62 minutes of material and keep it engaging?

Stay Focused: The length should come from a wealth of material – not because you are busy chasing rabbits.

Stay Energetic: If you appear bored or fatigued with yourself, you are doomed. (I'm having a terrible flashback to a certain lesson about Genesis 1+2 back at TP, for those of you who know of what I speak.)

Keep It Moving: Avoid spending 45 of the 60+ minutes on one point. (Whoa, same flashback...)

Keep It Real: Use material that is current and relevant. The topic of my cousin's sermon is a great example. Make sure the material has a hook that will maintain engagement.

Don't Mention It: Avoid warning your listeners. "Today's lesson is probably going to be 12 hours long." No. You know you accomplished your task if few are aware of the elongated time period.

Don't Make It a Habit: You can only get away with this so many times.

Remember, human attention dwindles quickly, and you, as a speaker, need to put extra effort into maintaining that attention if you know you will be speaking for a long time. As for your slides, the guidelines don't change – you will just end up with more than 10. With the right material and the proper planning, long sermons can be effective.

Tags: sermons, time use, 10-20-30

"I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time."

• Blaise Pascal

Brevity is not an effortless achievement. Anyone can stand in front of an audience and ramble for thirty minutes. However, challenge him or her to make a meaningful presentation or speech in ten minutes or less, and your results may vary. Being concise and to-the-point will not result from minimal preparation. Rather, it stems from greater planning and practice.

In any public speaking situation, the challenge is to avoid padding your material with redundant or meaningless fluff. Sometimes this materializes as that one personal story too many, or it may be in the seventh slide of bar graphs. Perhaps it is found in the fifth slide of bullet points that basically retreads the same ground as the last four slides. In any event, engagement and interest has been lost, and the the audience is slowly glazing over.

How do we avoid meaningless filler? Simply put:

• Practice your presentation multiple times before you have to give it. Are there any sections that bore you as the presenter? Do you feel tedious at any times? If you are having these feelings, imagine how your audience must feel. Go back and rework areas of your talk that you feel are drawn out.
  
  
• Seek the advice of others. Before taking your presentation to your audience, share it with some trusted friends or colleagues. Ask them to help you find areas that might encourage your audience to disengage. Welcome their critiques. Not all advice may be useful, but outside perspectives will help you expose those trouble areas.

Don't assume that tedium is a necessary evil. Neither should you assume every detail is interesting to your audience. Voltaire is quoted as saying, "The secret of being a bore is to tell everything." Better that your material be fifteen minutes long while inspiring and engaging your listeners than thirty minutes long with a disengaged audience. Preparation and practice is essential for presenting in a meaningful yet concise manner.

"Few sinners are saved after the first twenty minutes of a sermon."

• Mark Twain

Tags: prep, time use, atmosphere