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John W. Berglowe
10 Steps From Presentation to Performance
POWERFUL
PRESENTATIONS
More at UnscientificCommunicology.blogspot.com
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By
Or What Fred Astaire, Ronald Regan and a Kid Playing the Piano Know . . . And You Don’t.
A bad presentation is a crisisof communication. A goodpresentation is effective if youraudience stays awake. But aperformance – a performancecan educate, communicate,entertain and get you noticed.As presenters we fall into badhabits because we producewhat Guy Kawasaki calls “newsameness.” We see howothers deliver, how they usethe same tools available to usand then we do the same thingthey did, and often just aspoorly.We can do better, we simplyhave to be willing to bedifferent. And that’s harderthan it sounds.Public speaking is difficultenough without the inherentrisk in being daring. It takesconfidence to transition frompresenter to performer. It takesa certain level of commitmentand bravery, and many areunwilling to do it.The following pages offersome of what you’ve heardbefore – watch your point size,don’t abuse PowerPoint, etc.But there is more.
Can You Deliver aPerformance?
Maybe . . .
You’ll find tips on vocalmodulation used by stageactors worldwide.We’ll discuss the “PowerTriangle” and how effectiveperformers, like former actorturned President RonaldRegan, use it well.There are tips about what todo with your hands, and howFred Astaire recognized theimportance of these oftoverlooked communicationtools.We’ll go beyond thepresentation and talk about theerosion of the average adultattention span, and how tostructure your performance towork with it (and perhaps moreoften, around it).In short, I’m going to give youtools you can use to stop withthe boring presentations andstart to execute singularperformances which willdifferentiate you from themasses and more effectivelydeliver your message…But only If you have the gutsto try.
PowerPoint offers theuser a diverse arrayof tools andresources whichempower said user tocompletely ruin anychance of deliveringtheir messageeffectively. We sooften find ourselvesdoing somethingsimply because thetool says we can, thatwe forget to ask if weshould.Fancy backgroundsonly an art majorcould love and printflying into and out ofthe screen may haveimpressed audiencesin the early 90’s, but Iassure you, youraudience has seen itall before.So, keep it simple – monochromatic slides
You can, but don’t
1. PowerPoint Isn’t a Prop
It’s a Crutch – We Have Confused The Medium For The Message
never killed anyone,and no audience hasever been wowed bythe creativity of theirspeaker asdemonstrated by theirselection of masterslide.Of even less valuethan long-windedbullets are the alwayspopular emphasizedbullets whichguarantee theaudience pays closeattention to pointsgenerally of nointerest to anyoneother than thepresenter.Do us all a favor – remember the rulesof 3 and 7. Threebullets to a slide andno more than sevenwords to a bullet.Keep things simpleand concise – and inthe name of all that’sholy, keep theemphasis in yourvoice and off yourslides.
Some fear guns
I fear bullets.PowerPoint sadlyprevents us frommaking terriblemistakes, and thususers can place aninfinite number ofbullets on a singleslide. And if the userisn’t creating theirown mini-library ofcongress they mightchoose to write 30word bullet pointsdesigned to assureany viewer thepresenter has donenothing to prepare.
Clip art = bad
Enough said.
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