ThinkStoryline!

How stories come about

PREFACE WHY ThinkStoryline!? WHATS NEW IN THE 2ND EDITION? THE THREE STEPS OF ThinkStoryline! STEP 1: DETERMINE THE CONTENT OF YOUR STORY SET THE PRESENTATION GOALS A. ASK YOURSELF FOUR KEY QUESTIONS Question 1: Whats the goal of your story? Whats the key business question? Question 2: Whats in it for your audience? Question 3: Whats your audiences background? Put your audience on FIRE Question 4: What key messages should your audience remember at 4:00 a.m.? B. THE ThinkStoryline! PLANNING SHEET

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STEP 3 STEP 1 STEP 2

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3

Set the presentation goals

Set the framework and analyze

Summarize/ conclude

Find the storyline

Visualize

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER SET THE FRAMEWORK AND ANALYZE A. SET THE FRAMEWORK 1. Structure your business question early it is the frame of your final storylined presentation 2. Framework options a. Logic trees b. Alternative frameworks c. Real life examples B. PRIORITIZE 1. Ready to take responsibility? 2. Establishing prioritization criteria 3. One-criterion prioritization (Benchmarking) 4. Two-criteria prioritization (2x2 matrices) 5. Multicriteria prioritization

DETERMINE THE CONTENT OF YOUR STORY

CREATE YOUR STORY

DELIVER YOUR STORY

A FOLD-OUT OF ThinkStoryline! AT A GLANCE IS INCLUDED ON THE REAR BOOK COVER.

C.

ANALYZE TO FILL THE GAPS 1. The hypothesis-driven approach protecting your Achilles heel 2. How to verify or abandon the hypothesis

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STEP 3: DELIVER YOUR STORY DELIVER YOUR STORY A. HOW TO TELL STORIES THE FOUR FORMULAS B. DELIVERING POWERPOINT CHARTS C. FORMATS FOR THE SIX STORY TYPES D. DELIVERING YOUR STORY IN E-MEETINGS KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER SOURCES OF INSPIRATION THANK YOU THE AUTHOR FOLD-OUT OF ThinkStoryline! AT A GLANCE

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STEP 3 STEP 2

SUMMARIZE/CONCLUDE A. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION B. WHEN SUMMARY? WHEN CONCLUSION? MEANINGFUL HEADLINES

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER STEP 2: CREATE YOUR STORY FIND THE STORYLINE A. STORIES STICK B. SIX GOAL-DRIVEN TYPES OF STORIES C. KEY MESSAGE FIRST? OR NOT? D. HOW TO CREATE STORYLINED DOCUMENTS 1. Pyramids as basic story structure 2. Presentation document vs. data library make sure you and your audience make a distinction 3. From the pyramid to the story sketch KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER VISUALIZE YOUR STORY A. VISUALIZATION THROUGH YOU B. TWELVE ALTERNATIVES TO POWERPOINT CHARTS C. VISUALISATION WITH POWERPOINT CHARTS 1. The message in the driving seat 2. Effective PowerPoint charts follow six rules 3. Two types of PowerPoint charts: data vs. text-driven 4. How PowerPoints limitations can be overcome KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

STEP 1

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

HOW TO CREATE CONVINCING PRESENTATIONS

When I started thinking about writing this book, one of my old music professors sprang into my mind. He explained to me that I would master a piece of music only if I could hum the melody without the score. Data and information overload are often mentioned as the single biggest challenge in daily business life. The ability to clearly set goals and to anticipate your audiences needs proves to be more and more career relevant. How many executives and other presenters are able to deliver the melody of their presentation or what I call the storyline without their abundant PowerPoint chart decks? Not knowing the storyline and the subsequent need to rely on huge amounts of PowerPoint crutches covered with font 8, is neither fun nor effective if you want to deliver messages with impact. Lots of books have been written about different aspects of presentations. There are great books about how to design PowerPoint charts, how to solve a problem and what to do with your hands while presenting. But I havent found any ready-touse books including all three parts covering determining the content, creating the story and finally

For example, there is a full discussion of the difference between the story being presented and the data library. Based on my experience, the data library, the background information containing the evidence to your story, is often mixed up with the presentation being required to achieve a specific goal in a clearly set presentation or meeting context. Distinguishing between the storylined presentation and the data library will help you to surface the audience friendly story even more elegantly when all the data and ideas threaten to drown you. I have also added more ideas on chart design. Per-

New York, March 2013

HOW TO CREATE CONVINCING PRESENTATIONS

HOW TO CREATE CONVINCING PRESENTATIONS

STEP 3

STEP 2

STEP 1

PREFACE WHY ThinkStoryline! WHATS NEW IN THE 2ND EDITION?

delivering the story. ThinkStoryline! closes this gap. ThinkStoryline! is for all who deal with presentations and love good stories. The ThinkStoryline! approach tackles this issue by providing a fully integrated approach from setting the goal of your presentation or meeting, to analyzing the information, and finally, designing the story and supporting visuals needed to convince your audience. ThinkStoryline! shows you an approach using practical story-telling tools, thought-provoking insights and ways to connect and empathize with your audience. How can you reach your audience with your presentation? Facts and logic account for fifty percent of this goal. The other half is the ability to strike your audiences emotional chords and gain their trust. I am convinced that good presenters realize that serving, inspiring and entertaining their audience is their ultimate goal. Its about creating stories as cinematic experiences in the minds of your audience. ThinkStoryline! wants you to return to the great intellectual excitement of creating and telling a story. It is amazing to just see how important stories are in our daily business life. Do you realize what impact the stories of business leaders like the wondrous Steve Jobs had? Or think of JK Rowling and her Harry Potter shes telling a wonderful story that is

not even fact based. I will demonstrate that the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood is a useful template for a powerful business story. As in the first edition, this new edition is designed to be a practical guide, mirror and source for reflection. It is not an academic textbook. It is strongly based on my personal experience as a consultant, trainer and coach. The tools and ideas presented in this book have proven to be helpful for a broad audience. The first edition has generated tremendous feedback and suggestions, many of which have been included in the second edition. The chapter about creating storylined documents has been enhanced by new tools.

haps most radically, I recommend banning all text charts immediately! The section about the twelve alternatives to PowerPoint includes new tools like Prezi and some concepts of great speakers. ThinkStoryline! has helped more than 5000 individuals around the globe so far from automotive suppliers to zebra protectors, from University graduates to CEOs. What do they have in common? They all deal with presentations and love good stories. You will manage your stage fright like a professional musician. You will tackle the score technically, create and rehearse your interpretation of all factual and nonfactual data. Connecting these dots yields your story. You are ready to perform on stage. Your story is the catchy tune of your presentation.