presentation zen

Good afternoon and welcome to “Presentation Zen”.

I am Phil Toland
I work in IT on Customer Portal
I will be giving today’s Lunch and Learn presentation
 meta presentation

This is a presentation about presentations

A “meta presentation”
I will talk about using slideware as a communication tool
I will not talk about how to create a presentation in powerpoint
Bad presentation anecdote: Vendor presentation
Presenter did not know the subject matter, was reading slides
“I don’t know what this slide is trying to say”, “I think this slide is trying to say...”
Typical of bad presentations, we left the room annoyed with the vendor
 presentation styles

We will start out by looking at some new and different presentation styles
Different ways to approach the problem
Mine for inspiration and ideas
 Masayoshi Takahashi

Takahashi is a developer who was asked to give a five minute presentation

He didn’t have powerpoint or graphics software, yet he wanted to make a good impression
He decided to put a few carefully chosen characters on the screen for each slide
 The Takahashi Method

This style is known as the Takahashi Method

The characters on the screen are carefully chosen to have the most impact
Overlap of written language and art
 huge characters

Uses very large fonts

A few characters take up the whole screen
Audience doesn’t have to spend a long time looking at the screen to understand
 easy to see

The large characters are easy to see from all points in the room
The simplicity of the slide does not distract from the speaker
 Larry Lessig

Larry Lessig, attorney and law professor at Stanford

Involved with the EFF and created the Creative Commons
Advocate for “free culture” and copyright reforms
 The Lessig Method

Similar to the Takahashi method

Lessig’s slides often contain a single word
quote
or photo
 Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki, venture capitalist

Gives a lot of presentations
Listens to a lot of business pitches
The Kawasaki
Method
 top 10 format

Tired of boring presentations

Top 10 format gives some idea of progress
Kawasaki uses top 10 for all of his presentations
 10 slides
10 major ideas

10 slides
10 major ideas
helps keep things simple
 10/20/30 rule

Kawasaki’s advice to people pitching business ideas to him

the 10/20/30 rule
Extension of top 10 format
10 slides
 20 minutes

Gives time for question and answer

Padding for, eg projector failure
People show up late and leave early
 30 point font

Easy to see
c.f. Takahashi method
 (minimum)

fonts should probably be much bigger

I use 96pt in this presentation
 a contrast in styles

Look at two very different presentation styles

Consider the styles, not the individual presenting or the company they represent
 Steve Jobs

Very dynamic and open style

Known for his ability to hold an audience
Every “Stevenote” is sold out
Simple...three main elements
Immediately clear
A prop, not the main message
Bill Gates
Is that litter?
Too many different colors
Information overload
Simple graphic
Supports what Steve is saying
Doesn’t take attention away from Steve
Takes attention away from Bill
Too much...doesn’t support a single point well
Is it raining on the iMac?
Steve is comfortable with himself on stage
Comes out close to the audience
Uses blank screen to focus attention on himself
Bullet points as a crutch
Bill is not as comfortable...nervous gesture of bringing hands together
Stays back from the audience
At least move each bullet point to a different slide
 what can we learn?

These are all examples to be learned from

top 10 list
(10)
have a clear goal...
 ...for the
presentation...
...and each slide.
know your message
(9)
slides are a visual aid
slides are not the
main event...
you are the main
event.
(8)
know your audience
context matters
not “good” or “bad”
“appropriate”
(or not)
(7)
be “open”
body language
matters
attitude matters
connect with the
audience
http://davidrodgers.us/blog/?p=21
face the audience
 (6)

Advice from Edward Tufte...

 apologies are bad

Edward Tufte
“Never apologize. If youʼre worried the presentation wonʼt go well, keep it to yourself and give it your
best shot. Besides, people are usually too preoccupied with their own problems to notice yours.“
 pauses are good

Edward Tufte:
“Be sure to allow long pauses for questions.”
(5)
simple...
(no more than 6 to
10 words per slide)
...but not simplistic
bullet points are bad
m’kay
focus on clarity
(4)
use notes...
...but don’t use your
slides as notes.
(3)
there is no #3
(humor is good)
(2)
powerpoint is not
good for...
...complex concepts
...lots of words
...inspiring an
audience.
(1)
DON’T
USE
BULLET POINTS!
(‘nuff said)
(0)
there are no rules
Remember...
only you can prevent
bad presentations.
Resources
Edward R. Tufte
The Cognitive Style of
Powerpoint
Beautiful Evidence
http://presentationzen.com

http://garrreynolds.com/Presentation
finis