JHE RELATED FLOPPY/CD-ROM? ARE AVAILABLE, ‘(AT -THE CIRCULATION COUNTER | cole ebt eat || Beyond Bullets Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That (Inform, Motivate, and Inspire CLIFF ATKINSON “CENTRAL LIBRARY -1rTRt iii iiPUBLISHED BY Micon ess ‘ADovsoa of talent Carpuenion 7 Sueilert Way Redesod, Washington 9052-6399 Copeight ©2008 by CAM Atkineon [Allright eric No par of the ont af thi book thay bs ended rant in any Sm ‘or by ay means witht he wien permission of he publisher rary of Caress Control Number: 2007931457 tated and to in th United Sts of Ameri 123456789 owr 210987 Disibuted it Casa hy LE, ean ond Company Lid [ACIP eatsigue eon fortis book is aval Hohe Bush Lie Mioaut Pan books areal hough booked dsitrs word For fees infor ‘muon aos: ineationa fins, cout our loa Mio Comprston office or oat Miso Pres seminal diely fix (25) 9167229. Vs our Web see wee micas conoepecs Seed comment to mpiapumiereecom. Microsoft, Microsoft Prs, Acs, Cab, Excel, OneNot, PoweeP aint, SharePoint, Visio, Windom, 1rd Wins Vista ae ether registro Sade or wndemaks of Mierxo® Capone he Une States andor aber counter Other pros and compar nas mtved bein may be the dears te espetive vA. ‘Tue example compasies ormiztons, rods, domain ars, eal aes, lope, people plaes, snd events depicted brea are tious. No sstiton with any el cmpany, gaint, prada anal ais el adds, lop, person, pice, even nena er shld be nae. “is bole epresies he suf’ views and opinions The nfematon contin inthis ons provided -wtoot ary xpress, santa, rll waates. Nether the ators Miers Comoro, no is "ess, o dbus wl be hel ble a ay damages essed ce aloe o because eter dict Acts Baltor: eins Aldous Developmental Pater: Sida Haynes Project Edor: Valese Wooley tera Podecton: Wp Heat’ 5 CLIT SARY | ‘Toctncal Reviewer Ande Goife¢ LLT. ALAS 36, (Cover: TomDraper Desig. Se a? Cover Photo by Bradford Rogne |p. “ay i womens | os NOB A 4 HBT j Prise: $ Q5, 39 Cwitak DY Remarks, To my family: Andrey, Reuben, Hildegund, Reuben Je, Vick Tipp, tenna, Christina, Jeremy, abby, and Stanley. Curr AnsContents ‘Acknovledgments xi 1 Introduction ww Chapter1 Making Headlines Beyond Bullet Points 1 _— = Can Really Change the World with a Pane:Point i Presentation? a ‘ 1 The Perfect PowerPoint Storm 2 |© Stepping onto the Media Stage 5 1 A Singular Story 8 1 The Heart ofthe Problem R © Cistiling the Essence Ft 1 Mixing Mediums Pr 1 fade to Gray » Stark Choices a 1 Winds of change 2 1 The Power of BBP in Your Hands 2 Chapter Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks 25 1§ Three Bedrock Tools of PowerPoint Fo 1 Tick 1: Use Side Sorter View to Managethe Volume 27 In Search of Research Realty” 2 Research Reality 1: You Have to Respect the Limits of Working Memory 20 BRP Respects the Limits of Working Memory 35 The Old Way tgnores the Limits of Working Memory 38. eeekag ease cit bone wae earmeooe is rad a gl ech ween coal iro ctor nd rg story To prpte ne on soy pericovers Chapter 3 1 Wick 2; Use Notes Page View to Sync Pictures and Narztion Research Reality 2: You Have to Address the Two Channels BBP Addresses the Two Channels The Old Way Addressas Only One Channel 1 TWick 3: Use Normal View to Guide the Eye and Ear Research Reafity 3: You Have to Guide Attention BBP Guides Aitention The Old Way Does Not Guide Attention © AWel-trained Too! Getting Started with BBP 1 What Does the Road Ahead Look Like? 1 Sewing Up Understanding with BBP The Heart and Brain of BBP: The Story Template ‘The Bult-n Story Structure Theory Becomes Practical 1 Step 1 Choose a Story Thread and a Patter to Follow 1 Step 2:Pull Through What's Most Important First, 1 Step 3: Guide the Visual and Verbal Strands with Your Storyboard ‘Sketching the Fist Five Slides ‘Sketching the Rest ofthe Sides ‘Applying Custom Layouts ‘Adkding Graphics to the First Five Slides ‘Ading Graphics to the Rest ofthe Sides Stepping into the Screen Presenting in Multiple Views Presenting with a Tablet PC Presenting Ontine Documenting the Experience 1 Getting Started with the BAP Story Template 1 Whiting Headlines Using Three Ground Rules Rule 1: Write Concise, Complete Sentences with a Subject and a Verb in Active Voice Rule 2: Be Clear, Direct, Specific, and Conversational Rule 3: Link Your Ideas Across Calls 40 40 4 a 48 49 54 SRBBE RS 6 wae n ” 7m ws 1 7 8 a 2 8 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Planning Your First Five Slides ‘© What Will You Show, Say, and Oo inthe First Five Slides? 1 Starting with the Title and Byline 18 Choosing a Story Thread ‘Orienting the Audience withthe Setting Headline Interesting the Audience withthe Role Headline Engaging the Audience wth the Point A Headline Motivating the Audience with the Point & Headline Creating Dramatic Tension Between the Point A and Point B Heactinas Focusing the Aucience with the Call to Action Headline 1 Choosing a Pattern to Follow © Closing the Curtain on Act Reviewing the Five Headlines ‘Appealing to Your Audience’ Emotions Fecusing Your Ideas 1 10 Tips for Enhancing Act Planning the Rest of Your Slides 1 The Problems of Sequence and Priority 1 Three Columns of Clarity ‘Threading the Eye of the Needle Using 2 Hierarchy 1 Pricetiing Your Sides Justifying the Call te Aetion Headline wth the Key Point Headlines Clarifying Each Key Point Heacline with Is Explanation Headlines ‘Backing Up Each Explanation Headline with Its Data Headlines Flashing Out the Rest of Act I 1 Pulling Tarough What's Most Important First 1 Lowering the Curtain an Your Story Template '& 10 Tips for Enhancing Your Story Template 85 87 88 888s 9 101 105 106 106 107 108 7 u7 120 Fray ws wy 132 136 40 1a 6 us connChapter 6 Setting Up Your Storyboard and Narration 155 Mowe than One Speaker 210 '§ What Will You Show Say, and Do During Every Slide? 156 Going Back to Bend 8 a0 1 Preparing the Storyboard : 187 1 Sketching an Optional Navigation Bar zu Reformatting Your Story Template Manually 158 1 Sketching the Explanation Sides 23 Using the 88° Storyboard Formatter 159 Explaining ideas by Buling @ Diagram aa Practicing Scaling to Time aes Bulging 2 Chart Across a Series of Sides ais Editing Your Headlines if Needed 166 Sketching a Visual Organizer 27 Reviewing the Storyboard > 166 Completing the Explanation Slides na 1 Pinning forthe Verbal Channel by Writing Down Using a Seen Capture 28 What Youtl Say 166 1 Sketching the Detal Sides 20 ¥ Plonring forthe Visual Channel by Sketching Your Switching to Other Media zm Storyboard ™ ‘Adapting Your Sketches to Your Proesion 28 § Storyboarding Using Three Ground Rules 1 1 Sketching Your Story Template eal Rule 1: Be Visually Concise, Cleat, Direct, and 1 Ready, Set Sketch! 206 Speci 173 i Rue 2:In Act, Sketch Consistency Within Chapter 8 Adding Graphics to Your Storyboard war Columns and Variety Across Columns 13 1 ibich Graphics Do Add to ach Slide? 227 Rule 3: Sete Outside te Screen Too 176 1 Defning Your Design Constraints 228 10Tips for Enhancing Your Storyboard we 1 Adding Graphics Using Three Ground Rules 230 pter i Rule I: See it in Seconds 230 Chapter 7 Sketching Your Storyboard 187 Fle 2: Align the Aesthetics wth the Audience 233 1 What Do Sketch on Each Side? ae Rule 3: Defend Your Foundation! _ 237 1 Sketching the Act Sides 189 1 Starting the Production Flow 240 ‘Skatching the Title Slide 190 Assigning What You Can ae Sketching an Optionabintroductory side 190 ! Getting the Graphics You Already Have 2a Sketching the Setting Side 32 Getting the Graphics You Can Easy Find 2 Sketching the Roe Slide 194 i Creating the Graphics You Can 242 Sketching the Point A and Point 8 Sides 196 '© Applying Custom Layouts to Your Storyboard 243 1 Sketching the Call to Action and Key Point Slides 203 Creating Layouts Marvaly 245 Trpling Your impact with Three Panels 205 Applying, Reviewing, and Refining the Layouts 256 Propping It Up 206 f= Adding Graphics to the Call to Action and Key ‘Adding it Up with ions 206 Poin Sides bul Using Video, Sound, or Motion Graphics (Careful) 207, ‘= Duplicating and Postioning Key Point Sides Tand 2 259, Blacking Out the Seren 207 260 Raising Interest wth Your Layouts 208 bo sciaaahoediedel ent Keeping the Motif Flowing oo. 1 Preparing Sides That Dont Require Graphics 21 Integrating the Inteaction 20 1 Adding Graphies tothe Act | Slides 202= Adding Graphics to the Explanation Sides 1 Fine-Tuning and Finishing Up ‘Adding Graphics to the Title and Closing Credits Sides Reviewing and Adding Graphics to the Notes Pages 1 Reviewing and Finalizing the Storyboard '= 10 Tips for Enhancing Your Storyboard Reviewing a Range of BEP Examples 1 What Other Examples Can | See? 1 Introducing a Case wth The Trial ‘Act: The Classical Storyteling Foundation A Photographic Setting Slide Reviewing the Act Slides for The Trial Reviewing the Call o Action and Key Point Slides for The Wil 18 Keeping off Track with The Plan iting Act of the Story Template Researching and Adding Available Graphics for The Plan Reviewing the Act | Slides for The Plan Reviewing the Call o Action aad Key Point Slides for The Plan Delivering The Flan Remotely 1 Presenting Resuits with The Analysis Researching and Adding Available Graphics for The Analysis Reviewing the Act | Sides for The Analysis Reviewing the Call to Action and Key Point Sides for The Analysis ' Making Information Meaningful with The Report Researching and Adding Available Graphics for ‘The Report Reviewing the Act Slides for The Report 264 268 268 260 270 m 279 280 280 vat 282 22 2s 286 286 287 288 29 204 235 298 239 301 303 305 306 Chapter 10 Reviewing the Call to Action and Key Point Sides for The Report 1® Engaging Stuclents with The Clase Researching and Adding Avilsble Graphics for The Class Reviewing the Act Slides for The Class Reviewing the Call o Action and Key Point Sides — for The Cass 1 Putting Your Clients atthe Center in The Pitch Researching and Adding Available Graphics for The Fiten Reviewing the Act Slides for The Pitch Reviewing the Call to Action and Key Point Sides for The Pitch 1 Honcling Objections to BBP Delivering Your BBP Presentation = Delivering Your Presentation Using Three Ground Rules Rule L Step into the Screen Rule 2: Remove the Distractions Rule 3: Manage the Flow 1 Removing Distractions Preparing the Environment Checking the Technology Planning for Problems Rchearsing Away Distractions Using Notes Developing a Dialog Being Authentic ‘Working Confidently with Your Slides Handing Q&A Improvsing Within Constrints Keeping Control of Your Story Proparing for Diferont Contexts Handiig Out Handouts 308 308 310 an 313 sis 315 a6 318 321 322 322 223 323 224 324 325, 326 820 327 329 329 330 331 332 32 332 3331 Presenting Without Being Present Sern Your Notes Pages (tt Your Ses) 23 Acknowledgments Producing an Ontine Presentation a4 1 And Now, Presenting 335 1 10 Tips for Enhancing Your Delvery 335 MY SPECIAL grate to ira AOU Atkinson fo elton and the Index 339. team at Microsoft Press, who graciously provided me with the opportunity OnthecD to revise this book and make even better the second ime around. Thanks te my editing team of Sandra Haynes, Valeie Woolley, Steve Sagan and Chapter 11. Preparing Others for BBP with # 5-Minute Senco ais for working so patie with me—I count mse lcky to Exercise ca jr pessesieneipeeuaaiona a have had sucha talented team at my side again. Thanks o Rab Nance for 1 The People sues us many ofthe stration: used in the book, and to Garth Johrson and the The information Issues co \srockphoto community forthe stack photograpty used a many of the * Visual Improvisation ca presentation examples. Step 1-Create the Presentation c1 ‘Thanks to thoze who inspired the foundation ofthe BBP approach most pro Sere eae ae. cu foundly: Richard , Mayer’ important work on multimedia Ioring, Barbara Step 3 Administer the Exercise cas Mint’ evolutionary rtialthinking methodology Jonathan Pryees insights Step 4: Reflet and Summarize cas constructing and outing information the engrnsers ho developed the ¥ Sophisticated Simplicity cn STOP proposabwrting method at Hughes Aral and the media producers 18 Twonty-Frst-Century Media oa who practice ther rat hace in os Angeles. ‘Appendix A. BEP Ground Rules an Thanks to those whose embrace and application of BP has matured and Per Ground Rules and Checklists 25 deepened the approach you seen tis book. A special harks othe easy 1 The BBP Ground Rules ca ‘dvocates of BBP-especily Mack Laney for presenting the approach on a © The B5P Checklists oa national tage, aswel others inthe egal profession, incung Lia Blue and ond ae Inine fraser-and tothe early adopters a orgaization inducing Tote, ‘Appendix 8 Presenting BEP with Two Views c29 Nests Waters Group, Amgen, San. Intel, and Noel Thanks tthe 1 Using Side Show View and Tools 29 ‘any 89° reades and workshop participants your insights made this rei Using Presenter View and Tools C20 Son bette, and your courage in apphing BBP often aginst grat odds gives : 5 ‘me hope that BP wil continue to make a ifferencein thee Appendix Starting Your Point A and B Headlines 35 Hit atkinson ‘Appendix D_ Starting Your Call to Action Headlines 39 is de you think ofthis book? We want to hear from you! ated in oan your edocs wen carnal gre or boos os stAbout the Author | Clit ating se etn expr onsng Power fly inhigheie wala rd aout ony eer ote Ns eneeen {eps esting book Bord Suet Pts coh Pes in ech 2onmuratons operon ati acfoming fey people commantone ‘andthe wort He eight pcan tt hdped pena sice ‘Sovord $53 nilonverit oh pram nermarsravons ta 2605 wich one magne cle “teniay posers ila onateohs BO st nary lt ony plo rego soe bss cols wade lato, ona comers tee Se ‘Toyota, Nestle, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Intel, Microsoft the American ‘don ose an sein 5 st Clit ecoived bic 8. in Engh and jour from Baylor University fn “Tezas and his M.A. from Richmond, The American Intemational Unoersty in London. After serving as captain nthe US, Air Force he held marketing ‘and consuting postions fo several tat up companies in San Francsco. Cif current serves as presdnt of BEP Media LLC n Los Angeles. Introduction J ORIGINALLY WROTE Beyond Bullet Points to offer new way for people to create Microsoft® Office PoweePoint? presentations more effecive- ly I never imagined that shorty after the book's publication the Impact of the ‘Beyond Bullet Points (58°) approach would make headlines in the New York ‘ies, the Well Street Journal, and te Los Angeles Times. Sines then, interest in BBP has elevated the ist edition ofthis book to bestsller status, atone point reaching the #4 sales rank out of ll books at Amazon.com. lt turns out that BBP is striking a chord with people who have a simple desto—to move beyond the bullet points that keep both presenters and audiences trapped, ‘rustrated, and allenated from one another, People are finding that BBP really works for them and thet ence they ty this approach, they can go back (othe old wey of using PowerPoint. Since the frst edition of this book was published, BP has been even mere thoroughly rood-tested and rexoundingly audience-approved. Individuals report 3 process thats practical, orderly, Focused and scipined, and cegarizetions tre finding 2 methodology that is atainsble, effective efficen, and scalable. [BBP i working today across an incredible range of professions and purposes, . itil help you frame and faclitate corversation with your audience, and itwil guide you on how and where and why to use PowerPoint Lately, questions about BEP havo shifted fram “How do I do ths? to "How does ey Srganization do this?” which indeates thatthe apposch i taing hold at 3 ‘deeper level an seting the stage fra broader movement of people who supportand use 88° every day. “The uncelying system of 8BP in this book isthe same asin the fist edition, ciering a way totum general theories about communication ito the practical {ings you do when you open a new PowerPoint presentation omerrow ‘otning. But there ae also a number of significant improvements in this ‘ection, After teaching, tasting, and applying BBP with groups and individualsrrodstion for the past two years, Lsaw firsthand what was working and what needed Improvernent Ip this book, highighted moce prominently the things you need to know most, expanded on matetal that needed mare explanation, and ‘replace al ofthe examples with new and improved vershons "have atid significant new resources and materiale ta help people get though the most dficult hurdles in structuring and designing BBP presenta- tions. Based on feedback from groups and individuals. | simplified the terms ‘sed in the key tools and streamline the process to remove roadbiocs to ‘easier understanding and fester implementation, People asked for more specie examples of BEP in action, so Chapter 1 deserbes a headine-making BBP presentation, Chapters 4 through 8 use new example to demonstrate how to apply BBP step by stop, and Chapter 9 shows more examples, People asked for more ways to explain to others the why and the how of 88P | Chapter? shows why BBP works so wel in terms of three “adearch relies.” Chapter’ shows stp by stp how the process wil unald, and Chapter LL on the companion CD shows 2 quick exercise you can conduct to introduce BAP to your team, People asked fora community they could jin to learn mare ‘2bout 28° and to colaborate with others, soa new companion Web site at ‘en beyondbulepoinis com non flfls that need, Tis book focuses on applying BBP with PowerPoint 2007 and using the Soturares new features to accelerate the graphic design process ad elimi- nate the quesswor: for those who are not designers o technical experts. AS before this book assumes that you are not graphic designer and donot ‘now graphics software beyond PowerPoint 2007. There i, however, 8 new haréwere tool that | wholeheertedly recommend you adopt fatal possible ‘2 you work with 88P—e Tablet PC. This special ype of computer allows you ‘to rite directly onthe screen an wil help you sketch your storyboard fester and more eticentiy, ang twill open up new opportunities to Interact with your audience. Tabet PCS are now widely available and area muct-have tol for presenters today. | started using one aftr the fist eition ofthe book wos published, and it has now become central to my own practice of 88P— would ‘ot consider creating or giving presentation without one. Asin the previous edition ofthis book, wil take you step by step, chapter by ‘hopter through the BBP process. Chapters 1 through 3 provide an over- View ofthe reasons why you should ty BBP and how the process locks, and ers 4 ough 10 ex specail the dete sep hon 0 8 Ste nw comporion © cies Copter cpt ho dterbed Trova a FOE reves of several oppedies ug te SOP Gourd fates nd BP Checks tat you can se eto eee. Ts book Jecgned to bea paces gue that you Keep Gow shan he Yu nok cnfoweroint presonators ne wel a cou tongnginapetion Toru th Powerit 207 your compute nee to mete flowing rir equa 1500 megahertz (Mz) processor 1+ 256 megabytes (ME) RAM # CDorovo drive 1 15 gigabytes (68) available ard disk space 1+ Monitor with 800x600 sereen resolution: 162768 orhigher recommended 1» Keyboard and mouse or compatible pointing device 1 Internet connection, 128 kilobits per second or greater ‘= Windows Vista or ater, Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (S?2), or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 o ater ‘+ Windows Internet Explorer? or Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 with service packs - For tary people 88° us th concentonl inking abot Powernt protratos upd down auras the pote hat hae ay een Tratclen the softore ol sc nel cine people wo ei Ta Grsboe brely abut people conruncating ith pope 8 ing» mens avatae stare too tel yout do tat yo at id foc Sant tnd eagogerens hope you fd ata rch mre ins tor fs make ae yout oan presentation ies beyond but pons. eoducion nlIN THIS CHAPTER, YOU Wt: 1 Wines Beyond Bet Poms (BBP) presentation that made heat nes +See how BP works na weld pracicalapleston. 1 Geta sence of the potental impo! yu can make th BBP Making Headlines Beyond Bullet Points “THERE ARE atleast 25 milion reasons why you should tr the Beyond Blo Pointe P) sppraach. tina hats what one presonterbolieves, sfterhe wed BBP in courroom tohelp persuade jurrsto aware 253 ston verdict foe leetina major legal ial His story is just one of ‘the any that el ofthe impact BBP is making on presentations fr and ‘wid and ti aleo an example ofthe impact you can make on your next presentation with the book yeu holdin your hands right now. * Can | Really Change the World with a PowerPoint Presentation? Ifyou were ta see a newspeoer headline that read, “PowerPoint presentation changes the orld” you would probably laugh be ‘cause the very concept sounds absurd. Who could believe that 2 software tool that sestoiatad ma with boredom than brilianes ould possibly produce an experience so powerful that it would make hesdines? Ye, below it cr not thats exactly what happened with the Mierosolt® Office PoserPoint® presentation described ia this chapter And it’s something you have the potential to do when you use BBP_-you really can create PowerPoint 2007 presentations ‘hat can change the word In short ode, the chaptesof this book wil take you through the ruts and bots of why BBP works, how you can apply ito your next presentation, and what youcan do to deliver it But fist, the bestale Heads Basen ule Pons ‘92y to leatn about BBP isto see how it plays out inthe real workd—on one particular day. in one specific room, with one presenter and hie audience. That was the day when BP was put on tial and received a stunning verdict The Perfect PowerPoint Storm Evory summer, the residents of Angleton Texas, brace themselves for the possibilty that fearsome huricane might bear down on thelr Gulf Coast rown near Houston, But noth: ing could prepare them forthe hot and hum July day when a diferent kind of storm hit this quict town of 18,000 people, The doors of the old gray county courthouse inthe town square opened toa food of television crews whe crowded the hallways locking for 2 place to film. A group of newspaper reporters surged into the main courtroom, seer ing into uncomfortable wooden benches and tapping updates on thelr laptops to the ‘nevstooms ofthe Mew York Times, the Wall Stret Journal, the Astacnted Press, Fortune, and Reuters. ‘The journalists were in Angleton to cover the news event ofthe day: the opening state- ‘ments ofa major leg! tal that would begin withthe delvery af @ PowerPoint presenta- tion. Everyone inthe courtraot stood when the juror fled into the room and setled into their seats. The room was silent here a the eve ofthe storm, when 3 man stood up ‘0 face the jurors. Lite did anyone know that this lawyer was about to unleash storm ‘of his own from his laptop compute. Afterall this was no ordinary PowerPoint presente tion he was about to give—it was a Beyond Bullet Points presentation. ike mary of the bhurcanes that have passed through Teras, this presentation would make headlines for its devastating force, ltmight come across 2s odd to you that PowerPoint would take center stage in a Taras «courtroom, butts just one more venue this ubiquitous software tool has transformed in {ts relatively brief 20-year history. Originaly introduced as» tool to help businesspeople Present thei ideasin meeting rooms, today PowerPoint is everywhere. You ae probably ‘ne ofthe milfons of people wo use PowerPoint, and ane of the bilions who have been inthe audience t other people's presentations. Teachers use PowerPoint in cassrooms to present thei course materials and researchers use PowerPoint in conference rooms ‘present their data and analyses. Hollynood designers use PowerPoint in studios to storyboard creative concepts for films, and ad agencies use PowerPoint in boaid roeens to pitch msjor campaign. Miltary leaders use PowerPoint inthe fed to present sta- teaic plans, and politicians use PowerPoint on the campaign tral to communicate theit themes. And more and more lawyers are using PowerPoint to present thei cases courtrooms ike this ene in Angleton. aaa 7 The Perot ouerFam Sem ‘The lawyer who was about to speak ws no svanger to PowerPoint to the courtroom. Bom and cited in Texas, Mark Lanier specializes in representing plintifs in personal {jury Wale, wening a ong list of vercicts in favr of his clients. Early on, he had worked as ‘lawyer large law firms, but thea he started up his own Tem and eventually moved it to the outskits of Houston. Although he didn't have all the resources of a large law frm in one of Houston's downtown skyscrapers, Mark would scon demonstrate that these days anyone wth 2 laptop computer and PowerPoint zftuare—and an elective way to Use them—cen make 9s great an impact as anyone with unlimited resources. Mark tured to his clon, the plaintif in this ease, who was sitting inthe fst cow with he fer. "Your Honor” Mark sai, “1 may begin by introducing to the jury and to the CCourt my den.” As Carol Est stood, Mark iaduced her and her daughter. Carol's husband, Bob, had died ofa heart attack, and she suspected that a pain her hus- band had taken, Viows, was» cause ofthe heart attack. Soshe fled a avsuit against the defendant, the drug's manufacturer, Merck & Co, Ine. ark would represent Carl throughout the tal |As Carol set down, Mark walked toward the jry box post the row of lawyers siting atthe defense table. These lavnyers were from two internationally recognized law fs hired by the defendant, With billons of dollar in their war chest, the company could afford the best Facing such a formidable opponent with deep pockets, Mark knew that he would ‘eed tobe at the top of his game and that he would need to use the tools and tect riques he had to the bes af is ability to make the greatest impact ‘Mark paused a the jury box and made eye contact with esch of the 12 jurors. Before the juror arrived, Maré had wheeled the lawyers podium to the side ofthe courtroom because he did't want apiece of furniture, cr anything ele, to stand between im and Fis audience, Mark had a reputation fora folksy style whe he talked to jurors in the courtroom, speaking with a Texas drawl, colorful language, and a conversational msnnet But by now, any of Mark's legal opponents would know that to misinterpret his simple style as unsophisticated would bea big and expensive mitake, Because of his strong ‘wack record of successful verdes in jury tial “The jury would be Mark's audience for the next six weeks of the tal, and as any present erknaws, he would need to quicly make a stiong impression on them. He would have the opportunity to do that today with his opening staloment, a presertation in legal t= als thatntroduces the case tothe jurors and lays out the key evidence, Ths presentation Is extremely important to lanyers because they assume that many jurors make up their ‘minds about the cutcome ofthe ease by the end ofthe opening sttoment. Mark had his ‘Work cutout fr hi ashe face thejurers—you might be able to relate to his situationi your own presentations must make an immediate educational and persuasive impact on your audiences, Is essenial that you know your audience well before you stert planning your feventations. Mark knew some things about his audience in the jury Box-—the legal ‘ams from both sis had prepared a writen questionnaire forthe jurors, in whieh they ‘ound thatthe jurors were in their 20s and 40, high-school educated. and from a range cf professions, including electcian,a college student, aconstruction works, 3 product technician, a homemaker, a secretary, and a government employee. The lawyer alse, had an opportunity to ask jurors uettions in person during a QRA session In your own, resentations the better you know your audience, the better youll be abe to customize Your material to them, The judge had instructed the jurors eatlay that whan they took thelr oath they had become court officals ike himself Sad the lwyers. The jurors were charged with adnin- isteing jutico inthis cas, by Istening to all the evidence in open court and then making ‘decision based on the facts and the judge's instructions and reading ofthe law. Like any audience, they sat acy to heae what the presenter would say ‘As you might be able to relate to, most experienced speakers sy they get nervous be- fore. big presentation, and likewise Mark must have felt zame nervousness, but not just because the jurors were watching him closely. Plaintf’ attorneys like Mark con spend "upward of $1 milion to bring a c2se to Walon behalf oftheir cons, andi they lose, they erly have lost everything they pul is the cane, The defendant had a great deal To lose aswel, because this was the ist case to go to trl ageinst the pharmaceutical company. Beyond any negative media coverage the cae might bring, a verdict against the company might have a big impact on its bottom lina—it could lose milion of dollars ‘© an unfavorable verdict, and possibly lose bilions of dollars in market value fits stock Price dropped on the news Soppsg ono the ei Stage ‘Te fact that PowerPoint would play an important sole inthis trl was a sign not only ‘ofhow much the software hat changed many profesions but aka ofthe mereasingly high-stakes contexts in which tis uted. if youte like many people, you see PowerPoint ‘mast inthe context of seling products or teaching information, but increasingly, the most senior members of orgenvzations ue thie software tool to-commuiicate the mast important work they da. CEOs commonly use PowerPoint today to decide company Hrolegy, consultants se it to recommend resttucturing organizations lebbyists usa it to influence legislation. and axecutves use it to build important relationships. Based on “what the palit and defendant had at stakein this tial today’ courtreom presentation was about as high-stakes asa PowerPoint presentation can get a Stepping onto the Media Stage Mark glanced down at his laptop computer which st facing him ona small table below the jury box, out of ight ofthe jurors. What he saw on hi laptop sereen was a feature in PowerPoint called Presa lew, simi to the seraen shown ie Figen 1-2, which gue ‘Maria sgedal view of the presentation tht only he could se. Like the teleprompter thet broadcasters use to present thor speaking notes, ths sometimes-overiooked PowerPoint Feature gives you the silty to see additonal information that does not appear on the screen the audience sees, For example, onthe upaer lef on hisscreen, Mark could soe the blank blue slide that the rots currently saw. But he also could se his speaker notes fon the upper ight, reminding him ofthe pints he planned to nake while each side was displayed on screen as well sa row of small previews of his upcoming sides atthe bot ‘tom ofthe screen, helping him to make a smooth vansition fram one side tothe next ‘See Also To lea hor to use Presenter vew for your BBP presentations using PowerPoint 2007, see Appendie B on the companion CD. _ -© Maing Headings Sayan Be Peis NodRE fest avec eal Preset oes a sive re Mak ew of ce sco he ro ong win is vm pene aac and aoa ws sapeonigenee ‘Ashe began peaking, Mark’sthumb pressed the bition on a erate conto vice ike ‘oe shown in Figure 1-2, which he cupped in his hand at his side where the auience ‘would not notice. This remote would be his constant companion for the next couple of hous, ashe used it to advance the PowerPoint sides white he spoke, giving him flex. Bity a sow down or speedup to mutch i aa mach Ms naton ad ovr ate perce “sppeared seamless to the jurors. Pa ERE Remo cot vf rear the ayo vane he eso Four, “tes extremely important o me that : me that you heat what this case ks about” Mark sid, “so ‘ve put together_ifferent exhibits to try and help stick in your brain and help you Stein on he Meda Saat {focus on what wo think ae atcal points" When Mark clicked the emote control ptton. it signaled his laptop computer to advance to the fst image in the PowerPoint proventation, AkhoUgh the jurors coutd not see the laptop below the jury box, they dik foe on image of Carol and fab appear on the 10-foot screen ccectly behiod Mark, 3s ‘stated in igure 12. from where the jurors st, t appewed that Mark vas in a giant television seas the images on the screen would soon star disolving and changing bbchind im in 2 seamlesly choreographed media experience ‘sme 1-2 The mage om Nar’ PowerPoltpesntion fils the 1D fot sen behing im, {teaingo persue bacon. (One ofthe biggest distractions you can create dung presentation isto return to the keyboard every time you need to advancea slice, This creates a visual distrac: tion, disrupts the natural flow of your delivery, and eaves the impression thatthe computer is controling you rather than you contring the computer. Uke Mark {id inthe Angleton courtroom, free yourself from the computer by wing @ smal remote contol device to advance the sles inthe presentation, Many of these vices are designed specclly for PowerPoint presentations and are atached 10 ‘3 computer using a USB conection with no intallstion software needed. Some todels feature a simple interface with only advance and reverse buttons, and some even include a laser pointer along with a buton that allows you to black out the screen during the presentationaig Heasins Byers ens The projected colors, images, and words were so thoroughly integrated into tho presontation experience that turing off the projector wauld have been lke eliminating the set ofa theater production or the screen in a movie theater. This innovative media stage tonsformed the courtroom ino something new—an absorbing nacka experience that would engage the jurors through the next 23s hours ofthe presentation. Never breaking eye contac with the jurors or looking back atthe seen, Mark now began to lela gripping story that would lay out the evience of the plant's case A Singular Story ‘What was notable about Mark's PowerPoint side, shown on ts own in Figure 1-4, was ‘ot so much what was on it but rather what was nt oni. You would prabably expect the slides of» PowerPoint presentation to be filed with bullet points but here the jurors ‘aur only the visual power ofa single, simple photograph, Such full-screen images are ‘210 PowerPoint presentations, but this image fin perfectly with what Mark would do et | saga sty With photograph ofthe couple on the screcn as his backdrop, Mark bagan tang an ‘necilte to introduce Bob and Carol to the jurors. "But let me tall you a itl bit about Bob Mark said “Gob was a great fellow wo always took Carol wonderful, interest ing places, They went to the kite festvalin Washington State. They went to the balloan launch in Alzuquerque. They had alt of fun, He got her int tandem bike racing. They werent the winning kind of athletes. They just did itt be together, and it wes a good, fun way for them to ve together’ Mack knew thot teling the Geils of on anecdote like this one akout Carol and Bob is an effective and efficient way to introduce a new and complicated topic to an audience, “With 3 simple story ofa tandem bike race the jurors could quely imagine what Carol nd Bob's relationship and lives wee ke. And seaing the family shotograph would ‘make it easier for jurors to relate tothe plant pethaps reminding the jurors of sl ‘Photos they have taken or seen In their cnn familias, The photo and epic deta of the couple’ ile together would work powertuly to quickly introduce Carol and Bob to the jury and to mske an emational connection with them. Thieslke worked much mare efectively than a ist of bullet points ever could, because we dor’ Ive our les in bullet points—we live in images and stories, “Thay did get married after being together for a number of years” Mark explained. ” Incerestngly enough, they were introduced over exercise. Ad youl! hear Carol talk about her. dsughter_being the matchmaker between Corol ad Bobs” Here Mark added 2 detalnforming the jurors that they would hear from Carl herself on the stan, estab> lishing a sense of anticipation that they would get to hear fom her stand. Mark knew ‘tha hinting at events to come isan effective way to engage any audience's intrest. And by wing the specific details about Carol and Bab while the photograph wos displayed on sereen, he connected the audience's emotions tothe image. Mark licked the remote control agen and deplayad the zame phatagraph, cept now the background behind the photograph had disappeared, as shown In Figure 1-5. AS the new photogragh appeared, Mark ssi, “They had a wonderul time together But ltnately.the picture starts to fode and things stort to go diferent, And lt ere tll you iy? People are not used to seeing family photographs where te background suddenly appears, 0 this visually st the stage that something unexpected was about to hap- pen to Carol and Bob. The emetions of the audience that Mark had associated withthe Photograph suddenly were stripped anay,5 etng ean Bord BP ‘auRex The er slde sow he ave pose aph we that sopthing unexpected hae hpened ciground sipped aay tinea [Ccking again. Mark csplayed a new version ofthe photograph, exceptin this one, Bob was missing from the photograph In is place was a thick black fine ike the chalk outine from a crime scene, as shown in Figure 1-6, “You see, Sob Ernst is dead today” Mark sat “One of ry witnesses that | yant to bring inthe cae I cannot bring you. Bob Est cen not come in here today. He i no langar here. He dda't know he wes going to reed to bbe here. He didi leave us anything in vdeo. He didn’t leave us anything in writing that ‘would talk about the Bsues that we nsed to tlk about” Ths striking photograph visualy ‘communicated tothe jurors that te worst had happened-—that Bob and Carls happy ‘martiage ended abrupty and unexpectedly when Bob died of a heart attack The Diack ‘uttne where Bob had been inthe photo visualy brought home the point that Bob's ath suddenly had left a hole in Caro’ life, and in her heart. ‘IGURE 1-6 Tis shows Bob ising forthe photograph with only thik lacktn to ndcate Mark: kriw that his audionce came feom a pirt of Texas that was grawing increasingly conzervative and that the jurors might not be predispoced to anrd a big verdict tos ‘lain a product ability cae tke this. But with the tick black outline that indicated {where Bob had been, Mark also introduced a powerful new outine for bis presenta tion, f the jurors were rot going to be friendly towsrd a predict linilty case, Marc was row visually reframing his opening statement to ane story ine thatthe conservative {wtors would find more engaging—z murcer mystery. nth thi photograph, the black ‘outline subtly communicated a familia stor stting thatthe jurors immediatly would ‘understand—a crime scone fom television show. This unexpected use of this farior ‘anwention from TV would suprise the jurors and make the idea stick in ther minds. This ide would then thematically tanetion tothe nee, pivotal sie in the presantation, Mork clicked the remote again, and this time aback sie azpared with the phrase CS: ‘Angleton on it similar to the sie showin in Figure 17, as he said, IF we were going fputitinto a TV show, this would be 'CSt: Angleton, What you's going to doi. follow the evidence, ke any good detective would" ies) Angleton [BGURE LT Next the words CS Anleton appeared on the creen as Mac old urs tha hy wo be Te crime scene resigns sarang Uwough the eddence to Fou aut wt cused B's deh ‘This simple side would help Mark deeply engage his audience. ifyoure a presenter these days, cudiences usualy expect you to interact with them in some way, at lest by posing ‘2 question and asking them to raze their hands with thir responce. But in court, Mark ‘ould not interact withthe jurors making his task to engage them that much tough, “The solution to the problem would be for him to promote the jurors to the leading le ofthis presentation, as CSI detectives.CEES) Making Hescics Beyond Bt Pots In an entertaining fictional sory, the main characteris comeone an audience observes ‘rom a estance.Butin a nonfiction presantation, making the audience the canter of the action can dramatcaly increase the involvement any audience fees, Youll learn how you ‘can always make your audience the main character of your presentation story when you lan you ist ive sides in Chapter 4 In keeping with classical storytelingforn, Mark's next step would be to present the malin character with 3 problem that they would have to face. = The Heart of the Problem ‘Marck clicked the remate control to advanc tothe naxt slide, showing an image of = headquarters building, similar to Figure 1-8, 3 he sad, “The evidence is going to lead yoUto ore place’—the front step of one of the laigest pharmaceutical companies in the word. Mark explained that he would show 2 great deal of evidance ram many sourcat that all proved thatthe companys drug was a cause of Bob's heart attack But then he added, "Mere are lots of different ways it can be painted,” and jurors would have to ‘evontually weigh the evidence against everything ele that they would hear GURL Nex Mak showed 3 phot ofthe headquarter buldng ofthe pharmaceutical comnpany Siro ths dtl Jurors tat edencein the oe wuld end othe companys Sooraen. Te Hea oft Prob ‘Marke clicked the remote button to shot the next side, a photograph of a gavel and fa, ini to Figure 19, ashe said, “Youre going to hear all this evidence bacausa.your job to dois to get us to justice. Nobody else has this power A judge can't doit-Polti= ‘Gans cant dot, Nobody ee can doi. This is where you can make aciference Inthe ‘world! The image f the gavel along with Marks narration reinforce the problem the jor faced: they wil ee the evidence against the company, butnow they wil heve tosort through it and bring the stuation to justice. Youtl learn how to create dramatic tension in your presentations in Chapter 3, when you plan the two space slides shat present your audience with an unresolved problem that your prsentation withelp them osohe. ‘cue 9 With gavel ond Hg dplayedon seen, Mark emplsne hat he jos cul bs the Euston tjuries. Newt as Mark began to lick through a sequence of images similar to those shown in Figure 110, he sid. “How are you going todo i? My suggestion to you i. again, you've {got to follow the evidence” This statement and the images Mark displayed clearly de- fined the story thread tat would pull the entice presentation forward and focus every pec of information to come, Yeu'k learn more about story threads and how to choose ‘one for your next presentation in Chapters 3 and 4ang Hone Bayord Bult Pons ‘une 1-9 Al jr ede to do wa fal th oir ora mutate story Fracture mate mean = death ‘Here Mark used a mod-—a recurring visual or verbal theme-~i the form of ¢ murder mystery to make the story coherant and memorable. “ist of al, rm going to show you ‘2 motive” The word motive appeared on the screen (top) along witha picture ofa stack ‘of money. I'm going to show you the mean" he sed, asthe word means and an image ‘of pls similar to this one appeared on the screen (mile. "Tm going to show you the “death” he said, ae the word death and the familar outline of Bob appeared next to Carol cn the screen (botton). With these sides, Matk asked the jurors to follow the simple formula that undarties every murdermystery story: motive + mecns = death Even jurors who dortt watch TV would ‘know this familiar structure from books, board games, or storia in the news. Ean, Mark hinted ata murder-mystery motif withthe black outine and again with the CSL reference, and now atthe most important par ofthe presentation he fully estabished the murder-mystery motif a the structure fr the entire presenation to come. You'l learn mote about how you find your story thread and integrate verbal and visual matifs into your own presentation starting in Chapter 4 Distilling the Essence — When Mark clicked fs remote and displayed a side similar 10 the ane shown in Faure 1-11, he accomplished something dramatically Semple ye! powertly effective, This single slide dss the essence ofthe entire story into a single image—yeutl create a similar slide in Chapters 7 and 8. Although the side appears simple, its was extremely Sophisticated in its effect because it educed a very complex cata into samathing very easy 0 understand and follow. ReURELAL Thi zsmmary sid inl dof the entire case to a sngoiage. The hteontl bars Shove and balow ie conta red oindeste tht hee tance can aha moet peta the reontation ‘Ashe wasin the plenning stage of his presentation, Mark face: a vast amount of infor ‘mation that he could have potentially presented to his audiences you certainly doin your awn presentations. For Mart, would be tough to explain the complex scence be: hind how the drug worked, how it was developed, and how it wos reviewed and studi. would be confusing to recount the detls of every event, every person involved and eSting he Ere ating Hedin Beyer he Ps the sequence in which the case unfolded, would be daunting to select the most in- Portant evidence to explain the case from move than 3 milion documents and countless hours of videotaped depositions fom witnesses On tp ofthe vast amcuntof information to choose ran, Mark laced the constraints of A inted amount of ime to communicate toe audience, ae you do Ta your present. tions: Inno more than 2¥ hours, he had to present the jurors with an overview of the X «ase educate them about ey concepts, ond ecuip them witha ramework to under stand the si weeks of testimeny to come And head to do all ths while keeping jures interested and engaged Just as youll do in Chapter 5, Mark solved the problem of potentially overwhelming his audience by dstiling his posentation into tree roughly equal parts that he would ‘pend equal amounts of time explaining, With his three key points identified. and using the murder-mystery motifas a familar structure, Mark verbally and visually intoctaced ‘he enormously complex car to jurors as being “a easy 25 1-2-3" to understand, ing this summary side ashe spoke. Net Mark diced the remote to show the sides containing his key points, similar to the images show in Figure 1-12 a5 he introduced each ofthe three sections of the presen ‘ation Instead of overwhelming jurors with 3 milion documents, Mark now guided them slong what appeared tobe avery simple story as he introduced the theee mast impar- tant part of the case, which he then explained in more detail az hi presentation moved forward. Now the jurors could relax as they listened and watched the stary unfold. any presentation, the audience cart possibly remember al the information they see 1nd hear but it helps if you give them graphical cues tothe presentations organization nd the sides relative importance. The ook ofthese three sides was based onthe syle of te earter summary sli, carrying forwagd the story visually to comploment Mark's verbal explanation. The simple spt: screen layout of the sides the use ofthe stiking red ‘clot, and the consistent graphical style ensured that when these sides appeared, they ‘would stand out asthe most important among all ofthe ather sides, You learn more bout how to apply these techniques when you sketch your own storyboard in Chapter 7 cwneLa2 Ashe inodced each of te te ection of the opeing stoner, Mak pty des ‘htc forward tether ore te are Summary sce cng hero Backgrounds the ef hot of scheNk Heatne Baynd sue Pons Mixing Mediums with this imple yt esr and engaging introduction to his opening statomeot, Mark had succeeded in presenting 2 framework that would be 22s for jurers to fllow. He ‘continued to integrate te story seamlessly through the remaining sides over the next few hours. Athough yout ovn presentation wil ily aot last at long, the same BBP ap- roach wll give you the ability to quickly scale down any presentation Korn 45 to 15 to S —nioutes [As Mark continued thraugh the presentation, many ofthe sides in the presentation looked similar to the ones shown in Figure 113. The sides were designed so that the {utors’ attention would fist goto the most important information atthe top of the Screen—a headline that summarized the main point at hand, ike a newspaper headline Next the jurors would see a simple graphic that illustrated the specific headline. Last the jurors’ attention would now shift from the screen to Mark, who explained the point of ‘these in more deta, The range of visuals used on the slides included 2 wide variety of photographs, medical ilustrations, documents, screen captures, timabines, and more, ‘Bob's doctor ad previousty ‘tented BoD for pain FHGUREL9 The sds Wahi ach econ ofthe peranttion ied asl yout ye which ood the ers uiehy understand the wvormaton “Mark clicked through the 183 sles ofthis presentation at a pace of less than one minute Per slide, which lowed his audience to digest the information on the screen before ‘moving forward to the next side and the newt part ofthe story. This pace kept the jurors I | | i: | sing Metre sisualy interested, A shown in Figure 1:13, at the bottom of each sida @ navigation bar splayed the major sections ofthe presentation to keep the stcry theme and structure ‘ontiouousty presant in the Jurors minds. Youll see how to create a similar navigation bar in Chapter 8 Conventional PowerPoint sides can overwhelm audiences with too much information 6n the screen, but Mark's prasertaton contained any one idea per slide, gving jurors time to digext exch point as they latened to Mark's verbal explanaticn Instead of reading bul let points from the screen, Mark used his sldes 2s Visual cus toprompt him on the next point he would make, allowing him to speak with a natural and spontaneous style that ‘came from the depth of his knowledge and authority cn his toric. And instead af looking a the seen to see what was on it, Mark kept his attention focised on the jurors, make ing eye contact with each person throughout the presentation. Beyond the PowerPoint sides, Mark also used a range of other nedia and physical props to-engage with the audience over the course ofthe presentation, At times, he switched the screen to a special document projector, where he displayed physical paper doc rents and highlighted passages onthe pages witha yellow matker as he explained ‘the significance of the evidence. Later he used 2 large paper Mp chart that he calls 0 “double-wida,” where he wrote out key terms and concepts with large markers. Some- times he switched from the slides to brief vidoo that ilustrated a point. Otho times he used physical props such as a plastic model of @ heart held up i his to teach jurors the sconce behing heart attacks Mark used cifferent types of media to keep things varied ond ieteestng throughout the presentation and to keep the experiance fom feeling too sick and produced. But after using each type of medi, Mark always ceturne to the PowerPoint presentation on the 10-foot screen becouse it was a visually unifying tool he could use tote everything together and move the stry forward. The siting and dissolving images holding ‘the audience interest on the large screen seamlessly came together with Makes physical presence, and his voice ted everything together: n the Angleton courtroom, PowerPoint had taken on a new role—it was now a powerful. persuasive backdrop that ‘would have a major impact on the jurors in the aye ofthe PowerPoint storm inthis Angleton courtroom.aking Heong Bayon ult Pits ® Fade to Gray After Mac fished bis presentation, the judge allowed a break, anid the jurors lt the ‘courtroom. Now it wes the defense team’s tun to presertits opening statement. They ‘Got ther PowerPoint presentation ready on ther own laptop computer, and they rolled bac the podium to where it had been before Mark moved i infront of the iny Boe ‘When the jurors returned, the defense lonyer walked up to the podium looked down at his printed notes and began tovead his opening statement tothe jurors. {o the crucial rst few minutes ofthe presentation, when itis essential to make an aucience fee lite the presentations ll about them the inayer recited the deta about ‘he admirable history ofthe company. Instead of making the presentation human byte ing an anecdote about areal person, he cited dry data about the mitfons of people the ‘Company aims to each with Rs various drugs. AS he read the propared script in formal ‘2nd impersonal language, somecne else on his team advanced the PowerPoint sles forward an the camputer, sometimes missing &eue and leaving @ disconnect between wat the lawyer sold and what the jurors sav, The lawyer occasionally turned back a the sreen behind him to point ata complicated chart era long passage of text. Rather than cisplay @ dynamic and engaging visual experience, the layer next showed a side with a formal photograph of the comparys former CEO in a coat and tie as he talked about the CEO and his fay, hs blography, is public service, ond his civic involvernent. Mising the chance fo connect with the everyday people inthe jury with calor and choracte the defense lanyer continued on with sides that showed formal Photographs of other corporate executives, their vy League educations, detaled biographies, and long list of accomplishments. Missing the point thet less is more, later the lawyer displayed the familiar built points, chats, and long passages of text that the Jurors stained to read, The defense lawyer’ relationship wth the jurors never warmed up with the chilly and formal tone of the prepared talk. The podium that wae now in front ofthe jurors hed ‘erected a wal between the presenter and his audience, the prepared script took away the lawyer's natural voice and spontaneity, and the PowerPoint slides on the screen ‘became a 10-foot distraction from the lawyer who was speaking. At the and ofthe defense's presentation, everyone stood asthe jurors let the courtroom, and then the court adjourned forthe day. f what lauyers believe i true, the presentation the jurors had just experienced would playa significant role inthe vedic they would reach atthe end ofthe tial Whatever the jurors thought that dy, the journalist in the rn wasted no time in pronouncing their verdict about how they thought the two ~ ponesPoint presentations had gone. Lg Stark Choices ‘Tre news medi cover opening statements of legal tral every day, but its unusual when the topic ofthe coverage isthe presentation style itsll. According tothe coveray'of this ‘opening statement the nextday, something exceptional had happened inthe Angleton Courtroom, Accocding to Fortune's account, Mare “gave a frighteningly powerful and Shu opening statement” peaking “without notes and in glriculy plain English” and + taking on the defendant “with mercles, spellbinding savagery’ Coger Polo, "Stark Choate a the Fist Viowx Tat” Fortune, July 15, 2008). The reporer had not noticed that, Mack did have a form of rotes--his PowerPoint presentation in Presenter viow on his laptop below te jury box. The New York Times repocted that in comgarisan with Mark's pening, the defense tye’ presentation was “stak and that ve read portions of his © Glatement and ilestrated his tak mostly using blue-and-yellow PowerPoint pie carts ‘ad long excerpls of letters from the Food and Drug Administraton” (Aloe Barenson, *Contray Yale of Vioxx Roe in Texan's Death,” New York: Times, July 15, 2005). “Te difference between the two approaches presenta jurors with a choice that day, according to Fortune: “The tral fers jurors o stark choice between accepting Lanier’s invitation to belove simple, alluring and emotionally cathartic stares” and the defenses "appeals to colores, heavy-gaing zoparfic Reakon Lanier is inviting the jurors to join bimon a bracing mission to catch a wrongdoer and bring him to justice In contrast, the Fortune atc continued, the dafense “is asking the jurors todo something ficult and = unpleacant tke —walltaking medina” ‘Sx wooks later, the trial end, and the Jurors entered the jury rcom fo deliberate After a day anda half of discussion, the jurors made a decison, and the journalists and lawyers filled the courtroom again to hear what they woud say. The jurors awarded the plain- +f 9 stunning $253 millon verdict. Amid the storm of international headline news, the ‘pharmaceutical company’s market capitalization fll $5 billon (Alex Berenson, “ky Cals ‘Merck Liable in Death of Man on Vinx" New York Times, Augus 2, 205). ‘Alter the verdict was announced, the WallStreet Joumal reported one juror assaying “Whenever fhe defense] was up there, it was like wah wah, wat’... imitating the sounds Char Brown's teacher makes inthe television cartoon. "We didn't know whatsng Hse yor Ble Poe the hack thay were talking about" (Heather Won Tesora, “Merck Lox Jlts Drug Giant, Industry” Wol Stret Journal, August 22, 2005) The impact ofthe PowerPoint presentation In Marks opening statement proved to last tong afte the tat. Sic months later, Mark met with the Angleton jurrs during 2 focus ‘group to see what they remembered about the tral, and the jurors vividly recalled the spec story andl images that Mark presented in his opening statement. Winds of Change Although using PowerPoint helped win the day in Angleton forthe plant that particular story isnot yot over. The $253 milion verdict would be reduced to $26.1 mi- thon according to caps on such verdicts placed by Texas law, and the case is under appeal Later the pharmaceutical company’s market coptazation recovered, But what was, Lnlocked in Angleton that July day wat an ewample ofthe dramatic results an effective PowerPoint approach can have on a single presentation ina single oom witha single audience, The BEP approach had never been used in a courtroom before the Angleton tril, but since that day its impacts stil reverberating through the legal profession Today, f 8 legal team faces @courttoom opponent whois using BBP, they know that thay have to somehow tespond and raise the bar oftheir own presentations. Legal teas that have faced opponents using BBP inthe courtroom have started ta adopr the story themes ‘and graphics thatthe ater side uses. For example in trials against the pharmaceutical ‘company that fllowed the Anglaton verdict the defense lawyers began using the St" theme in their presentations. When Mark faced them again, he used techniques to counter what the defense lawyers di aking the bar even higher, The same sorts of impacts are being felt in other professions aswell 2s BBP begins to Uwansforn the status quo for presenters everywhere. x you consider applying BBP to your own presentations inthis book, it might seem hard to imagine how to apply these types of techniques to your specific profession, But beyond layers and law firms, many People in many other professions and organizations are accomplishing sgniicant retuite 1th this new approach, inluding presenters in major corporations, governmental agencies, universities, research firms, and nonprofit organizations, Within these groups, ‘people use BBP ina wide range of functions such as markating, sles, tzining, and ‘education. In this book, youll find examples of presentations from different fields an! for slfferent purposes so that you can see how you can apply BBP to your oan situation. Evecything Mark and mary others have accomplished using the 68P approach is explained in detal inthis book. In Chapter 2, you'l lear the underpinnings of BP along The Power oF FP in our Har withthe key research fingings you need to know, and in Chapter 3, youl s2e aneverviow bf the three steps ofthe BBP approach, Then youl get right to work on planning your first five sido in Chapter and the rest of your sides in Chapter 5. ta Chapter 6, youl setup your storyboard and nartation: in Chapter 7, youll sketch the storyboaré: and in Chapter 8, youll add graphics, Youll see how BEP plays out through 2 wie range of | presentation contests and purposes in Chapter 9, and Chapter 0 offers advice on dal tring BBP presentations. The companion CD included with this 900k provides a bonus chapter that shows you how to administer a S-rinute test of SEP with your team andl provides other tls and resources that you can start using immediately. The companion |Web site t this book, st arwbeyondbullepoints com, offers advanced resources tothe fast-groning community of people using BBP. By the end ofthis book, you should be vwelhequipped withthe knowledge and tools you need to start applying BBP to your own prezentatios. The Power of BBP in Your Hands Mark’ presentation in Angleton is only a sample of how you can use BBP to unio the engaging, compeling stories locked inside of you, When Mark entered the Angleton courtroom that ht uly day ta present his opening statement. he had the same Power Point software thet you have. He just used i nan innovative way that produced dramatic ‘sults and made headline news. Every one of us has the poster in our hands to teech an ‘old dog new treks. Even you cant fully adopt BBP today, you can at least begin to sow ‘the small seade of change that wil one day lead to a presentation evolution of clarity, effectiveness, and positive cultural changeIN THIS CHAPTER, YOU Wit: {Leo wy Beyond Bult Pos (BaP) gets he vests does. ss Rew by eszarch pines shat every presenter needs to ‘oe, 1 Camparethe esearch pipes wth 8? ad Ue conven aypeath Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks BEYOND BULLET POINTS (@8P}simaking headlines because itgets racially beter results than the standard bullet point approach that most paople ue with Micrwaf® Office PowerPoint, But i's n0 aci= dont that BBP gets these rests, because beneath the simple, lear and competing visual stores is» sophistlested foundation that deteerines everything yousy, shown do during a presentation. This chapter il ‘explain why BBP works so wal and wy the conventional approach © often fal short of expectations. Three Bedrock Tools of PowerPoint ‘Throughout its 20 years of existence, PowerPoint software has always offered the ablity t» werk on your presentation in ree bey views: Norma view Notes Page view, and Slide Sorter view [Aithough the ret ofthe PowerPoint features added since then are hice to have, these three vis continue tobe the bedrock took you need to manage the images and narration of your presenta- See Also This chapter focuses on the thee views you use when {you prepare your sides in advance of» PowerPoint presentation. For more information bost the two views you can use When you present your sides to an audiance—Slde Show view and Presenter view-see Appendix Bon the companion CD.5 Tashng an Oe Bog Naw es Normally when you create & text side in PowerPoint with the stendard bullet point approach, you fist statin Normal view, as shown on the lft in Figte 22. where you ck to edd a title tothe title ates end then clic to add text inthe content area belt you have more to say verbally about the side but can‘ ft the extra words in the content area, you might be one ofa few paople to Visit Notes Page view, shown inthe middle in Figuee 2-1 where you can se the se area atthe top and an adjacent textbox in the oes aed a the bottom that does not appear on screen during a presentation. And atter youve crated your ses, you might vist Side Sorter view, shown onthe ight 10 take 3 look at al of your slides together as small thunbnails. & ‘ek: Us ce Sore Viw te Manage the Vue “his sequence of using PawerPaintn Normal, Notes Page, andthen Side Sorter views Is the norm today, and it defines the standard fr PowerPoint approaches. The secret ‘to unlacking the power of BEP st ip ths sequence and always work in PowerPoint Side Sorte view et, then in Notas Page view ad nally in Normal view. As this chapter ‘explains, when you discover this new order fr using the same features that have been ‘round for two decades, you wil teach an old PowerPoint deg new teks. And when you apply the new sequence to your oum presentations, youl ee how BBP taps into the powerful potential of PonerPoint that has been waiting for you al along. Quick Access Toolbar onthe upper len the PowerPoint indo ari ‘he Select Milas The ibbo ae Trick 1: Use Slide Sorter View to Manage the Volume ‘Open a new, blank PowerPoint presentation and on the View tab in the Presentation Views group, click Side Sorte, as shown in Figure 22. Although you might be used to locking ot Side Sorter view anly occasionally, i ever, the fist bik of BBP sta abrays ‘begin working in PowerPoint inthis view, Youll do that starting in Chapter 6 after you finish writing the outline for your presentation. If youre wondering why i's so important to bump up the status of thi ite-used view tothe most impertant way to look at your presentations, you need to step out ofthe PowerPoint mindset altogether for abic ane {asksonto uncomman questions fistacting 30 014g Now ees In Search of “Research Reality” When you talk about PowerPoint, youll usually discuss which size font to use, howto insert a video cp, and whether the background of a PowerPoint template should be biue ‘or black. One thing you never hea is 8 conversation aout any research related to Pow- «-Point presentations. Despite the widespread use and influence of PowerPoint oftware in many professions, you would be hard peested to find esearch that demonstrates that the underlying theory impsct, or effectiveness ofthe conventional PowerPoint approach Isbettor than any other approach For example you won fn reach nating that resenting wth ult pos on 2 FewerPont fe more effective than presenting witout them or tc sho that sing a PowerPie desgn tempi oma evry sie caro the same proces, better lating than no sing «desig tempt, ora uneven or ao ral for eommonyacepted ower desgn gules sich he 69. wh Sats that eer se shoul have ie of tot th si word po Ine. Tek Comparave sts on PowerPoint pprosies is ceseda voi in tek o esa tase guleineson how esto the softare, and hs oi hes been quiche | | | Tek 1: Ue Side Sore ew to Manage votame SE sith popular myths and cultural habit. In other words, the main reason we approach PonerPoint the wey we do is simply because that’s the way that weve always done it and not because any research says it's better than any other wa. [Athough there i litle research spectcally comparing PowerPoint approaches, there is ‘significant body of research that has direct elevance to those who use spoken words Sad projected images to communicate Researchers in the fils of cognitive science and ‘educationel psychology have been studying for decades the best ways to help people tearn new information using naration and images. Tele work isa troasure trove of mation thatis directly relevant and applicable to you when youuuse PowerPoint to create presentations, The only problem that cutratly the research dots are not connected to ur PowerPoint bullet points That wht youll de now as youapply throe key parts of this research tothe three views of PowerPoint. As you do thet, you" see how these three ‘esearch reales” quickly cispl the myths and break the habis tht stand in the way ‘of effective presentations. There three researc reales asa wil show clearly why 68° ‘Works se well ana ny the conventional approach to PowerPoint does not deliver results aeeffectivaly Unda) “This chapter is inspired by the work of Richard €. Mayer, ILD. a professor of psy chology atthe University of California, Santa Barbara. Rance as the most profi esearcher inthe field of educational psychology, Mayors the author of 18 books ‘ne! more than 250 artes and chapters and has been researching multimedia Tearing and problem cobing for 15 years. tn his books and related articles and popers, Mayer proposes a wey to understand the use of multimedia that promotes ‘reaninafl earring and lays outa set of principles for designing any multimesia ‘experience based on his oan research and that of others. For more information ‘bout the research on multimedia leasing and its implications for PowerPoint presentations, see: Richard E.Mayer, Ed, The Cambridge Handbook of Mutimedia teaming (Cambridge University Press, 2005) 1s Clif Atkinson, “The Cognitive Load of PowerPoint: HA with Richard & Mayer” ‘wor beyondbulletponts com (March 2004),| Tescling on O1 Dog New Tics Research Reality 1: You Have to Respect the Limits of Working Memory ‘Whether or not you think about it conscious, you probably accept fundamental assumptions about communiaton tha tery shape your hinkng in ways large and smal you commonly tak about communication in terms ofa “sender” wi tensmits 2 "message to “eceves” you might esume tat you can “send information thregh an unobstructed channel ie a pipeline, and the audence wil get fly inact at he other end ofthe piping as shown in Figure 23. — the pipeline ‘nauRe23 The pipsine concept assifie that there san unobstructed chanel betwen yu ane yout eferce \With the pipeline in mind, you assume that you can produce # PowerPoint presente tion in whatever way you kes shown on the left in Figure 2-4 After you Send this PowerPoint presentation through the piping you assume tht is racsivers wll ‘gett ‘on the other side, as shown on the right. Your wor i then done. The only criterion for ‘success that you “delivered” the PowerPoint presentation thiough the pipeline. If for some reason the aucience didnt get what you delivered, of cour it's not your faut as 2 Dresenter—afer al you delivered the PowerPoint presentation, and what they did with itis their problem, not yours, The pipeline assumption sat work when people make statements like, “We showed them ‘the facts, but they just didn't get tor, "The presentation wert right aver theirheads” |When a verdictin a legal tral goes against one party its common for people to say the Jury just dct “get the evidence, or when a sales presentation doce nat succeed, the [presenter might say the audience just cet "get" the benefits of the product or service {tishard to separate the pipeline metaphor from our thinking because i is woven into {Ue words and expressions we use commonly very day Ti 1 Ue Sie Sort Vi to Manage he Vobe wnat you pesrttoyouraudience Rat yeu ase he acerca CENTRAL LIBRARY - Ti iti ‘neue 2-4 with eatin nmin, yu assure the your alee wig” whatever yOu "Sle to [though the pipeline metaphor is convenient, in practice it doesnot deliver what you might assume it does, According to leading educational psychologist Richard E Mayer if you give a multimedia presentation to an audience, there are tree possible outcomes, fs shown in Figure 2S. The frst pose outcome is that your audience experienced no learning (apper tight. Tiss the worst-case scenario—in spite of your work n preparing your presentation and your audience's ne and effort in showng up and paying attention, no leering happened to make the experiance worthwhile nat acaty hopene [ +. a [2g fein ‘rau bey scence donot avtmatly get what you send rough hep, What you present to your ausince ‘A second posible outcome is that your audience remembered perhaps the but points con slides 12 and 33 and the diagram on slide 26—but thats al they ernernbored, In this scenario, they remember only bits en pieces ofthe presentation because they experi fenced fragmented leaing {midleright).tn fragmented leasing, the audience membersTeaching an Dog New cs rere est somethings but rom 5; bt tom a presets perspective youtave no cont cover hat they leorned becase the fragments could be any piece oinfomnaion Seong ma nyu dont ow whicrorae, The hire pestle outcomes that the uence membered eat Teton ce remember what he presenter intended“ experienced meaning learing Cover igh. ening lesrng tay arp wants to schon te tne tgster—the people the sua, narod wate preset tnded a they ote le app tha ionstcn ster th meting Auaences nay opr tha PowePo presen to “Forget anc "What he ports ae thera sucesso agree het meting learng hs occured. Indo tr be sunon sound, you literally need to change the shape ofthe meta eral etd to change the shape of the metaphor hat ies te way you think oat Dvcng a Pon int presentation, the memory oan autenee members he ci fumes doe: Ut cere: now al ne ston seed ese arash amen i eo he ty ei eo Se paso human memory asm in pe 26. it pe eset tron Sensory memory the par fe mind wre our uence meer or eee ‘of sights and sounds as they look at and listen to the erivi- Zi Sighs end sounds might pent ney amoy erlang auke 26 The the ype of hum mes ‘rong memey or: sonexy meno long em mem, a “i Use Se Saxe View Manage the Ve == e sine second type is long-term memony—the part of the mind where your audience embers sre information over en extended period of time, fr as ite as 30 sec ‘ads to a5 long as a ifetime, In a presentation contest, this is where you would like your edience to store the new information you intend to communicate to them. Beyond just Temembering the new information, you alsa would like them tobe able to access and poly the information frors long-term memory when needed. Uke sensory memory, Tang-term memory i so potentaly unlimited in ts copac ‘The tied type is working memory (sometimes called short-term memory)—the part of the mind where your audience members hold thee attention, Tre theories underying vnording memory ave complex, but essential, working memory is atemporary olaing res for information, As sensory memory briefly holds sights or sounds, working memory then pays attention to some of ther an holds them for a matter of econds while it ‘Works to integrate them into long-term memory. \nile sensory memory and long-term memory each have unlimited capacity, working memory is severely limite in ts capacity to process new information. nan infuentil paper published in 1956, George A. Millar observed that people could fold a sina um- ber of chunks that they mentally form i what we now understand as working memory. Although the capacity af chunks was thought to be around seven for mozt people ‘depending on the typeof information, working memory expert Nelson Cowan recently tevsited Miller's lassi wor and now estimates the capacty oF wotking memory for new information at three ot four dwn, See Alzo For more information about the capacity of working memory, see = George A. Miller, “The tagical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits 09 ‘Our Capacity for Processing information.” Psychological Review 63, 81-97 (1956). cif atkinton, “The Science of Making Your RowsePaint Memarahler QB with Halzan Cowan, wun beyondbuletponts.com une 2008) Ainough the limits of working memory have been acknowdedyed for 50 years, the concept has never been fully absorbed ot integrated into our day-to-day practice and Understanding of human communication. The pipeline metaphor has such a strong grip, ‘on our collective consciousness that we have effectively rsisted the adoption of the research that contradicts it Yet = much as you might want tobaieve tht there is an ‘unobstructed pipeline betwaen sonder and receiver, the realty is that the kimis of works ing memory put major crimp in that metaphor. In order to align your own assumptions about communication wit what researchers accept about the way humen memory ‘works, youl need to drop the old pipeline metaphor ana pick up & new metaphor—the 92 of the needle as shown in Figute 27.Tsay an 4 Dag ew ts sesry longum "RoURE 237 Te lnited capacity of wostne memory to process ne infomation reetes anton Passge—muchatha ye oa aos stands betwen be neraton you pest ener Iemory and he wermtlon ht integrated intr frm mnery, Keeping his new metaphor in mind ven you create prescatatios, you know that you have a potentially uninited amount of new information tht you could show some~ ‘one’s sensory memory (lft) Yy want the new information tobe retained in long-term "memory fight). But working memory is 4 constrained in its capacity to process new ‘formation that creates a narrow passage, uch lk the eye ofa needle (enter, This extremely smal space of the ‘eye" of working momory canititutes the most formidable challonge you face as presenter “This new metaphor visually explains why audiences report either no learning oF {fragmented earning, I you present working memery with more new information than It ‘an handle as shown on the left ia Figure 2-8, the eye ofthe needle is eally vertoadled ‘and wil process and integrate ito long-form memary what it can—anly htc and pieces Out of the entire presentation, as shown onthe right. As much as you might want your ‘ucience to lear the new information you present, they vill never be able to learn it unless you help that information properly passthrough the aye of the needle. “Wc Ue Sli Sorter to Manage ne Vine =| "ncURt 2-4 When you show mor infomation tha woking memory can hind, auence mambare ‘eramber oly ba an pieces ‘The impact of reducing excess load on working memory has been documented by researchers including Mayer, who conducted a study using two muttiedia presenta- tions Th fist presentation featured intresting but irelevant graphics, and the second presentation provided the sme information, but without the intresting but relevant btaphics. Mayer measured the impact ofthe two approeches on auctences in terms of ‘wo criteria retention, the ability ofthe audience to simply recab the information, and tuansfr the ability to creatively apply the new information. Auciances who experienced the second presentation retained 69 percent mere information and were able to apply 105 percent more creative solutions using the information than those who experienced the fist presentation, The study offre research-based evidence to support the saying “Les i more"—the less you averload working memocy with extraneous information, the move leaenina imaroves BBP Respects the Limits of Working Memory With the ee ofthe nese metaphor in ind take alook at howa BBP presertaton ‘2ppeats in Slide Sorter view, a shown in igure 2-9, tudes hae ound hat people ara better hen informatio broken up into get lect, a heen Side Sorter ‘ew, you can teal sce each specif deste plein theform of single side that Contains only one main ea tha clear surmafited by aheane This eases your fudionce through your stor and explanation rae by frame, ene pice a atimeToseing 21 Old Dog New Tete fant motif tes now niormaton to i nfemation ng te ero, Intormation resand seamen, vith one eo pers, Toa case Suse fap the ewer oka ecohore Sic ajous nd backgrounds a Steno othe met portant des fs. fete. side Sorte vew shows raven ttl broken vpn egeble hunks fr eee hata by worting memory 7 In the Side Sorter view of « BBP presentation, our eye immediately oes to the most important slides because you use ayouts and backgrounds t cue your audience to \where they are. This approach draws from the hard work you de when you dsl your comples ideas to the exzence and identify your key points, as you! see in Chapter 5. ‘These visual cues eso indicate the sections of the presentation that explain your key points, explanation, and backup etal In Chapters 6,7, and 8, youl use consistent layouts and backgrounds within the individual sections of a presentation to create visual ‘and verbal continuity, but when you reach 3 new section of the presentation the layouts and backgrounds wil change. This events both prasenter and audionce to where they ae in the story an the changing sie layouts end backgrounds offer your audience visual varity to keep thelr interest You can aso se from Slide Sorter view that BEP uses a visuel motif through a presentation, Researchers have found thal you can improve the ability of working ‘memory to process new information by applying familar organizing structures This \works because an important quality of working memory i that is a two-way steel ick’: USS ruts Maagernevolure [Although working memory hae only limited capacity to handle new information as that information arrives, as shown on the lft in Figure 210, it so has unlimited capacity to pullin excting inormation from long-term memory, a shown on the right Ne foremton isting lfomation Gyre 230 Working namory is ries ins capac to process naw information tBu ts Ueto int conus to proces exiting btrmaen fam ong tenn manny a ‘This plays out in the lassie test of working memory, when a researcher presents someone with new information in the form of series af unrelated numbers, uch as 12151523 54.The numberof these individual chunks of information that someone ‘can recalls considered the capacity of that person's working memory. However, people Can remember more of the same st of umbece when werkang memory pls from long-term mernacy a structure they already know. This organizes the naw information into meaningful chunks that hold the same information io 2 more memorable way, such 5 212-555-1234-—the familiar structure of a US. telephone number. Thus a “chunk” ie defined by the audience as they apply a meaninghul structure from thelr long-term ‘memory to naw information. You help your audience accelerate understanding of new information wth 88P by introducing a familar “chunking” strucure to new information you present. For exemple in Chapters 4 and 5, you choose a familiar mati that resonates ‘with your audience an then later in Chapters 7 and & you extend the motif vsuolly acess the ides, See Also For more information about using familiar stuctures to overcome the imited ‘capacity of erking memory to proces new information see John Swell, “implications ‘of Cognitive Lod for Multimedia Learing,in The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia learning, Richard E. Mayer Ed, pp. 19-30 (Cambridge University Pres, 2005),The Old Way Ignores the Limits of Working Memory For comparison take 2 ook at conventional PowePoint resentation in Side Sorter vie a5 shown in Figure 211, udiences might not know about eit capectyof working memory, but they do know wht they talking about when they Soy present tonslite his are “Data dump” and “Gverwhelning” They've been down te road to overload before, and Side Sorter view shows exactly how the conventional approach takes them thee. The ne isormation is ea not presented in itesite ples stead fi every side side after sie, with overwhelming dei Information ot presenta ive tie Sgnabo hacate wich sides Be mortimporn “Thue no guiance ob te ene ds coberet suture ‘une222 Site Sorter vi of conenionsl PowerPoint presrton rive no diet paces a ‘no uns about he presentations rctre or enpanonton Peer What you se here i vial todium rather than visual organization. AS in most PowerPoint presentations these sides use a design template with a single predesigned background. Using a single background! gives all your sides a uniform look, but it also prevents yu trom using a range of design techniques to visually highight the most important information on single sides oF across slides. also makes the overall prosenta- tion appear visually repetitive, which causas boredom that quickly shuts down attention. aT vs, TRUTH yt Theres no need for me to use graphical custo pola out the again ofthe presentation. “ete Reseach shows hat peop leer beter when you use vial aes to bight 2 resentation’ organization See Also For more information about the research described ia dhe Myth vs. Teuth sidebarsin this chapter, see Richard E Mayer, Ed, The Cambie Hondbook of Mutimedia Leaming (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Looking a this big-picture view of the presentation, you can't see immediately the loca- tion ofthe most important slides, stead every idea has equal visual weight, and there arena aies given by the slide backgrounds about eelative importance of ideas. Working ‘memory, with it limited capacity to process new information, Fas to sort things out on ltsown and is presented herewith te impossible tak of holding all his new information vile it figures out what's mest important to know. " yt: People wl kara rei show ere, Truth Research shows that people lam bette hen information fs rserted in bese pieces i ‘You can alo see that there no structure that tes each of the invidua slides together inte a coherent whole—this presentation isjusta series of bulleted fists side after slide There is no effort to introduce a familia framework thatthe auience already has in fang-tarm memory such 382 story structure with 2 beginning, a mide, and an and— that can guide working memory to make sense ofthe new infermationTening ta bog Ne Tits Trick 2: Use Notes Page View to Sync Pictures and Narration Now that youve sorted aut the most important view of PowerPoint forthe BBP approach, it's time to move onto another sldom-seen view in PowerPoint. Click the ‘View tab, and in the Presentation Views gioup, dick Notes Page, (o snitch to Notes Page view, shawn in Figure 2-12. As described earlier, Notes Page view ets you sas the ‘on-scrcen slide above, slong with an offscreen notes area that the audience does not se The second trick of BBP isto always workin Notes Page view after Side Sorter view, which yout do starting in Chapter 6. There are two speci reasons toda that, as youll see next Pee eieeny, Fcuec 22 Notes Page ie nudes the onset de ses above anc an offscreen nts Research Reality 2: You Have to Address the Two Channels The next research reality, the concept of dual channels, states that people recelve and process new visual and verbal information in not one, but two separate but related chan nels. Alan Paivio described his theory of dul coding inthe 1570s, and during the some decade, Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch described a similar two-channel structure in ‘working memory. Today, the concept has become a widely accepted standard among e- searchers. In the dual-chanaels model, the images someone sees ae processed through | | | t | Incr 2 Use Notes Pag ow Picts araton| 2 vsval channel, the domain of images ineuding photageaphs illustrations, charts, and ‘Graphs, a illustrated concaptuaiy in Figure 2-13 (top), What a Speaker nat ‘essed through the verbal channe ttom), whichis the demain o language Sibi chia EDIN ES ub Channel steute 223 The score research ait tha working memaxy eee frmation trough two Channa ful chat and a etal conn [though text on a screen isa visual element, working memory quickly verbalizes the ‘words and sends them through the verbal channel, Research over the years has found that the way informatio is presented to these two channels has a big impact on the effectiveness of working memory See Also For more formation about the ul-channels concep see 1» Alan D. Baddeley and Graham Hitch, "Working Memory in The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory, G.H. Bower, Ed, Vol. pp. 47-89 (Reademic Press, 1574). ‘= Alon Paivio, Mind and ls Evolution (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007) BBP Addresses the Two Channels ‘You can see how BBP addresses the realty of dual channel by leaking ata typical side {in Notes Page view, as shown in Figure 214. A clear headline atthe top of the page _alaays summarizes the point—you'll write out these headinesinChapters 4 and 5.The off-screen text box in the bottom haf ofthe page contains what you wil ay aloud wile the side i on screen—you'l write out your narration foreach lide in Chapter 6. An last youll adda simple graphic tothe slide area that you see in the top haf of the page to ‘complement the headline and the verbal nation in Cnapter &Texchiag on 01009 New Tle poke worsntne of screen et Pa ban | seam ntgrating vial and spk ‘tor ene: tae Fo sk ‘atwesn sen and peste, {— vsina the ote ae cogent Infomation pesed by he pene woe Fee reece ree eeaeee eee "URE 24+ With BBP, you use Nets Pageview to manage heist channel inthe onesie tet Shove andthe wart canal inthe aff wen ot bon tow Waiting out the spoken information in the offscreen text box before you add a graphic significantly reduces Uve amount of information you otherwise would place inthe side area and instead keeps the side area simple and clear. This helps working memory focus attention on the single point that you explain verbally during this side. Instead of read. ing the headline verbatim, you let the audience quickly read and digest on ther own, SP uses Notes Page view i ts way to ighty integrate screen and narstion inorder to make the most efficient use ofthe two channels of working memory Looking atthe Visual and verbal ares together in Notes Page view i Uke looking ata single frame in a fimetrp, which s mado up ofa sequence of conected visual frames, each with a cor- responding chunk of audio. When you desig for mukimecia such 3 fm, you apply a “ferent set of conventions than the ones used for print because a film made hae two «coordinated informational tracks—a visual tack thet contain pictures and an aucio track that contains the spoken words. Ri ooo eas By viewing your slides in Notes Page view Ike the framesin a fst, you align your approach withthe dual chanmels—the information tht is presentad to the visual channel isin the on-screen side area, and the iformation presented tothe verbal channel'sin the off-screen text box This approach aso creates 2 well-balanced handout that you can print in Notes Page format, 3s shown in Figure 2-14, By using PowerPoint this way, you ensue that you produce both an effective lve presentation and an effective printed docurrest. tis no accident thatthe structure of a flmstrp is conspicuously sinilar to the dual-channel cancept. Whn you watch a fim with sound, your mind coordinates the ferent information from the soundtvock andthe veual frames. screen. Fimmak ‘ers have managed to communicate complex ideas to audiences sound the world with ‘ynchrorized images and sound fr almost a century, with ite f any text on the screen. Likewise, working memory can easly coordinate visual and verbs channels if they are ‘properly coordinated and presented \With the seen behind the speaker, the audience ses and quicly digests the side an then pays attention to the speaker and his or her verbal explanation. The entire experi lence appears seamless to the audience. Using the offscreen noes area in Notes Page ‘view ale takes nto account the fat thatthe speaker has a voice during a presentation, hich offers critical source of information that ha to be planned and integrated into the experience, 2 fundamentally changes the media model for PowerPaint fem paper toa Fientrp. But the difference batvcen 3 flmstrip and the OBP approach pacing In fen - and television, you cornmonly view 24 to 60 frames per second. A BEF presentation runs at the epeed of corversation—about one fame per minute—al owing time forthe audi- fence te digest the new information and then focus next on the aresenter. This even and ‘propriate pacing ensures that your audience experiences only the right tings at the Fight times. The Old Way Addresses Only One Channel Ifyou choose otto address both the visual and vebal chants, you can see fom the "Notes Page view of conventional de down in gue 2-15 tat you load up the side 20a at the top wih af the intrmation you wat to commuricate both visualy and ‘ebaly. Because half ofthe valabl ea estate avaiable for ifarmation a Notes PageTenching nO D9 Naw Ts view isnot sete otscrean tert ox blr epty—the se en bce Single pace to hotd both apc words and projecedinagee nr cing atinfomaton os the side area retina ‘reraaling sour at ifoatan ote sss Wen th test on een rotated testes ‘edie that ‘cor tang. Thebes srenion fam he firformoto, he pears woke [BSURE 235 The onterinalPowePsint spproch does patina tec ‘instead pce bot and verbal infin hes ara MSMR NNN concept and \When you do not atign your PowerPoint approach with the dt i ‘approach with the dua-channals concept. yo Imparamng ma numberof ways, Fr example, nosing theo sren tort box ‘reat scarcity of resources inthe side area, which predictably produces overloaded. Sides. Words wil ussaly take priority over visuals, so you wil tend to seo sides filed with text. Visuals added to these already crowded sides wil usualy shink tothe sce of Postage stamps so that they can be squeezed between the boxes of text. These dynamics Broduce sides that are overly complex and difcuk to understand Dering» rsaon ade tes oak sr te oot site ey are fot paying attention to the speaker. When they do shift attention to the. et, thy soen look back te sie and work had oy to sctonze thet ura of itoroation. Researchers cal isthe mateo fect cheeses cee coetine \eadand ees the fective cf ering, ou cen eberve sini dynes shen "Wek 2 Ute Nota Page ew Sj curr Narain youre watching afm oF TV show and the sound is sight out of sync—it’s very ‘otceable because your working memory has todo the extra work of continual trying to synchronize the mismatched images and narration [wnvravs.reutt Nyt dont eed fo wory if wat say does etch up wth my ide. “eu: Research shows that people understand» wudtinaia presentation better when they donot havoto slither atenen between, and manta grate, up sures of ‘aformation, another problem with ignring the offscreen textbox in Notes Page view i that you do not recognize and plan for an incredibly rich source of information during PowerPoint preseatations—your oun narration The cesuit Is tat the relationship between your spo fen words and projected visuals isnot fully adéressed Thinking f the sie area as the piece of paper rather than one frame in a flmstrip ignores this essential clament of ave presentation yout verbal narration, You might assume that Ue information can stand Sone, without verbal explanation, buts PowerPoint side does rot exist na vacuumn— youare standing there speaking to your audience while you project the side. You must ‘fectively plan how your spoken words and projected images relate to each other Ard ifyou write nothing inthe f-screen notes ara, yu wil be unable to take advantage of Presenter view, as shown in Figure 216 and described ia Appendix Bon the companion (B,to manage your presentation because nothing will appear ie the speaker notes pone nthe right to guide you while you caver al the poines you wart to make Mitkas ‘By addressing only one channel in your presentation, as shown eater ~ Figure 215, you easly create spit attention and redundancy ne live presentation, ‘And by not capturing whats said verbally inthe offscreen notes area, you aso mis the chance to use PowePoint foran afectve handout that you could otherwise create by printing notes pages.youd neue (to fermen rtee Seven austin poate wit ‘pear ret pie esting your at. ‘pouRt 246 you dont wrt cut what you wa he notes arc In Notes Pape Vi, here's pot ‘pang Presenter vow benurenodueg wil spent the speaker nes pa ‘Audiences might nt know aout dual-channals theory, but they da knaw how they eel when presenters don't integrate the concept into their PowerPoint approach, When pre- ‘enters read bulleted txt from the screen, audiences complain thatthe presenter should mal itto me” or “ust give me the handout” This fusration has research bass— ‘writing out the text of your presentation an your slides and then reading it to your audience contracts the widely accepted theory of dual channels. You might assume ‘that presenting the same information n maitiple ways will reinforce your point. But ifyou present the same infermaticn to the two channel, you reduce the capacity of working ‘memory and in tur reduce learning by.reating wha researchers cal the redundancy effect. ‘When someone speaks, you process the verbal information at ane speed. When the speaker also displays the text ofthe speech, you process te information ata diferent speed—your mind fist takes inthe tant visually and then verbalize: it for processing in the verbal channel. Because the seme information is arriving through the same chanel at iferent speeds, working memory has to spit aitention between the two sources ‘of infoxmation as it works hard to reconcile ther. This redundancy quickly overioade \wodking memory and impairs lesening i | Redudancy azo happens when the some information i presented both visually and in text because the same information i entering through twe channels and the mind hes to cevert more effort to raconcle thers, Thi caducesthe efficiency of working memory and ‘an lead tothe cognitive overload that so frustrates sudiences. Tus inefficient cuplica- tion of Information is unnecessary, because the vebal channel s perfectly capable of Understanding the narration without the csplay of text othe viual channel (MTHS. TRUTH Myths Oo read my but pints rom he sxron. ‘Truth: Reseach shows hat pople understand» multimedia presenti better when the voc are presented 5 vrbal narration lone stead of verbal nd sone ext “To explore the redundancy effec, Mayer conducted experiments using two maltimadia presentations. Th fest presentation included the some material both nar- ‘ated and cisplayed with taxton the seoen, and the second presentation inéutd the ration with the text on the screen removed. Audiences who experienced the second presentation retained 28 percent mete information and were able to apply 79 percent ‘more create solutions using the information than those who experienced the st presentation. Thus, the dual-channels concept turns one of our core assumptions about PowerPoint upside-down, Contrary to corwentional wisdom and common practice, reading bullet points from a screen actualy hurts learning athe than helps ft Research shovrs that when you subtract the redundant tet from the sereen that you are narrating, you irmpcove leaning you chore notte align your PewerPoint approach with dual channels you diminish the potential effecivenese of your presentations. When you place both verbal and ‘eual material nthe side area, the Busy see spits the audienc’s attention between ‘ereen and presenter, which creates additional load on working memory. And when you present the same information io both visual and verbal form, you create redundancy that overloads working memory. You ean easly resolve the stuetion in BBP by effectively ‘oordinating visual and verbal information in Notos Pageview.Testing an Ola New Ti Trick 3: Use Normal View to Guide the Eye and Ear With two viewsin PowerPoint Side Sorter view and Notes Page view, taken cae of, it time to get back to normal in terms oT the way youre used to working in PowerPeint ‘lick the View ta, and inthe Presentation Views group, ck Normal to display Nocal ian, a¢ shown in Figure 2-17. The thid trick oF BEP isto alvays work in Normal view ast, ‘which you'l do in Chapters 7 and 8. The thid research realty will guide you through the reasons wy Glick to add title Ciektoadd tox FHaURE 2A The mor common Way to wert In PowerPoint si Nora ew Research Reality 3: You Have to Guide Attention The third esearch reality confronts the PowerPoint assumption that you can crate your sides however you want and your audience wil understand them. nthe pipe- line metaphor, a presentation exits by itself independent of the people who receive “idk Use Nal a to Gude th ye ane far ita presenter simply pours information into the pasive minds ofthe audience. Yet researchers have long knaun thatthe mind isnot a passve Vesa, but rather iis an ‘active participant in the process of eatning It is the minds of your audience that have to ceate understanding out ofthe neve information they proces ia working memory ‘Yu play an importent role in helping your audience create understanciag by designing slides in specie ways that guide the attention of working memory tothe most important visual and verbat information, a Mustyated in Figure 212, HGURE 238 Te id eeerch ely hat you mut gute the atenona working ner BBP Guides Attention [As described eae, withthe BEP approach, each se has 3 headline when you stat ‘working in PowerPoint, You then write out what you wil ay verbally in the offscreen ‘ext box in Notes Page view and then add a simple graphic in Hormal view to produce a tde, ag chown in Figure 2-18.eating an Old Dea New Ticks ‘ne apc any ad erly aoe the man pont ofthe ie oe ee Our technical tean] takes data feed: from every interfational market T . ‘hemain poi, Aner esting erie acne ein trata the : Speaker a th rarion Tere no exvaneou nmstion to detract statin, esa s9 8? sown en onal nee ton wet ny ot ‘headline to the graphic to the person speaking. Pe i ae The simplicity ofthis side belies the sophisticated impact has a it effectively ides the attention of working memory: tis crystal clear where werking memory shoul ‘boss trst—on the hesdtine a the top ofthe side. People are sed to reading newspa- Per headlines that summarize the main pot of a story ina single sentence, and here the complete sentence hesdine serves Uw saw fancton. The audience doesn't Nave {owork hard to figure out the point you want to make-—insteed, you have cleared the way for them to focus on the idea at hand rather than be distracted by unnecessary ‘cognitive work "Wik 3 Ue Nav ew 0 Ge the ye and ar HEADLINE RESEARCH Michael Alley, author of The Croft of Scintfe Presentations Critica Stops to Suc ceed and Chica! Errors to Aveid (Springer, 005), conducted a study using two ‘PomerPaint presentations, each witha diferent headline format, One presentation ineluded only sentence fragments at the top of each slide, and the second presen tation inuded a complete sentence at the top that summarized the most impor- tant point of the sie In tests to measure the knowledge and compeehension of the information in the presentations the audiences who experienced the sides with the complete sentence headlines saw an average improvement in test scores OF TL percentage points over the audiences who saw the slides with te sentence ‘fragments, When you use the ile area ofthe slide to summarize your point for your audionce, you propery guide their attention, and inthe pracess you ease the burden on their working memory to figure out your poi. Research has found that visuals can improve leering, but only if they ilustrate the point pou are making. tn Chapter 7, you wll sketch the appropriate graphics foreach slide by focusing onthe sis headlines, and thon in Chapter 8, you will add the speci graphics. Because you choose only graphics that relate to the specc point at hand, the graphics ‘ella major part af the story a they cornmunicate information theaugh the visual char rein syne with your verbal explanation. This makes effective use of working memory by ‘sing both the visual and verbal channels rather than just the verbal channel alone. ‘also ensures that working memory snot eistracted by graphics that don't ete speci «ally to the information at hand, Likewise, the side background contains no extraneous information that would add more cognitive load, “hw snp chamels f « BBP sige nork together to guide the complete presentation ‘experiance. First the audience members quickly digest the heslina then thay view the simple graphic that lustrates the headine, and then thay turn their attention tothe ‘verbal oxplanation of the speaker. The result can engaging multimedia experience that balances visual and verbal element and contributes to mesningful understanding,Tesching a 88 og Ne Tete The Old Way Does Not Guide Attention tts not eazy to se where the presenter intends to quide attention in the consertional PowerPoint slide shown in Figure 220-~the side contains so much information, it’s hard to know where to look Such a busy side assumes that viewers have the time andthe ‘working memory capacity to reaé through all the material 3¢ they might with a written document—all while they are listening to you speak. As described earlerin the discus son of the dual-channels theory, It eay for 100 mach material on this side to spit the attention ofthe audience batween screen and presenter orto impair learning by using bath on-screen text and narration to explain the same information Te category easing Shep corning ‘Thegmesc graphic oes nt itr e meer ‘Te bys the Hurtin ofewers “The arocey lt apron are atuctethe He the ett togethec reame 220 Theanine pc oe rating mem et th mo Important fomnaton. {you grew up writing essays and reports on paper oraz Microsoft Office Word docu- ents, I’ natura ansition to think of» PowerPoint side asa piece of paper where YoU can start writing cut your thoughts. But one of the fundamental assumptions about 2 piece of papers that it can stand alone—a presenter normally doesnot aced tobe there ‘explain it The only problem i that his exemple PowerPoint slide ts accompanied by the narration ofa lve presenter—yet the slide doesnot take that fact into account ‘Another problem with thinking ofthe side area as apiece of papers that you are much ‘more lial to iti with text instead of a graphic. Although text on a sree fs ntaly processed through the vsusl channel, iis quickly verbazed and sent through the verbal Tice: se Noma inet Gide Eye anita “erannel—thas text filed sides essentially ignore the capacity of he visual channel €© sficently process information in sync with the verbal channel Deri. ur 4) yt Grapisae nice have, tthe esenti “ruth: Research shows that peopl sr ete fem words and pictues tha from words alone saps when he pices sate what the word say, ot when irs ae added for > decorate fet one of the reasons the example slle does not guide attention is that uses a category tpeading-~tice those you sein almost all PowerPoint presentations A category head ing ke “Focus Areas" can hlp you quickly brainstorm a ist of information, but #8 you ‘Gn see here, t'does nothing to gulde you tea quck understanding of whats the most nportant information onthe slide. imply categorizing and listing information does nok tntal the eral thinking it takes to determine the point of the ists othe first place Category headings don't say anything specif and to uncover tae mystery cf what you ‘ce trying to communicate when you Use them, your audience members need to invest tia capacity of working memory they don't have to connect al the dts of the bullet points Below the headings, And these headings put an extra burden on you and your Pidience as you bath struggle to see the focus of your ideas through the sequence of Shes in your presentation, As your audience views these headings ad ther correspond ing stack of bulleted Ist, side after side, i's no wonder that tay fin the presentation tnnfocused, hard to understand, and overwhelmed with unnecessary details “the background ofthe exomple elise offerce veual uidance related tothe topic nd although the lide incudes a photograph oF a hendshake, it does not iasrate the specif point of the slide and wat likely added to spice i up. This uns counter to ‘he research that shows that the less you overload working menory with extraneous information, the more people lea. (wyTH vs. TRUTH. i ‘Myth People lear more when wow them wth pec effec and pice up my presentations | wih raae-dazae | Tra Roshowe apolar ven etaensicbraorene eo 2 | preetaton iresign 09 he ks ‘dlences might nat know about the research that inccates that you need to guide thelr attention, but they do know what they ae talking about when they frequently say can- ‘ventional presentations are “hncoherent ist" with ne dzection” area jumble" instead ‘of guiding working memory through the experience his example side creates unneces- saty work by not quickly geting tothe clear point, by not taping into the visual chan- fl, and by creating split attention and redundancy with the narration af ave presenter r Unc aceea Many organizations create a corporate PowerPoint template in an effort to ensure that ‘every presentation created in the organization hasa similar graphical style. Although ‘these templates can ensure a similar look across presentations f they ignoce the three research realities described in thi chaptor, they aso diminish the effectiveness of presentations of al the preseaters who use them, =: A Well-Trained Tool In the light ofthese thee research rates, you can soo the stark contrast between 88P and the conventional approach to PowerPoint and why BBP gets damaticaly beter ‘results. Now you can personaly connect the dots between this research and the three views of PowerPoint by adopting 3 new metaphor, the eye ofthe needle, and by us ing the BBP approach to gue you through the challonges of creating powerful and effective presentations Forge he ot is of over base ar you cansein this cape when you ignore the esearch eats you use on apposch tat s broken, nelecve and fasta inj or udanes send you cane on appre tat nes epi tote and proce experience that sudences ed engaging and meaning Tats baa Jou have now aught an ol Powerit dog te nw chs and wt these ese tr mind you ate 36 to unlock the power o BBP inyour en presentations you tn re to Chapter ‘ls CHAPTER, YoU WiLL: ear how Beyond allel Pos {BP} adcsos the ited ‘apa of your aeiences ‘ekg memory to process new Information, ‘= See how you wil use the BOP Stor ergata to create the foundation fr your presentation ‘hatyou il bud upon th ym nraion and graphs. «Prepare the BOP Story Template and reve tree ground res fort heads. Getting Started with BBP MAKING A LIVE presentiton th Microsoft® Office FowerPoire* 2007 is complex and difficult from a couple ef perspectives. From presenters point af view, you have many thing you want to say ond show during @ presentation, incudlog your purpase, your key pois, and the many thoughts eas anecdots, arguments, data, ndevderce that back up your key points. You would like your audience integrate the new infomation into eer nderstancing in long-term memory. 3 showa in Figure 34. al 1 ‘1guRe 24 The formidoble chstenge very presente faes—te itd “apuoy ef weeng memory 8ating Starts wth BBP aut as you sain Chapter 2, you ao know what is happening frm the audience's point of view a terms of mamory. Sensory memary an sea and hear 2 potentially unlimited amount of verbal and visual information, tut iy for @ fleeting second. Long-term ‘memory can hold a potently unlimited amount of information from 30 seconds to up to lifetime. Yet the capacity of werking memory to handle new information the eyo ofthe needles relatively limited forthe few seconds it pays atention to what you are showing and saying. ‘That meane that effectively communicating a message isnot az easy arreating {2 PowerPoint presentation and assuming that you cen deliver it through an ‘unobstructed pipetin tothe passive minds of your audience. Instead, you have to set PowerPoint myths aside and engage the three research realities you learned about in ‘Chapter 2~—finding the right amount of new information to engage the limited capacity ‘of working memory without avelaading it, engaging both te visual and the verbal ‘channels, and guiding the warking memory of your sudince to help them integrate ew information into their long-term mamery. Sore ofthe Beyond Bullet Paints (B8P) techniques you will use w accomplish this are new, some you aleady know, and some ate old techniques used in new ways. fyourre new to PowecPoint, you won't have to Uunleaen old habits; instead, youl ind here a better vay to use PowerPoint from the tart What Does the Road. Ahead Look Like? “This book quides you step by step as you see how BBP i applied in depth to one specific ‘example presentation, using tools and techniques that you can apply to any presenta ‘on. People give such a wide range of types of presentations that its dificult to choose a single type to demonstrate how to apply the approach The example presentation used In Chapters 4 trough 8 features a topie most people can relate to—finance—and shows how 88° handles 2 challenging topc that wouid normally use ony bullet points along With charts and graphs. The example in this book is intended tobe delivered as a 45- ‘minute presentation, s9 yOu can get a sense of what it takes to produce a presentation that long. This example topic is very different from the jury presentation in Chapter 1 yet sil produces clear communication using the same underlying approach. You can adapt the same BBP process to’ wide range of presentation topics, cartes, and purposes-— Chapter 8 gives you a tour of more examples that you can review for inspiration. sha Dot to Rou Aba Lk! ihe ‘This book and the companion CO inchde what you need to get stared with BBE. Ofcourse, youl ako need a computer with Microsoft Ofice Word 2007 ant PowerPoint 2007 installed. As you begin or continue to work with BBP, the com: panion Web sitet this baa at www beyondbulletpointssom offers additonal Fesources and a community to help you create B8P presentations smarter, este, And easier from start to finish fyou have the capably, using a Tablet PC to cre fate and give your BEP presentations wll accelerate the process of working with your storyboard and wil improve your ve presentations by giving you the ality tointeract with Ure audience ia ways that ae not possible otherwise. Many com- puter manufacturers ofer Tablet PCs—to see what's avaleble, do @ Web search for “Tablat PC roviews" ‘oul find that BBP is both simple and hard. R's éemple hecauseat many levels. it's doing the obvious fk teling a story, geting othe point, oF being more visual. And the sic ‘work you dois ofl inthe blanks of a Word document, createa PowerPoint fie rom the ‘document, and than add graphics to the sides. But at many lewis, BBP is hard 100. 88? isnot a quick fi ora patch that you can put over your current approach to PawerPoit Learning BBP wil take you through a sometimes challenging process of letting goof ‘ong standing assumptions habits, and practices. Espedaly you have been using PowerPoint for years, 2° represents a fundarnontal shift in thinking and action. You wont leam BEF in five minutes or an fous but you wl lear tover the course of a day, tho days, a week, ora month as you read ths book at your onm pace and apply the process to your onn presentations, Although there ia steep faring curve a the begin- hing, be assured thatthe procezs wall ge fartar Qver te, win Enewlnlge ad practice bf the tecaniques and tos in this Bok, youl be producing BBP presentations quickly and building an ever-growing Worary of resources that you car reuse later. you work for yourself or by yourself, you have no hice butto apply BBP on your own, ‘and youl do just fine. But youll get tha most out of BRP if you unlock the benefits it produces for teams. BOP offers arganizations process where they might not have had ‘ne before and often aligns PowerPoint withthe group's communications strategy for the fist time If possible. the mezt-zenior people should be ininvolved in the BBP process, ‘slong wth others such as marketers, graphic designers, and even some of your custom- ‘rs who would be wiling to join you. When BBP brings together these separate groups,= catty Sartaa mn 88° the efficient process of producing presentations inereaies the speed of decision making, ‘reduces reviions, and impcoves the quality nd impact of RowerPaint communications {or both presonters and audiences. BEP wil ako reveel that people on your team have ‘unexpected talents that will surprise you—perhaps computer engineers wil tun out tw be goad at graphic design, graphic designers will be goad at werdsmithing a logical _zxgument, and staisticans will be good at foctating the social process of BBP. Sewing Up Understanding with BBP ‘When you face the limited capacity ofthe working memory of your audience to process ‘new information, a core challenge snot creating the visuals and narration, tu rather determining the underlying structure that wil shape thoge elements inthe fest place, A structure focuses your ideas and helps you figure out what you want to ay and how you want to say it. That’ where an incredibly powerful structural i001 you wl use comes into play-the BBP Story Template, ‘The Heart and Brain of BBP: The Story Template ith the lessons ofthe dul chanel theory from Chapter 2 in mind flmmeking kan sopropite model for designing mutimeda peesenations Because It plans and manag. both visual and verbal infomation nutteneouy. Fnmaers know thatthe best ay to start planning a fir swith the writen word nthe frm ofa sip. A cpt much shorter an less deta than a novel becauve We asstnes thatthe vss and log wil ploy a major een ling the story. The bec erp dl stries to ther bare esenee and sip away sryting that does not contribute oa story's singular focus. Vion a uriter completes script. the document then becomes = peaweril arganizing ‘tool that literally puts everyone on the same page. Te script isthe starting pont for planning and producing visuals and lalog, and it serves as a way for averyone involved in the project tobe clear on what everyone eee i eaying and doing. you were a filmmaker and you started firing betore you had 2 scipt~simiar to working on & PowerPoint presentation without a written sructure—you mould probably waste time and resources while you changed your focus and figured out the story along the way. Although putting your thoughts in writing adds anew step to your usual PowerPoint process, dong s0 wil save you time and ettrt Iter When you begin writing your PowerPoint script nexcin Chapter 4, you won'thave to start with an empty page, because youl use the story template shown in Figure 3-2 ta guide you every step of the way Saying Ue unsesencng wt 8 RAS une 3.2 The BEP Stor Template, hich you wil compte in Wo The story template serves 5 cent orang too fo the ene prsenan a ‘Roatan sucure tour resetting you ee the bi pctureon Single pae or two bor you commit adding il nd verbal ack ome seee etn tempt as wou nan soce, nvcing lee posopy, “Srtrporay ei tees teresa ere Cope 7k dors om thn repos rd ore snips them a righ the en a proces you can taro produce Your not preston The Built-In Story Structure ‘The Greek plilosopher Aristotle recordéd the classical elements of storytaing 2.400 years aga, including the concept that a story has a begining, a middle, end an end, ‘When you adapt this timeless ida to your PowerPoint presentations, you will ground your communications in a powerful technique thet works