Insight Archives

PowerPoint as Narrative Tool: Jennifer Egan’s ‘A Visit from the Goon Squad’

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Rick E

Presentations are all about sharing stories. It doesn’t matter what the content is about, or what the specific goals are. You could be pitching a business plan or leading a seminar. At the very core, they’re truly all the same. In all presentations, you share knowledge and information in a way that your audience can easily understand. In other words, you tell a story.

Since stories are in the nature of all presentations, the same should follow for your PowerPoint decks. It’s hard to think of PowerPoint as a narrative tool, especially in the corporate setting. Most of the time, we fill our slides with charts and numbers and all the important points in our presentations without much thought. But if you take the time to familiarize yourself with its functions, you’ll be surprised how PowerPoint can become a narrative tool. It can easily turn your information into a story that’s easy to follow.

As an example, let’s take a look at how a piece of fiction is told through PowerPoint slides. In Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer Prize winning book ‘A Visit from the Goon Squad,’ there’s an entire chapter that’s written using PowerPoint. You’ll be surprised to see the PowerPoint charts and graphics we’ve discussed in the past used as a literary medium.

In “Great Rock and Roll Pauses”, you can see just how flexible the most iconic presentation software is. Observe how Jennifer Egan fashions PowerPoint as a narrative tool by viewing the full presentation here.Try to get inspiration from Egan’s work for the next time you have to make use of charts and graphs in your PowerPoint presentation.

Featured Image: fly via Flickr

Persuasive Presentations: 3 Tips for Success

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Rick E

A successful presentation is measured through its impact on the audience. If you can persuade others to consider new ideas, you’re doing your job right.

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Whether you’re selling a product or pitching to investors, the main goal is always to convince others that your viewpoint is valid. As the presenter, you need to move your audience into action. Positive outcomes are a result of ideas that sparked the interest of audience members. To get the best results, practice the art of persuasive presentations.

These are the three essential things you need to remember when delivering persuasive presentations:

1. Create an immediate impression

To deliver persuasive presentations, you need to capture the attention of your audience immediately. It’s often said that you have 60 seconds to make a good first impression. Whether or not you have longer than that, the only way to ensure your audience listens is to catch their interest as soon as you start presenting.

Let the audience see how they place in the overall picture you’re painting for them. In other words, show them why your presentation is relevant to them. A story is a great way to appeal to their emotions. Show that your presentation is more than just faceless numbers and research. If you’re trying to make a sale, you can vividly describe a story that highlights the problems your product can solve.

2. Offer a promise you can keep

Persuasive presentations are all about selling ideas to an audience. Think about your own experience as a consumer. Why do you choose to buy a certain product or service? Probably because it promises to offer something you need, want, or are interested in.

Apply the same thought in your presentations. In order to persuade your audience to action, you have to make a promise that will catch their attention. As an example, think back to when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone in 2007. He said it was going to be a revolutionary product that’s unlike any other smartphone in the market. About 1.4 million units were sold within the first 3 months of its release.

However, learn to practice caution. Make promises that you know you can keep. Offer your audience evidence that you can keep your word. Provide them with data from research. You can also share some testimonials, or offer a quick demonstration. Let them see that your claims are truthful and reliable.

3. Encourage concrete action

When you reach the end of your presentation, leave your audience with a specific Call-to-Action. After having shared your ideas, it’s time to give the audience an objective they can act on.

Be brief and straight to the point. Don’t beat around the bush with phrases like “maybe you can consider” or “if it interests you”. Show confidence in your presentation and it’s likely that your audience will feel confident in your ideas as well.

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Persuading your audience shouldn’t be hard. Learning the right offers to make will draw them closer to you and your brand. Create a good first impression on your listeners by telling an engaging story everyone can relate to, but which is also relevant to your brand.

Be grand with your gestures, but make sure to promise only what you can deliver. Don’t give people false hope that will fall short of their expectation.

End with a solid CTA that will move people to action. Need a deck to go with your pitch? Contact our SlideGenius experts today for a free quote!

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Featured Image: Emilio Küffer via Flickr

The 3-Step Approach to Effective PowerPoint Slides

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Rick E

We’ve been providing you with plenty of ideas on how you can improve the design of your PowerPoint slides. There are so many ways to make unique and creative PowerPoint slides but the most important thing is to make sure your audience can easily understand the information you’re presenting.

And doing that boils down to making sure you hit these three essential things: concise content, powerful visuals, and a logical structure.

Take note of this three-step approach to ensure your PowerPoint slides effectively translates your core message:

1.) Write content that is concise and complete

Keep your text minimal in each slide. As we’ve covered before in our review of Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule, your PowerPoint deck shouldn’t serve as a teleprompter. If you add everything you want to say in your slides, you might be tempted to read from it. Even worse, your audience might just read ahead without listening to the rest of your lecture.

What you should do instead is to figure out the take-home points in each slide. Organize your points in a way that single concepts appear in only one slide at a time. Write these points in a manner that’s similar to writing a headline—in short but complete and discernible sentences.

2.) Add visuals that make a point

Visuals help make your PowerPoint slides attractive, but that’s not enough for an effective presentation. According to Penn State’s Michael Alley, when adding visual elements to your PowerPoint slides, you should also think about what purpose they can serve. Don’t just add a pretty picture because your slides look too bare.

Make sure that the images and illustrations you include serve as evidence to the important points you want to make.

3.) Create a structure with a logical flow

While your PowerPoint slides might look great individually, they won’t make much sense together without any structure. Creating a logical flow to your PowerPoint slides is important.

Before you even start working on your slides, create a rough outline and a storyboard.

Look out how your main points play side by side and re-arrange slides if you have to. You’ll find that your PowerPoint presentation will make a narrative pattern that your audience can easily follow.

Conclusion

Your slides should act as a guide, not a complete rundown of your points and details. Give yourself some space to elaborate on each objective, and to interact with your audience outside the PowerPoint. As much as you’ll want visually engaging slides, keep your text down to a minimum.

Keep your content compact and simple, elaborate enough for the audience to understand, but short enough to let you speak. Instead of walls of text, go with visually interesting graphics, like diagrams or pictures. Connect all these points together with a logical flow that ties in all your points neatly.

References

Alley, Michael. “Rethinking Presentation Slides: The Assertion-Evidence Approach.” Scientific Presentations. Accessed August 1, 2014.
“The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.” Guy Kawasaki. 2005. Accessed August 1, 2014.

Featured Image: Matt Wynn via Flickr

PowerPoint Design Ideas: Visual Storytelling

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Rick E

Visual storytelling is gaining more and more traction in social media platforms. Users these days are more inclined towards infographics, photos, and videos than purely text-based content, especially during the advent of social media and fast information.

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Brands are wise to take advantage of this trend in their marketing strategies. And you would be too, if you learn to apply visual storytelling in your PowerPoint design.

The importance of visual storytelling

Humans are highly visual creatures. We’re naturally attracted to beautiful colors and interesting patterns. In fact, our brain is able to process images 60,000 times faster than information presented in text. It’s also easier for us to retain visual information. According to Dr. John Medina, after three days, we’re able to recall 65% of information if it was presented with images or illustrations.

So if you’re presenting information that’s bulky with data, the audience will thank you if you can integrate comprehensible illustrations. Take the usual charts and graphs a step further by weaving stories through imagery.

Integrating visuals to enhance core message

There’s more to visual storytelling than sticking random pictures to your slides. Your statistics won’t make much sense if the visuals you add only serve an aesthetic purpose. Visual storytelling is about using different media that contribute to the message you’re presenting.

As an example, here’s a small part of an interactive infographic by Collaborative Fund, Hyperakt and Start Up American Partnership:

The infographic, which you can view in full here, showcases the positive effects of car sharing to the environment. It offers a lot of statistics that are perfectly illustrated to create more impact. It’s hard to imagine the difference a vague number makes but through this illustration, you can perfectly see how much carbon dioxide emissions have diminished.

Here’s another example, this time, from a Facebook post by Intel:

Visual storytelling by Intel-Facebook — Screen cap by Social Media Examiner

Intel showcases their brand identity while adding a bit of humor at the same time. For your PowerPoint design, make sure you choose pictures with interesting narratives. There’s always a rare gem in the sea of cheesy stock photos. Especially if you know where to look.

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Your text-based, bullet point-ridden PowerPoint design isn’t helping anyone. It’s not engaging your audience, and it’s not helping you get your message across. Instead, you should consider taking inspiration from visual storytelling. Showcase and illustrate your key points with visual elements, and your PowerPoint design will have more impact.

If you need help, contact us to schedule a free consultation. Our professional PowerPoint designers will be happy to take your ideas and turn them into reality.

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Featured Image: Håkan Dahlström via Flickr

Presentation Storyboarding: How to Create Solid Content

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Rick E

Walt Dinsey-inspiration for presentation storyboarding — Walt Disney refers to storyboards during a meeting. (Image from Keys to the Kingdom)

As we mentioned previously, the secret to great content is storytelling. Once you’ve identified the story behind your core message, you can move on to the next step: Presentation Storyboarding.

We’re taking a cue from one of the greatest storytellers in history. In his own article on storyboarding, presentation expert Garr Reynolds cites Walt Disney as someone who perfected the art of storyboarding to create and pitch some of our most beloved stories.

The quirky and funny adventures of Mickey Mouse all started as pieces of paper with rough drawings posted on a wall.

In filmmaking, storyboards are an essential step before movies go into production. Similarly, you can’t begin to build your presentation deck or practice your delivery if you haven’t properly organized your ideas into a comprehensive and structured narrative.

Through storyboards, you can easily visualize your presentation and draft how you want your PowerPoint slides to look. It also allows you to see your presentation as a whole, allowing you to see unnecessary details you can trim out.

Before you begin your presentation storyboard, you need to have a basic idea of where you want your presentation to go. The very first step is to create a working outline and try to identify your main points. Once you have it, you can begin with the storyboarding process.

Here’s the rest of what you need to know about presentation storyboarding:

1. Bring out your post-its

You don’t need fancy tools to create a presentation storyboard. All you need is a pen and a few sheets of paper. The idea is to draft each of your points into a piece of paper and tape them to a wall. In technical terms, each piece of paper is called a panel. If you remember your presentation design lessons, it’s important to limit yourself to one concept per slide.

While you don’t have to stick your storyboard on a wall, we still suggest you do it. It’s a great way to see how your presentation is progressing. And if you’re not happy with something, you can easily move some parts around. You’ll save a lot of time if you use post-its.

2. Don’t hold back

Create as much storyboard panels as you think you need. In this initial stage, you can easily cut out the things you’re not happy with. If you’re collaborating with someone else, presentation storyboarding is also a great way to help you work out each other’s ideas.

3. Keep your core message in mind

While you shouldn’t stop your ideas from flowing freely at this point, it’s also important to keep in mind the core message that you want to share. This is why creating an outline before you start storyboarding. It’s a guide to help you maintain focus on the story your presentation is trying to tell.

The important thing to remember during the presentation storyboarding process is to keep an open mind. Let your creativity flow naturally. Let your collaborates comment on your ideas, and bounce off from theirs. It’s all about swimming through different concepts to find the ones that tell your core message best.

If you need more information about creating custom storyboards for your big presentation, we’ll be happy to help. Contact us for a consultation and we can make solid content for your presentations.

Featured Image: Death to the Stock Photo

Presentation Preparation: What to Do Before Taking the Podium

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Rick E

How much time do you spend on presentation preparation? One week? Two days? A few hours? It’s not the length of time that actually matters, but how much preparation you do. The real secret to a great presentation is sufficient preparation. It’s the one thing all skilled presenters do. They don’t just take the podium thinking they can “wing it”.

If you feel like you’ve been giving presentations that are subpar, it’s probably because you don’t prepare enough. If you want to engage your audience and leave them with a memorable message, you need to some heavy lifting.

Here’s a list of things you need to cover in your presentation preparation:

1. Establish your goal

Before you even think of doing anything else, ask yourself what the end goal of your presentation is. What do you want to achieve through this presentation? What’s the one thing you want your audience to take from it?

Answering these questions will give you an idea which direction to take your presentation.

2. Know your audience

The members of your audience are key players in your presentation. They’re the ones you need to convince and impress. You need to be able to engage them to action. How are you going to do that if you’re totally clueless about who they are?

You need to know where your audience is coming from to know how to create a connection with them. To do that, learn as much information as you can about their backgrounds, and what that could possibly say about their knowledge on the topic you’re going to be speaking about.

Similarly, try to research as much information about the event or conference you’re participating in. Is it an industry event where you can speak in more technical terms? Or is it a seminar for aspiring leaders where you need to inspire and motivate?

3. Draft and outline your ideas

With an established goal and enough knowledge on the context of your presentation, you’ll find yourself forming more and more ideas. Draft all your ideas on a sheet of paper and start making a rough outline of your presentation. It’s best to keep this part analog, as explained by presentation expert Garr Reynolds.

It’s best to let your ideas flow on paper. Just keep on writing and stop only until you’ve ran out of things to write. Don’t edit out anything yet. When you’re done, review what you’ve written and figure out the key points you want to make. If you have to, re-arrange your points to create a clearer and more logical flow.

4. Work on your content

As we’ve pointed out time and again, strong content is crucial to your presentation. It’s not enough to present your ideas through a series of bullet points. You need to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

As you work on writing your presentation content, keep in mind the core message you want your audience to take home. Go back to the goal you’ve established and make sure that it’s clear in everything point you make. Don’t make the mistake of overwhelming your audience with too much information. As the presenter, you have to be able to discern which of the data is the most important to your overall message.

5. Design an effective PowerPoint deck

According to Dr. John Medina, vision trumps all other senses. A majority of people will find it easier to retain information if it’s presented with images. If you want to engage your audience, give them a presentation that’s highly visual. Create a PowerPoint deck that will emphasize your key points by effective use of design principles.

The general rule for PowerPoint design is to keep things simple by using minimal text coupled with high-quality illustrations or images. Another thing to remember is that you have to keep your design cohesive with the story you’re presenting. If you’re representing a business, make sure your brand is evident in the slides.

If you want to make sure that your PowerPoint design reflects the best of your story, professional PowerPoint services could be a worthy investment.

6. Plan what you’re going to wear

It might not be the most comfortable fact, but looks really do matter. Especially if you’re the one expected to face a large group of people. As the presenter, you have to look polished and professional. The audience will need to see that you’re someone they can rely on for information. Dressing sloppily will make you lose the authority you want to achieve.

Specific dress codes will depend on the event you’re presenting at, so remember to take note of that information during the initial parts of presentation preparation. The best way to gauge what’s appropriate to wear is by considering your audience. For example, you have to dress slightly better than the audience to stand out, but don’t appear too flashy to avoid being criticized.

7. Practice your presentation

Last but not least, you have to rehearse your presentation. You might feel silly doing it, but practicing will help familiarize you with every aspect of your presentation. Review your speech as much as you can and think about how you’d like to move on the stage. You should also rehearse how you plan to incorporate your PowerPoint deck into the presentation. Unexpected interruptions and distractions will less likely phase you if you’re familiar with your materials.

Conclusion

Presentation preparation is crucial to building a message that will make an impact on your audience. There’s no other way to go about it. The main goal of any presentation is to share knowledge and information. In order to do that, you can’t skip any steps.

The main goal of any presentation is to share knowledge and information. In order to do that, you can’t skip any steps.

References

“Organization & Preparation Tips.” Garr Reynolds Official Site. Accessed July 25, 2014.
“Vision.” Brain Rules. Accessed July 25, 2014.

Featured Image: kkirugi via Flickr

5 Simple Rules for Mobile-Friendly PowerPoint Designs

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Rick E

Sites like SlideShare and Brainshark enable you to share your PowerPoint decks online, helping you gain a larger audience.

Sharing your content online is an effective marketing technique and it’s something that you should definitely consider. However, your message could easily get garbled if your PowerPoint designs are not optimized for mobile viewing.

Here are some reasons on why you should optimize your layout for mobile, and how to do it:

Why Design Matters

According to a study conducted by Statista Dossier, worldwide mobile internet usage was at 73.4 percent in 2013. If their figures stand, 90 percent of people will be accessing online content through mobile devices by 2017.

Judging by these numbers, and perhaps your own fast-paced lifestyle, it’s likely that your presentation will be viewed through screens a lot smaller than you prepared it on. As a visual aid, your deck should always complement your key points.

Don’t get left behind on the trend. Leverage this to your advantage with mobile-friendly PowerPoint designs.

How to Ensure Mobile-friendly PowerPoint Designs

It doesn’t take a lot of work to make sure that your PowerPoint designs are presentable on mobile devices. All you have to do is follow these five simple rules:

1. Readability

The average screen size of mobile phones is 3.3 inches. That’s significantly less room than the screen on your laptop where you first built your PowerPoint presentation. Keep this in mind while building presentations that you intend to share online. Make sure that the font type and size that you use is extremely readable. You don’t want to have your target audience to squint just to read what you’re trying to say.

2. High-Contrast Colors

Another way to increase the readability of your PowerPoint designs for smaller screens is by using high-contrast colors. Use either a dark background with light-colored text or vice versa. Similarly, avoid using colors that are too bright unless you’re planning to use it as an accent color.

3. Minimal text

Don’t overwhelm your target audience with too much text. Don’t try to discuss too many concepts in one go. Explaining complicated concepts will require more sentences and paragraphs. If you feel like there’s something in your content that needs further explanation, simply link to other resources instead.

4. Powerful images

Visualize your key points with powerful images, but remember to limit yourself to using only 1-2 per slide. Too many images might cause your presentation to lag.

5. Simplicity

Likewise, don’t complicate your PowerPoint designs with too many graphics and animation. You can still add some animations and transitions, but keep them to a minimum. Aim for a seamless viewing experience.

Conclusion

Keep your discussion simple and straight forward. You might as well make an eBook instead of a PowerPoint presentation if you’re planning on a drawn out deck.

Make sure your content is visually appealing and readable, for a better mobile experience. Not sure how to start on your deck’s mobile-friendly layout? Contact our SlideGenius experts today for a free quote!

Reference

“Mobile Internet.” Statista. Accessed July 23, 2014.

Presentation Tips: How to End on the Right Note

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Rick E

The conclusion of your presentation is as equally important as the beginning. You need to maintain the favorable impression you created at the start until the very end. This final impression may just be the one people take home with them when they consider whether or not they’ll invest in your brand. At the same time, consistency is an admirable trait in any pitch.

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You can’t just thank your audience and be done with it. You need to make an impact and be memorable.

These are a few presentation tips to keep in mind to make sure you’re concluding on the right note:

1. Summarize and repeat your main points

Repeating your main points is the best way to ensure that your audience will remember the most important parts of your presentation. Your conclusion starts with a quick summary of your presentation with a repetition of the most important sound bites.

2. End your story

Stretch your story throughout your presentation and end it as you conclude your presentation for maximum impact. You’ll see this done all the time in TED presentations. Try to observe how TED speakers neatly tie the story together at the end of a presentation.

3. Interact with the audience

While it may not be appropriate in some settings, you can use the conclusion of your presentation to elicit audience interaction. Allow them to ask questions or share their opinions. To make it feel a bit more organic, you can orchestrate a poll that’s related to your topic at hand.

4. Pose a challenge

Lastly, it’s important to challenge to your audience through a call-to-action. Pose a challenge with a thought-provoking question that will encourage them to reflect on what you’ve shared. As demonstrated by The New York Times‘ David Pogue, if you did your job right throughout your presentation, this question will keep the backchannel discussions going long after you step down the podium.

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It’s important that your presentation’s message rings true until the very end. People are swamped by hundreds of presentations in various forms every day. Make sure yours stands out with an interesting conclusion that will get them thinking long after you’ve stepped off the podium.

Want people to invest in your brand? Keep these presentation tips in mind and you’re sure to create a significant impact on your audience.

Need a winning deck to go with your pitch? Contact our SlideGenius experts today for a free quote!

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Featured Image: Benny Lin via Flickr

Storytelling: The Secret to Great Presentation Content

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Rick E

Everyone loves a good story. Everyday books are read, movies are watched, and events of the afternoon are shared over the dinner table. Stories are an intrinsic part of our experience as people. It’s a vital part of how we communicate with one another.

Remember this fundamental truth when you’re set to give your next presentation. Your presentation content has to be more than just a barrage of information and numerical data. Make your presentation interesting and relatable. There is nothing more compelling than a good story. It’s the secret recipe you’re missing in your presentation content.

Keep these things in mind when you’re working on your presentation content:

1.) Every story has a beginning, middle, and end

Your presentation content should follow a clear and organized structure.

Just as Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, had a great fall, and was unable to be put back together by the King’s men, your presentation content should be presented in a pattern that’s familiar to everyone.

Start with an introduction, delve into the issues after that, and then end with a summary and conclusion.

2.) Introduce your topic with an anecdote or two

Let your audience see that there’s a genuine and relatable story behind what you’re presenting. Don’t just settle for being informative.

Show your audience why the information you’re presenting is important to them. Tell them a few stories that will allow them to relate your topic to their own experiences.

3.) Create context for data

Cold, hard facts can seem impersonal at times, and thus a bit alienating. In order to pull your audience into the main part of your presentation content, you have to give them some context.

When presenting any kind of data, don’t focus too much on the figures. Instead, focus on explaining what they mean and where they fall into your storyline.

4.) Try for an emotional response

Don’t be afraid to show some heart. Try your best to evoke the emotions of your audience in a positive way. Illustrate your points with heart-warming examples, or tell a few jokes as you go along your presentation.

Go for what feels natural to you, your topic, and the people in the audience.

Conclusion

Delivering a pitch, no matter how formal, doesn’t need to be boring. Using storytelling as a creative means to leverage your pitch can attract you a wider range of audiences and introduce your brand to a bigger public.

It can also serve a double purpose as something to give structure to your presentation with a solid hook, line, and sinker. Organize your content with a story to deliver in mind, and you’ll be surprised how much easier everything else will follow.

Need help crafting your presentation story? Contact our SlideGenius experts today for a free quote!

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Making the Most of Professional PowerPoint Services

Posted on July 15, 2014April 21, 2024 by Rick E

There are occasions that call for professional help. For such moments, you’ll need PowerPoint slides that can give you a competitive edge.

PowerPoint services can give you great and effective designs that will connect with your audience. It’s important that your presentation leads to affirmative action.

Channel your resources and energy in the right direction by making the most out of your investment in PowerPoint services.

What situations need the skills of a professional?

We’ve previously made a case for why you should seek professional PowerPoint services, but it’s also crucial for you to learn when. There are times when doing things on your own can be just as effective.

If you have a lot of leeway in your schedule to research and prepare, DIY is the way to go. On the other hand, if you’re presenting a message that’s crucial to your company image, it might be time to consider investing in PowerPoint services.

These can benefit you if you’re:

Giving a keynote address
Presenting at a conference or a huge industry event
Pitching to clients or investors

Outsourcing professionals doesn’t just guarantee a stellar design that makes use of engaging visuals and colors that evoke the right type of emotions you need. They can even give you advice on how you content organization to leverage your pitch.

These professionals know that your pitch needs a winning deck to back it up, not slides you’ll be relying on as your crutch. Putting your faith in them during crucial presentations can boost your speech, not detract it.

What else can benefit from PowerPoint services aside from good design?

You should also consider what you’re getting from the PowerPoint services you seek. When choosing where to go, take note of the other services offered aside from effective design. Your presentation can highly benefit from a flexible and well-rounded treatment.

If you want the full experience for your next big presentation, don’t hesitate to contact us for a free consultation.

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