Powerpoint Free Presentations
Visuals on a screen are very powerful communication tools when presenting. Being able to show graphs can really drive home the point. If numbers are not so easy to follow or accessible, then proportion differences, trend lines, bars, pies, colours can be persuasive. Explaining complex sequences with diagrams is good too. This makes the potentially confusing more accessible. Photos are really great for presentations. “One picture is worth a thousand words” was used in an advertisement way back in 1918 in San Antonio Texas, although the base idea has been around for centuries. Images are powerful communicators. Just the image by itself or with one word, or a line of text are also spicing up the speakers communication effort.
The problem is everyone is doing it. We all have our power point deck ready to go when we present. We are not differentiating ourselves from other presenters. Often the slides on screen don’t actually add much to the presentation either. There is a herd mentality going on here. They say in banking, that it is acceptable to fail conventionally, but not by doing exotic stuff. The same in presenting. It is fine to be boring and dull, as long as you follow the railway track of what ever other presenter is doing. If that boring shtick suits you, then keep doing that. By the way, let me know how it is working out for you.
If you want to stand out amongst the average, the Lilliputians of Presenting, the nondescript and forgettable don’t always go for the slide deck. Mix it up a bit. I saw Howard Schulz of Starbucks fame, give a presentation in Tokyo. He had one slide. That was the Starbucks logo. He was able to talk with just that image in the background and he kept the interest of the crowd. He spoke about something he knows a lot about – his company. We actually know a lot about our subject matter too and we can do it with out any slides.
One downside of slides is that it seeps the audience attention away from the speaker. We are shifting our eyes away from the speaker to what is on the screen. This is often compounded as an error, by some helpful “know nothing” who switches the lights off at the same time. Now the screen has won all the attention because the speaker has disappeared into the darkness, the void, and only their voice is apparent like some pre-recorded content for the light show. The entire repertoire of the facial expressions and body language available to the speaker have been neutralised.
The screen based presentations have the advantage of being milestones and markers along which the presentation can flow. You don’t have to remember what comes next, because all you have to do is push a button. This is a quite handy. You can put something up on screen and talk to the point and this flow will progress logically and smoothly. When you are free-forming, you are up on the high wire and have no net. We have to remember though that only we know the order. If we mess it up and put one bit in the wrong place only we will know. The audience will be oblivious for the most part and we can just blatantly carry on, as if nothing happened. So the downside is not that great.
You can still keep your order by writing out your speech, as a full speech or as points. This is your navigation to keep the speech on track. The key is not to read it out to the audience. Talk to the points instead. We want our eyes fixed on the audience members throughout. That means eliminating any and all distractions. Ideally, we don’t want our eyes dropping to glance at a page and then having to look up again. It is not the end of the world if that happens, as long as you keep the glancing bit quick. Better to think in silence with your chin up and looking at your audience, than with your head down scanning a piece of paper on the rostrum.
So save yourself a lot of time worrying about the finer points of slide deck creation and instead concentrate on the key messages you want to get across. Also when delivering with no bright screen in play, the audience has nowhere to go, but to look at you. Make sure you return the compliment by looking at them throughout the talk. Eye contact, eye contact, eye contact is the rule. Giving an audience a change from the usual makes you memorable. By contrast, you seem quite at ease up there on the high wire. The audience members know they can’t do that, so the respect factor for you goes right up. Your talent and skill as a speaker stands out more powerfully and the contrast with the punters out there, chained to their slide deck, becomes more pungent.
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About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
Author of Japan Sales Mastery, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years.
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.