Re-Thinking Presentations

A case can be made that most presentation decks areUnnecessaryToo longA celebration of process versus productA mechanism of management controlA waste of talent time and treasureA placebo pill for what can be cured with a conversationIt may be time to rethink presentation decksIf the meeting is central to the vocabulary of work the presentation is often the alphabetRemember the office where we would spend times in meetings We really were not in meetings but in amp8220stareathonsamp8221 where we all gathered around a table and stared at a projected image on a central screen where the slides accompanied by the drone of a series of presenters slowly crawled forward To distract ourselves from this slideware we would stare at the laptop or tablet in front of us or on the mobile phone discretely lodged somewhereThe deck we were subjected too had probably gone through many revisions because of being hoisted up and down an organization with different amp8220interested partiesamp8221 finetuning the words calibrating tone and working on nuance to create a hollow collection of buzzword bingo of style without substance points without perspective platitudes without provocation and paths without a place to get toThe presentation often became the pointThe process became the goalThe communication vehicle became the destinationWhy the need for a deckAt Amazon legend has it there are no PowerPoints at key meetingsamp160 Rather a Word document well written and reasoned is distributed and read by everybody at the meeting Then a real meeting which involves discussion and interrogation of the material takes place Everybody has the same information and reading the information is far more time effective than being paraded through a few words or charts slowly flashed in sequenceIn many cases even this wellcrafted Word document may not be needed and could lead to as much premachination and massaging as a PowerPoint deckNext time we ask for a deck or are asked to write a deck maybe we should start by asking whyOften there are real reasons and needs to pull together a deck from a business pitch to a strategic plan but often it is a lame substitute for a conversation a mechanism to delay decisions a way to extract information from a supplier or partner for free or just the way to amp8220make workamp8221 or pretend to work How much of your time is spent preparing or reviewing decksSo let us askWhat are we trying to achieve or communicateIs a deck the best way of doing so Or can we have a conversation have a meeting without a deck or send an emailIf it is how can we distill it down to key points and minimize the time spent on putting it togetherWhy most decks should be no longer than nine slidesThink of all the presentations you have sat through or produced Many were fifty sixty or hundred slides long How many slides do you remember How many stood out or made a differencePresentations are often unnecessarily long becauseWe often confuse volume with qualityMany people feel without a huge deck they cannot justify their expenses or point of viewOften firms are paid by time exerted so they are incentivized to bloat and be baroqueWe often focus on how the colon works versus showing the cool shit by spending too much time about the process the background the history the tools the sources of data versus delivering the idea insight innovation or imaginationIf we need more than nine slides to tell our story sell our point of view or close a deal we may not have anything truly convincing differentiated or interestingOver the years here is some learning gleaned from the best storytellers salespeople and communicators reduced to a simple exerciseThe best presentations are ones where you write the deck but never present or share itBegin with a lettersize sheet of paper and a pen or pencilPlace the sheet so it is in landscape modePretend you are playing tic tac toe and draw two vertical and two horizontal linesYou now are looking at a slide view of nine slides on a single piece of paperSlide 9 is the Appendix slide where you will list supporting material and will be the last slide you fill inSlide 8 is the Desired Action slide which highlights what you want to get from the meeting have the person you are presenting to act on This is the first slide that you fill in since this is what the point of the meeting you are having isThen the focus of your work is slides 4 5 and 6 which you may want to label Insights Ideas and Imagination What insights about customer consumer marketplace andor competition will you be sharing that get your audience to think differently What one two or three big ideas are you delivering that will make their customers or consumers see them differently What provocations perspectives andor points of view are you communicating that will get your audience to feel differently about their business their future or youThe goal of slides 4 5 and 6 is to make sure you get the action you are looking for on slide 8Slide 7 is the proof of why you or your firm should be believed and this is where you show or share the cool results you have driven for other peopleNow you are ready to write the opening slides 1 2 and 3 which are very key Slide 1 should be a title that will make your audience come to attention slide 2 a promise or some other benefit or outcome you will drive eg your firm will generate 20 percent improvement or x or y and then slide 3 which is the agenda slide or navigation slide which notes that you will be sharing ideas insights imagination and supporting material but are ready to jump into any section based on what your audience is interested in first or how you have read the room at the beginningFinally slide 9 is the appendix of all the supporting material that the first 8 slides are built on and can include data cases and other stuffOnce you write this out you will find that you can make the entire presentation often without the presentation and at minimum you no longer have a long ponderous deckInstead we have perspectives provocations points of view insights ideas imagination promises of delivery and a warehouse of stuff they can rummage through assuming they are interestedTry this approach It works both as a way of doing but more importantly as a way of getting points across telling stories making a sale and differentiating from othersDrawing at top by Rishad TobaccowalaClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Re-Thinking Presentations

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Rishad Tobaccowala

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