More from today’s Beyond Bullet Points presentation…Cliff did a live survey for the audience’s response as to what a “normal” (boring, bullet-drive) PPT presentation made them feel like. About 80% of respondants enterred one of two answers: ZZZZZZZ (puts me to sleep) or “why don’t you email me the slides and save us both some time“. Cliff said the sleep response is typically #1.Is that surprising? Not to anyone who sits through lots of presentations. Which is back to point #3 from the weekend’s presentation on why we don’t see more interaction in presentations. There just aren’t many examples of good ones. Cliff also answered an audience question (or tried to) about what to do when management wants bullets and boredom. How do you convince folks that doing something innovative and different is really worth it? I’d offer that it’s the same way programmers do something new in their application; the same way new car designs come about (have you seen the boxy Scion? Ooooh. That had to get past management somehow.) You work up an example and prove that it works. Soon, it becomes the norm. But if everyone cowers to the powers in the towers and refuses to smell the flowers (OK, I got carried away with the alliteration), then we end up with the same stuff. People buy products because there is something different (price, features, service). So why shouldn’t we strive to be a little different in our presentations (in a good way, of course)?We have fostered a presentation culture that it’s not just OK but expected for presentations to meet the norm. I offer a different tack — be different. Very different. Be memorable. Involve the audience. Give them reasons and ways to connect to your message. And start with slide #1 (or — gasp — do it without slides at all!).
Present different to get different results.
That Scion xB is roomy, though. 🙂