Presentation Advisors Blog

Winning the War Against the Corporate PowerPoint Culture

Many people who are joining the "Presentation Revolution" go back to their companies and realize how monumental of a task it really is.  What I often tell people is that it's nearly impossible to turn a company completely around.  Most corporate cultures are like a massive cargo ship heading due north to bullet-pointville.  Doing a 180 isn't a quick endeavor.  It takes time.

On a scale of 1-10, most corporations are a 1 for PowerPoint presentation design.  There are many reasons for this that I won't go into in this post.  The most important thing to remember is that you don't have to move the presentation design culture from one side of the spectrum to the other.  Since nearly all companies are the same (bad) when it comes to slide design, if you can bring your company to a 4, you are well ahead of the competition. 

Simply set small goals.  If they insist on bullet points, make sure they're aligned (but don't EVER stop trying to rid your company of bullet points forever!).  If they insist on graphs, make sure the colors emphasize the data most important to the audience.  Try to win the small battles.  Don't try to win the war in one day.  That will take years, but don't ever quit!

What Are You Looking At? I'm Over Here...

**Writer's Note:  I wrote this blog post late Sunday night after I came across this Domino's video linked via a tweet from Kelly Decker.  Kelly just wrote a guest post at Bert Decker's blog about the exact same video.  While there are similarities between our posts (and I encourage your read them both), they both add different value.  I wanted to make sure nobody suspected any idea-stealing.**

In effective presenting, eye contact is crucial.  It creates a very strong (and sometimes emotional) connection with the audience.  Connecting with the audience is one of the tips in my eBook, and I can't stress eye contact enough. 

Recently, a video leaked onto YouTube with two Domino's employees doing some gross things to the food and the preparation area.  It was so gross that I can't say I've seen the whole thing.  In response, Domino's USA President Patrick Boyle released a response video on YouTube, basically apologizing to everyone for what transpired. 

The content of the apology, although very corporate-speak, was acceptable.  However, they made one glaring (no pun intended) mistake - Mr. Boyle was looking OFF CAMERA!  Similar to those family portraits you took as a kid where everyone was looking just slightly to the right, as if something was going on next to the camera that made everyone smile, Mr. Boyle was obviously reading his script to the right of the camera.  Yikes.  It was tough to even watch.  Has anyone heard of a teleprompter? 

The problem with looking off camera is that it breaks the connection with Mr. Boyle and you, the viewer.  He's now not apologizing TO YOU.  Instead you feel like a bystander to his apology over there, to the right.  More like you were eavesdropping on him reading an apology written by their PR firm.  This is bad news for Domino's.

At one time or another we've all received an apology from someone.  Wasn't it more heartfelt when they looked into your eyes and apologized?  You felt that they meant it.  Now picture when a child is forced to apologized, and looks at the tops of his/her shoes while apologizing.  Not so effective, right?

When presenting, or just apologizing to your wife for missing three of her calls because you fell asleep watching hockey and your phone was on vibrate (yup, just happened), make sure to connect with your audience.  Look into their eyes.  Hold it for at least a few seconds, or a full sentence, before conecting with a different audience member.  If your audience is one (annoyed wife, disgusted customer, etc), look at their eyes and connect.  It will go a long way.    

Look at Me, Not at the Mirror - Adding Value on Twitter

About a month ago I became one of the millions of members of Twitter.  For those of you who don’t know, twitter is “a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length, which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers).” - Wikipedia.org.  I had noticed that some of the bloggers I followed were offering content more frequently via twitter than they were on their blog.  I realized this would be a great way for me to continue offering content that may not require a full blog post. 

Twitter is used by members for many different reasons.  Some use it simply to tout their business.  Others use it to find groups of people who share the same interests and converse about those interests.  Others use it simply to update friends about the goings on in their lives (see comic strip).  Upon joining I was able to find a community of people talking about PowerPoint and presentations.  Conversations were popping up daily (even hourly).  These members were offering content that I wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise, which has been invaluable.  I could write an entire post about my experiences thus far, so I’ll stop here and cut to the chase.

As I started to follow more people, I noticed an interesting trend.  Many members would sent me a direct message (DM in twitter speak) when notified that I was following them.  These messages often gave me a view into the reasons why they had joined twitter and what kind of value I could expect from following them.  One message, from @BizMan (not his real name) stated “Thanks for the add, Triple sales, Proven formula works! [link to his web site].”  This member obviously joined for business reasons.  Although I certainly don’t mind when people tweet as a business, I do mind when they’re not offering any value to their followers.  His grammatical errors and self-raving reviews (i.e. “Awesome service!”) were an immediate turn off.  After just a few days of following I realized that he had no intention of truly offering valuable content.  He simply wanted to be self-congratulatory and link back to his site.  I couldn’t hit the Unfollow button fast enough.

Another member, @phylliskhare, sent me the following message, “So glad you are following me! I'm looking forward to finding out all about you and see what we can create together.”  Man, that was a great message.  No shameless self-promotion.  Not even a mention of her business.  Just a “thank you” and the start of a valuable conversation/relationship.  She even says “you.”  Even though it’s a DM, I felt the eye-contact and understood she was talking to me (even if she sends that same message to all followers).  @BizMan’s message had no eye-contact.  I actually envision him looking into a mirror instead of his audience.

Presentations give you the same opportunity that twitter does, although you certainly can’t present as frequently.  Actually, I would say that each tweet IS a presentation.  You have a semi-captive audience, and with that audience you have power.  To quote Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility."  It’s up to you how you use it.  You could use it for good, and offer engaging and valuable content.  Or, you could use it for bad, and offer only self-serving content that adds no value and only serves to help your bottom line.  Many sales presentations fall into that same battle of good vs. evil.  You have the option to tell the story of your company (not as in “history” necessarily, but how you help customers and can ease their “pain”) or you can simply try and sell your product.  You can tell stories of how you helped clients (good) or demean your competitors (bad). 

Like Twitter, presentations are a conversation.  Rarely are conversations interesting when they’re selfish and boastful.  They can be one-way (i.e. Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech), but are drastically better when they’re two-way (Obama’s Town Hall presentation).  My goal as a twitter member (“twitterer” maybe?) is the same as my blogging goal, which is to offer my readers/followers valuable (free) content that will help them become better presenters and presentation designers. 

I know I’m not the judge and jury of how people should tweet, but I do stand by my beliefs of your responsibility as a presenter.  Talk to me.  Offer me valuable information.  Whatever you do, make sure my life is a little better because I heard you.  

An Open Letter to Conference Hosts - Stop Killing Our Presentations

Dear Conference Hosts,

Please, stop killing our presentations.  We spend weeks, months, even years designing and creating our presentations.  Our backgrounds, colors, fonts, images and layout are all chosen with a purpose.  There's a reason we don't put our logo, web site, and tagline on every single slide.  I don't mind sending you my presentation in advance, but not for you to squeeze it into your template and print it for every attendee to see.  Your demands are killing our presentations.

First, your desire/need/demand for us to fit our PowerPoint or Keynote presentation into your pre-designed template is hurting everyone.  We designed our presentation in such a way that it would be visually engaging and appealing to our audience.  Each pixel is important to us, especially when many of those pixels are part of simple white space.  Your template, which is often quite ugly, destroys the integrity and effectiveness of our slide.  It also breaks the layout and distracts the viewer from what is important.  Many of my images are supposed to take up the entire slide.  Many of my slides don't have titles, and those that do don't necessarily have them exactly where you want them.  I realize that for some strange reason you think that branding everyone's slide with the conference logo and other stuff, but it's only hurting your paying attendees.

Second, don't you realize that all of your presenters have a different story to tell (hopefully)?  Because of this, each of us deserves a chance to be original.  We want to offer them something they'll always remember, and often that is embedded within our PowerPoint designs.  By forcing all of us to design our presentations within your template, you're stripping away our individuality and our identity.  It's like dressing your sextuplets in the exact same clothes.  All the children are trying to be as original as possible, and it's tough enough that we're all on the same stage, on the same day, at the same conference.  Don't make us wear the same clothes too.  How is anyone going to be able to tell us apart?

Third, please don't print our presentations in advance.  It's okay to offer your attendees a big notebook for them to take notes, and I'd be happy to provide a take-away document covering many of the points I made in my presentation after I've finished presenting.  My slides have a story.  Would you watch a movie and demand that the script be provided to you in advance?  Why go to the movie?  Why not just read the script?  Your attendees want a story.  They don't want to know the end.  They want to wonder what's next.  Don't ruin it for them, and for me.  My jokes aren't as funny when you tell everyone the punchline. 

Finally, you owe it to your audience to heed my advice.  They are your paying customers.  They are attending because they want to learn something.  They want to come away with enough valuable information that they can justify shelling out another few hundred dollars next year.  They don't care about your logo.  They don't want everyone's templates to look the same.  They want to be surprised.  They want a chance to remember everyone's stories.  They are there to listen, engage and learn.  You put the show together.  You are NOT the actual show.  So please, stay behind the curtain.  You can talk about yourself at the beginning and end, but don't force my presentations to be your commercial. 

Please. 

Sincerely,

Your Presenters