Knowledge Center: The Best Presentation Of The Year

I recently had the honor of judging the World's Best Presentation Contest for a very popular site called Slideshare. Judges included entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki, digital marketing expert David Armano, along with social media experts Beth Kanter and Jane Hart. Together we reviewed dozens of impressive presentations. I can assure you that one look at the winners and you won't view your own presentations the same way again.

Presentation design firm, Empowered Presentations, created the first place winner: Smoke, a Convenient Truth. The presentation itself is a call for more action to support global anti-smoking campaigns. I spoke to the designers after the contest had ended to gain more insight into how they approached the topic.

Put Your Audience First. Designer and Empowered Presentations CEO, Corey Jim, said he is passionate about the topic because his father had passed away from lung cancer. He wanted to create a story using presentation slides that would change people's lives. The best presentations put the audience first. The fastest way to put your audience to sleep is to begin with an "About Us" slide and to spend the first five minutes talking about yourself, your company or your product. Your audience members don't care about you—they care about themselves.

Sketch The Story. The most engaging presentations have a strong visual appeal and you can't create visual PowerPoint slides by opening the software. You create visually interesting images by doing what a movie director would do—storyboarding, sketching, drawing. Many experts use white boards or old fashioned pen and paper. Jim uses Post-It notes he sticks to a wall. One useful technique that Jim taught me—stick to one idea per note. Next convert that point to a visual representation of that idea. Finally, create one slide from that idea.

One Idea Per Slide. Many poorly designed presentations cram too much information on one slide, leaving the audience confused, frustrated and bored. For example, in one sequence of slides, Jim delivers the statistic that 1.7 trillion cigarettes are consumed every year in China alone. On one slide we learn that it is the equivalent of 3 million cigarettes a minute. Instead of simply showing the data, Jim combined it with an image of a watch. But the minute and second hands were made of cigarettes. Arresting visuals take thought, and storyboarding.

Take Your Time. Jim's colleague, Yancey Unequivocally, says it takes 60 to 90 hours to create a truly impactful presentation. That means you should set aside about ten hours a week a full six weeks before your presentation. This isn't as overwhelming as it sounds. In most cases, you can create a master presentation or template and re-use the slides with slight modifications for other audiences.

Your PowerPoint presentation is often the one chance you have to influence your audience to action. PowerPoint does not have to dull. Great presentations can move people and truly inspire.

Carmine Gallo is the communications coach to the world's most admired brands as well as a best-selling author of books on communication and innovation.

Knowledge Center

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Best Presentation Of The Year

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