By now, the last episode of the cult show Game of Thrones has aired. I haven’t seen it, and I didn’t want to see it before writing this article. Whether it accurately follows the storyline of the books or not is a moot point, because said book hasn’t been written yet. And it shows. I won’t spoil anything, don’t worry. But everyone noticed that the screenwriting of the seasons that could rely on George R. R. Martin’s material was much better than the seasons that had to rely on external writers. And I will use that as an example of how important a great storyline is for a great presentation.
Most conferences are fairly boring. Even well-known tech conferences fail to engage their audiences all the time. But medical conferences can be among the worst. Check out this quick interview between Ideas on Stage, new partners with Doctors 2.0 & You, and Denise Silber to find out how to take medical (and other) events to the next level.
Our friend Ross Fisher, a paediatric surgeon based in the UK, has had enough of poor medical communication, and when he’s not operating, he spends time educating doctors about a better way to present. There is a clear need, and Ross is making progress.
Case study of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts’ 2018 General Managers conference in Regensdorf, Switzerland.
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The Story It was a cool September morning in Paris when my colleague and I sat down in a stylish hotel dining room to meet a Mr. Olivier Chavy, President of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts.
Before 8:00am we jumped right into business: Olivier’s vision and objectives for the spring 2018 general managers conference. “We want people to leave with the sensation ‘wow, I am really proud to work for this company’,” emphasized Chavy.
A big part of the way many companies sell is to create a presentation that shows the complex benefits of the solution they are offering.
But even great businesses — which are very good at what they do — often lack the ability to clearly share their message to their target audience using presentations.
There are many reasons why people and companies want to improve their presentations but at the heart of it what they really want is to win more deals, get more customers and sell more.
Why would people care about your product?
Why would people care about your service?
Why would people care about your project?
Why would people care about your career?
Why would people care about your investment?
Why would people care about your discovery?
Why would people care about your research?
Why would people care about your videos?
Why would people care about your book?
Why would people care about your ideas?
“You have to speak slower!”
This advice is a staple of oratory coaching. But I think it is sometimes given by coaches without thinking about the consequences, and that it can actually do more bad than good. Let me explain why.
The first reason is simply that not every speaker needs to speak slowly. Speaking slowly is done for several reasons, such as increasing the perceived gravitas (authority) or allowing the public to digest complex information more easily. But sometimes it’s simply not necessary and may actually reduce the effectiveness of the speech. If speaking fast is not detrimental to the clarity of the speech—that is, every word is easy to understand—and as long as the speed doesn’t make the amount of information unbearable for the listener, the first priority of a coach may not be to force a speaker to consciously slow down.
Gizmodo wrote this rather funny piece about Elon Musk’s latest rash of announcements, such as fully autonomous cars and a million robotaxis by 2020. Now, Gizmodo is not exactly known as a staple of great journalism, but sometimes they have a knack to hit the nail on the head. In this case, the fact that for several years Elon Musk repeatedly promised—and failed to deliver—full autonomous driving. Honestly, s eeing how hard it is to achieve full autonomy, and how many problems are left with Tesla’s current autopilot system, it is hard to believe these new promises will actually materialize.
This is a quick list of seven common problems that we see with slides created by non specialists. However they are relatively easy to spot, and you don’t have to be a graphic designer to avoid them. Read on and your next slides will look much better!
Too much content. The goal is not to cover every single inch with content. It’s not because you have some space left at the bottom of the slide that you should put something there. Leave ample white space, let your content breathe, it will give it importance. Irrelevant content. Now that you removed clutter, it’s time to ask yourself if the remaining content is really, really, really necessary and relevant to your presentation and to what you are going to say. Irrelevant content will just distract and confuse your audience. Content is too small. The basic rule is: if it’s too small to be readable, don’t put it on the slide. What’s the point of adding text in 9 points that nobody will be able to read? Even if relevant, if it cannot be read by your audience then it’s just visual noise. When designing your slides, take the size of the room and of the screen into account. If you are young don’t forget that older people often don’t see as well as you do, and need bigger text and graphics. Illogical visual flow. We have seen slides that put the key information in the bottom right corner. Or slides that had to be read bottom to top. Try to avoid those layouts if possible, in Western culture it’s preferable to put the most important elements at the top or center of the slide. Insufficient contrast. What looks legible on your high quality screen may look washed out on old projectors or brightly lit rooms. Always make sure that you have excellent contrast between background and content. Avoid busy backgrounds which reduce legibility. Don’t forget that white text, not colored text, is what offers the highest contrast on a dark background. Boring looking. You will just make your life unnecessary hard if you try to use boring, plain slides to keep your audience interested. Using beautiful pictures, original graphics, a small dose of animation and a few surprises will be much more efficient! Comic Sans. Please, don’t use that font. Even as a joke. Just don’t.
