Rediscovering typography (and converted to slideshows)
I’m rediscovering typography.
Way back in the 1970s, when I got my first job, fresh out of agricultural college, I fell into a job that would shape me, influence my choices and provide me with knowledge and skills useful even now. Who would have thought?
I had a pretty lowly job, but it was working in the agricultural industry and it was my first step to realising my dream of becoming a journalist.
Harry Pobjoy was an editor. The old-fashioned type, using a blue pencil. He didn’t write much - he was such a good editor he was in huge demand. Not only did he edit my writing, he also patiently explained what he changed and why.
Rod Patterson had been editor-in-chief at one of Melbourne’s daily newspapers. He was sick of the grind and took a job where he could indulge his passion for cattle and chooks - writing about them at least.
Eustace Rulach had also been an editor-in-chief, in Ceylon, before it became Sri Lanka. He left with nothing and came to Australia with his skills and enthusiasm.
Frank Moore was a Vietnam vet, from a farm and a graphic artist. An unusual combination. He taught me about grids and layout and design. He was creative and passionate and great fun to be around.
Owen Foulkes was an artist. He drew exquisite drawings.
So here I was: 20-something, and surrounded by this enormous talent. I soaked up their talent, learning by simply being a part of the team.
I owe a lot to Harry, Rod, Eustace, Frank and Owen.
Fast forward to the present and I’ve come full circle. I’ve become a convert to powerpoint. Well that’s not exactly true. I MUCH prefer Keynote (but you’ll already know about my Apple bias). While a few years ago I would have said slideshows (whether created with ppt or keynote) had no place in facilitation, today I think differently. My eyes have been opened by Garr Reynolds and his fabulous Presentation Zen site; I’ve found enormous talent on Slideshare; Geoff Brown’s enthusiasm for slideshows is inspiring - to the point where I’ve had to re-assess my previous ambivalence, nay dismissiveness, of slideshows.
What’s changed? Well, I’ve experimented with making some slideshows of my own (you can see examples over there on the left). And it’s fun! And it’s allowing me to use all those things I learnt about communication when I was a journalist and to indulge my passion for great design and typography.
Don’t get me wrong - I certainly don’t profess to be an expert in any of these areas. I’ve always searched out great graphic designers to do what they do best. It’s always a joy to work with people who are talented, enthusiastic and creative. Great graphic designers have these qualities in spades.
Facilitation is also about communication - providing the vehicle for people to communicate their messages and engage with others. I’ve now come to understand that great slideshows can help deliver the rational aim (purpose) and the experiential aim (the mood or experience) in an effective way. (Caveat: bad slideshows have NO place in a facilitated workshops - they distract, divert attention and make my job all the harder as I try and re-engage the participants.)
Which brings me back to typography. Great typography can also communicate much. I was inspired to write about this because of this post by Garr Reynolds. And this video, The Girl Effect, epitomises what’s possible with kinetic type. It’s an excellent use of kinetic type; an excellent way to deliver a powerful message in under three minutes; and a message I fully subscribe to.
Creativity, Facilitation, Presentations | Comment (1)
Insanely Great Slideshow Presentations
My friend Geoff Brown and I see some great slideshow presentations and lots of ordinary ones. We probably see more than most because of our work facilitating with groups. Many workshops include a slideshow presentation.
We’ve decided to offer a one-day training course on how to make Insanely Great Slideshow Presentations. It’s actually insanely easy to do, too. So check out the slideshow and contact us for more information.
Creativity, Facilitation, Presentations | Comments (2)Sharing evaluation data
Regular readers will know that I attended this year’s Applied Improv Network (AIN) conference in Chicago in October. Using SurveyMonkey we asked participants to respond to a feedback survey so as we could continue to improve on previous conferences. After all, that’s why you get feedback, isn’t it?
Today I spent the morning analysing the data. There’s some basic quantitative data, but it’s mostly qualitative - comments, reflections, likes and dislikes. I’ve put the analysis together in a slide show, which you can see here. I’d be interested in your comments as this is the first time I’ve presented evaluation results this way.
Another example of a good slide show
A lot of people I work with are in agriculture and conservation. They’re working on complex issues and when they do a presentation like to include graphs, figures and lots of information. Here’s an example of how to do it well.
General, Presentations | Comments (4)Why is the default position a crappy presentation? And why is it OK?
I sit through a LOT of presentations. Not because I want to, usually because they are a part of a workshop I’m facilitating. The people giving these presentations have good things to say, interesting things. They are often passionate about their topic. So why is it OK to give a crappy presentation?
Since I discovered the great work of Garr Reynolds and bought his book Presentation Zen, I provide some guidelines for people doing a presentation in any of my workshops. I really do want them to do a great presentation. They usually are delivering information that is relevant and necessary for the rest of the workshop.
Here’s what they say:
I ran out of time.
I thought you were joking. You really were serious when you said no bullet points and no more than six words on a slide?
I’ve given hundreds of presentations, some to really important people, and no-one has ever complained.
Ha-ha!
You do what you’re good at, and I’ll do what I’m good at. (OK, no-one has actually said this - yet - but I bet they think it.)
So here’s what happens. Let’s call the presenter Andy. Andy is an expert on his topic, no denying. He’s been working on his research and background information for months, if not years. He’s done LOTS of presentations. He’s been published in peer-reviewed journals. He’s well-regarded, and he’s likable, and he’s happy to talk about his topic.
So I send him some guidelines - then I have no idea what happens, or what he thinks.
Until the beginning of the workshop. Sheepishly, he apologises for his presentation. “I didn’t have time to do it the way you wanted. But I’ve cut out lots of slides. There’s only 25 now.”
Groan.
And so everyone sits through yet another bullet-pointed slide show dense with words that Andy uses as his cues to talk about what’s already written on the screen.
Another lost opportunity to communicate.
I can understand why it’s hard for someone like Andy to change the way he does a slideshow. He’s put a lot of time and effort into creating the slides he already has, particularly the ones with diagrams and graphs. Story doesn’t mean much to him. He’s forgotten how to tell a story. And a lot of the advice about thinking in pictures and creating a story with a beginning, middle and end are not very helpful if you’re not attuned to story. And maybe he doesn’t want to stand out from the crowd by doing something diferrently.
What I don’t understand is why it’s OK? Why waste so much time and money? Why is it OK to politely sit in a (usually) darkened room while someone drones on?
So here’s my advice to would-be presenters who want to try and communicate their message even better.
10 Steps to a Better Presentation (Forget story*, just improve the presentation at least)
Step 1: Prepare your presentation as you normally would. Use your ppt themes etc and make your slides.
Step 2: Print out your slides - four to a page - then cut them up and lay them on a table, or stick them on a wall, in order. Put a blank post-it note underneath each slide.
Step 3: Write the main message from each slide on the post-it note.
Step 4: Think of an image that would support the main message for each slide. If you can’t think of an image, go to google images and search for images around some key words. If you find something, great! If not, don’t worry.
Step 5: Look at the flow and move things around if you need to. Keep your original slide, the key message and any image ideas together
Step 6: Re-do your presentation. Make sure you select ‘Slide layout - BLANK’. Put your key message in the bottom right-hand corner of each slide (about 48 point text). Put an image on the slide, if you have one. Most importantly - use your original slide (the one with bullet points and a lot more information) in the ‘notes’ section.
Step 7: Put all the information from your original slides into a word-document handout to give to people *after* your presentation.
Step 8: Get ideas from good presentation on the web, especially at Slideshare. Here’s one, winner of the 2008 competition.
Step 9: Buy Presentation Zen and create a better slide show every time.
Step 10: There is no Step 10 - just do it!!! Please.
*I’ll talk about using story in my next post
Creativity, Facilitation, General, Presentations, Story | Comments (5)
