<p>In our smaller, "flatter" world, the primary challenges faced by businesses are no longer time and distance but communication and information transfer.&nbsp; A third of the articles published in the Harvard Business Review in 2007 addressed the problems of making ourselves understood to our customers, our staff, and our superiors, indicating that while communication technologies may have advanced, our communication problems are still around.</p> <p>These problems persist even though 30 million slide presentations are given every day in the United States alone.&nbsp; Those slide presentations are the subject of much scorn and cause a great deal of misery.&nbsp; Yet despite popular opinion, presentations are capable of driving amazing results.&nbsp;</p> <p>Consider Steve Jobs' annual keynote at the MacWorld Expo.&nbsp; From 1997 to 2007, the average annual return of the S&amp;P 500 was eight percent.&nbsp; During the same period, the average return on Apple stock was six percent <i>on the day of Jobs' keynote alone</i>. Effective presentations can clearly drive business results. &nbsp;</p> <p>Good presentations can drive policy results as well.&nbsp; Former Vice President Al Gore's film <i>An Inconvenient Truth</i> is little more than a slide presentation, yet galvanized American public opinion regarding the threat of global warming, won an Oscar, and contributed to Gore's sharing the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007.</p><p>Presentations done right accomplish their goals, no matter how big those goals are.&nbsp; Yet as a nation, we are making thirty million presentations every day without accomplishing our goals - instead, we're boring each other to death.&nbsp; There can only be one conclusion: We are doing presentations wrong.</p><p>Every presentation has its own set of problems, and some common problems, like text-heavy slides, are well known.&nbsp; But most presentations could be dramatically improved if those of us who create and deliver presentations realize one truth and then make one small change.</p><p>What we must realize is that the slides projected on the screen during a talk are not a document.&nbsp; They should not be asked to serve as handouts, or as summaries of the argument for those unable to attend the meeting, because no single artifact can accomplish all of those tasks at once. &nbsp; </p> <p>Recognizing that fact, those who make presentations must create three artifacts: Slides to be projected on the screen during the talk, handouts for the audience to look at during the talk, and a summary document to send with the audience after the presentation.</p> <p><b>Slides</b>: The slides you project, taken together with the words that you speak, should identify the decision you're asking the audience to make, explain the best course of action, lay out next steps, and put the decision in a compelling context.</p> <p><b>Handouts: </b>Handouts are not just a printout of your slides - they shouldn't even include every slide you project.&nbsp; They should only include the points from your talk that need more support than can be clearly projected on the screen.&nbsp; Spreadsheets are a great example; project a summary graph, but provide the audience with your calculations in a handout.</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary Document</span>: The summary document you distribute after your presentation condenses your talk into a short memo.&nbsp; It should remind the audience of your argument and summarize your main points so that anyone who wasn't able to attend can get the gist of your talk from the document. </p> <p>This one small change will force presenters to think hard about what their talk is for, resulting in better arguments.&nbsp; It will keep audiences attentive and focused on what matters most.&nbsp; It will also mean that the impact of a good presentation will spread beyond the people in the room.&nbsp; </p><p>A video presentation of this argument is available at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.154consulting.com/Sample_Presentation" title="http://www.154consulting.com/Sample_Presentation">http://www.154consulting.com/Sample_Presentation&nbsp;</a></p> <p>Data on the performance of AAPL on the day of the MacWorld keynote comes from <a href="http://keynoteindexfund.com" title="http://keynoteindexfund.com">http://keynoteindexfund.com</a>.&nbsp; S&amp;P 500 performance is from Yahoo! Finance.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p> 2008-10-08T17:03:04Z 2008-10-12T06:11:11Z -16.7638 620 1901 true 17 18897 one-small-change-to-improve-every-presentation 6 2008-10-12T06:11:07Z 2008-10-12T06:11:07Z

There is broad agreement that most presentations are bad. This article lays out the power of presentations done right, and suggests one small change in the way presentations are made that will increase their impact.

0 2009-02-24T09:46:26Z