Tag Archives: Delivery

07a-Crafting an effective formal presentation, 07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation, clearing slides, metaphors, questions, slide-craft

Presentation Tips From One Of The Masters: Steve Jobs

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I used to love watching Steve Jobs unveil the new Apple products every year. I usually volunteered to cover the story at work, just so I could watch the announcement! He was always so passionate about what he did — and it certainly showed. I hope I can develop my presenting skills enough to convey the same excitement and conviction he did. I thought this article from Forbes was a great summary of his techniques he used: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/10/04/11-presentation-lessons-you-can-still-learn-from-steve-jobs/

One thing he always did so well was tell stories. He didn’t just explain why the iPod or iPhone was great; he wove a tale to make you understand why it was so great and want to buy it! You really felt like he was inspired by the product, and that you should be too.

He was also a master at keeping it simple. Jobs always managed to describe these complicated devices with simple, beautiful language that didn’t talk down to the audience. His slides were simple too: never cluttered with too many words or graphics. He let the images speak for themselves.

I also liked the way he stayed focused on his message. He never highlighted more than 3 things at a time. The human brain is only trained to process so much at once, so this enabled viewers to comprehend what he was saying in small, easily remembered parts.

If you have time, watch the video on the website of Jobs’ 2007 Apple talk. It’s worth it!

07a-Crafting an effective formal presentation, 07b-Using good information design, 07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation, charts & graphs, creativity methods, PowerPoint resources, slide-craft, story-boarding, storyline structure, tables

Alternatives to PowerPoint

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PowerPoint Alternatives: Will PowerPoint Ever be Obsolete?

Will PowerPoint ever be replaced?  It has become commonly accepted in the business world that ‘PowerPoint’ is synonymous with ‘Presentation’. However, when is the last time that you (or me, or anyone for that matter) questioned the validity of that accepted standard, or even gave fleeting consideration to using a different presentation platform or software program?

So, that leads to the question of whether or not PowerPoint will ever become obsolete, outdated, or replaced by something newer and shinier. In researching thoughts on this topic by folks smarter than myself (such as Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, in this article), I discovered a few things.

First of all, there are already many of alternatives to PowerPoint, and while they might not be household names, they can arguably match the functionality of PowerPoint, and perhaps even be more targeted towards your audience depending on the nature of the presentation. Some of the more popular alternatives to PowerPoint include Apple’s Keynote (which Steve Jobs popularized by using when rolling out new products), Google docs (free, ‘quick and dirty”), SlideRocket (great for folks in a sales environment), and perhaps most notably, Prezi (Intuitive, sophisticated, puts ‘slides in motion’, great for storytelling).

I am personally considering giving Prezi a try based on the positive reviews and feedback that I have read and would love to hear from anyone in our class who has tried the software first-hand. It does seem that one day PowerPoint might be replaced as the gold standard for delivering presentations, but that day is likely not going to come anytime soon, and we are likely better off improving our delivery method rather than changing the platform all-together.

So, what are your thoughts??

 

Articles for Reference:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/09/07/jeff-bezos-and-the-end-of-powerpoint-as-we-know-it/

http://lifehacker.com/5888189/five-best-powerpoint-alternatives

http://www.customshow.com/best-powerpoint-alternatives-presentation-programs/

http://www.powtoon.com/blog/10-best-powerpoint-alternatives/

 

 

03-Planning the work of a team, 04-Managing a project team, team dynamics, team roles, work plans

MANAGE AND PLAN LIKE A FORMULA1 TEAM

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Manage and Plan Like A Formula 1 Team

“You don’t drive races on paper” – Kimi Raikkonen.

I have been a Formula1 racing aficionado since a kid. I would watch live telecast of a race hosted in any time-zone and also attended the Grand Prix at Austin. Their planning, strategy, risk management and precision has always amazed me. For once I saw the race from the eyes of a Project Manager and not a race car aficionado. There is so much that I have learnt which helped me in handling my projects much efficiently.

If we compare, Formula1 season is like a project and each race is like a milestone. The season has a Scope, Timelines, Requirements, Resources, Budget, Strategy, WBS, Quality assurance, KPIs and so does each race. Engineers, designers, mechanics, PR all work for the driver to help him minimize risk and increase the opportunities to win the race.

A race car driver is faced with competition, risk of crash, financial loss if any damage to the car and more. With all these, it is only imperative that the team provide an early identification and assessment of risks. The point is to know and stick to a threshold. We need to go through the hardship of taking the risk to either be successful or learn the lesson and move on.

“ I accept every time I get into my car, that there is a 20% chance I could die, and I can live with that risk – but not 1% more” – Nikki Lauda

Project management shall lead to the team success. Project plan which is monitored and updated as necessary, maintaining communication with all the stakeholders, maintain all the project documentation including meetings notes, technical reports, Analytics, diagnostic reports, KPIs and develop contingency plan for all the risks. All the above apply equally the same to Formula1 or software development or construction of a building or any other project. Any slight error to capture or communicate information would have an impact on the productivity and performance. Thereby posing huge threat on the budget or deadlines.

The project manager should be wise to have the technical resources working only on the dedicated project without having any internal pressure to work on other projects. If resources have to be shared project manager should plan to have the phase prior to entering the core of project work as switching projects would interfere with engineer’s concentration. All communication should happen at the discretion of the project manager, who in turn should be capable of knowing what to speak, when and to whom.

It is also very important to know who is responsible and who is accountable for what. During the race the Pit stop-team is responsible for changing the tires, cleaning driver’s helmet, replacing the damaged body parts, etc. It is the responsibility of one ‘lollypop man’ to control the car’s departure from the pit stop. The precise timing and millimeter perfect choreography plays an important role in the race. If a nut is loose, someone at the pit-stop is held accountable. If departure timing conflicts with another race car, the lollypop man is held accountable. In any projects RACSI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Supported and Informed) plays a vital role to manage the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and team members of a project.

I could writes pages and never give a closure to this article. There is a lot to be explored and learnt and every race gives me a new insight. 

07b-Using good information design, 07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation, clearing slides, PowerPoint resources, slide-craft

What Not To Do

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What Not To Do (When Giving a Presentation):

While most of us know what we “should” be doing when it comes to giving presentations, we oftentimes forget what we should NOT be doing. I have realized over time that what we should vs. should not do are not inherently mutually exclusive. You can be doing everything that you are “supposed to” (i.e. following best practices), but simultaneously be making common errors that can limit the effectiveness of your delivery.

I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to checking the boxes for everything that a strong presentation should have, but I’ve started to realize that by diagnosing errors that I am more inclined to make, many of the recommended strategies subsequently fall in line naturally.

To frame this as a metaphor, I’m talking about targeting the disease, not making the anecdote stronger. I’ve found that this starts with getting back to the basics and building from there. So, what are some of the more common pitfalls in presentation delivery? After vetting several resources I’ve consolidated a list of quick anecdotes that I have found to be helpful to keep in mind:

  • Avoid reliance on slides. Slides are there to compliment your presentation and provide a framework, not the other way around.
  • Overload: Less is more. Too much talking and/or too much text will easily disinterest any audience, no matter how rich the content.
  • Avoid Apologies: If something goes wrong, there is a typo, you say something incorrectly, etc… JUST GO WITH IT. Odds are that no one else noticed and by drawing attention to it you are just calling out yourself (and your credibility).
  • Avoid filler words: This is public speaking 101, it sounds easy and we’ve heard it thousands of times, but it is absolutely critical. Unfilled airtime between sentences and ideas is okay. Specifically avoid “um”, “so”, “right”, and “you know” are very common and very distracting!
  • Going over your allotted time: Once you start to go long you begin to lose your audience. And once you even begin to lose your audience, it’s too late. This can cause the audience to miss your “big finish” and really tear down everything you’ve worked so hard to build.

While there are many more, these are just some of the most common problems that can hold you back from delivering the most effective presentation possible. We never get to a point where we are too advanced to worry about the basics. While one of these points are anything that you haven’t heard before, hopefully you will find some of these to be helpful reminders.

 

Helpful Resources:
http://www.inc.com/eric-v-holtzclaw/big-presentation-5-rookie-mistakes-to-avoid.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNG0etmnwuk
http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/12/avoid-these-five-mistakes-in-y/

 

07a-Crafting an effective formal presentation, 07b-Using good information design, 99-Spreadsheet modeling, charts & graphs, Excel resources, PowerPoint resources, PowerPoint tricks, slide-craft, tables

Sharing a Helpful Resource

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If your job is anything like mine, you use Microsoft Excel and/or PowerPoint on a regular (if not daily) basis. If you use either of these applications in conjunction with each other (which I know all of us have in our prior MP presentations), I have a very helpful resource to share with you.

One of the biggest challenges that I have faced is effectively incorporating data (particularly from Excel) into a concise PowerPoint presentation. Given that Excel and PowerPoint are both made by Microsoft, you would think that using these two applications in conjunction with one another would be fairly seamless and potentially even synergistic (1 + 1 = 3, right?).  However, integrating Excel and PowerPoint is not always straight forward, and conveying key takeaways rather than “data dumping” an entire financial model into your presentation can be a challenge. Additionally, I think that most of us are typically better at one than the other which doesn’t make things any easier.  I certainly have found this to be the case for myself, and while I have a strong background in using Excel, I have a lot of “room to grow” in terms of incorporating financial data from huge bulky models into a clean and concise presentation that conveys the underlying data effectively.

As I have searched for tools, resources, and articles giving guidance on this very topic, I have come across a particularly helpful website that I wanted to share with our class and hope that you will find it to be as useful as I have. This website is called ‘Think Outside the Slide’ and is as close to a “one stop shop” as I have found for guidance on just about everything relating to creating powerful presentations, with literally thousands of articles neatly organized by topic, as well as video tutorials if you’re more of a visual person. If you use Excel or PowerPoint at all, there is likely a specific article with tips and guidance on how to more effectively use the applications in a context relevant to you.

These are just a few that I have begun to frequently reference to give you a snapshot:

  • Using Excel Data in Powerpoint Presentations
  • Slide Design, Creation, and Editing
  • Linking Excel Data (and other content) to PowerPoint so that data in slides automatically updates
  • Tips on effectively cleaning up and animating graphs
  • Creating powerful visuals using Excel Data (waterfall graphs, diverging stacked bar charts, treemap diagrams, proportional shape comparisons, etc…)

For many business professionals, myself included, Excel and PowerPoint are critical tools, and learning to use data effectively in PowerPoint presentations can take time but is versatile skill with application to countless professions that can help to distinguish yourself from your peers/co-workers, and add value to your clients. I hope you find this to be a helpful resource, please feel free to share any other resources that you frequently use and have found helpful in your career. Thanks!

Helpful links referenced in this post:

http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/free-resources/

http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/using-excel-data-in-a-powerpoint-presentation/

http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/articles/

07c-Telling stories, metaphors, storyline structure

90’s Reference, Caveman Stories, and Pigs in a Blanket

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Storytelling seems to be the stuff that mermaid tears and unicorn dreams are made of but there is an innate link between storytelling and the human condition as it relates to the work place and beyond. As I read this article, I couldn’t help but think of Tim, the Tool Man Taylor, and the deep conversations that he would have with his half-faced neighbor, Wilson. Tim, who could be quite dense in his relationships at home and at work, would talk to Wilson about his troubles. The neighbor would always recount a story in order to get Tim to realize the error in his ways. How did Wilson convey information successfully and incite Tim to action? Read more to find out why the mind has evolved in such a way that stories make much more sense to us as humans than mere facts and data.

This article discusses the evolutionary adaptations of the human mind through the lens of storytelling and how these specializations help us today in the workplace and beyond. The brain and the way we think – the mind – is considered an organ that is subject to evolution just as other organs. The evolution and natural selection of better acclimated minds that understand and construct stories allowed us to survive better than our predecessors.

Since, it is supposed that, we began communicating by using glances, gestures, and basic sounds, this became the groundwork for emphatic storytelling. As we incorporated language with the gestures, the information exchanged became much more intelligible and memorable than mere facts. As a simple example: imagine a leader of a tribe calmly, without gesture or intonation, says: “at 1,500 feet north-west, there is a tribe that wants to kill us and take our land.” He conveyed the correct information but did not rouse his compatriots to action, he did not gesture where the enemies were, and he gave no context as to what type of people they were about to battle and why anyone should care. All of this is conveyed through gesture, intonation, and emotion – all aspects of storytelling.

Think pigs in a blanket: Pigs in a Blanket without an attractive vessel of flaky buttery goodness, lukewarm mini hotdogs dislodged from a vacuum-sealed plastic bag aren’t very enticing but, nonetheless, an integral part of the all-American snack favorite. Similarly, important numbers, facts, and data sets mean very little to the vast majority of those we may come into contact with throughout our careers without giving them a reason to digest this information. We must find tactful ways to wrap these bits of knowledge into descriptive, savory, and meaningful anecdotes in order for people to enjoy and successfully consume the pairing.

Favorite Excerpts:
“To weave a good story, the storyteller needs to develop the capability to construct fairly complicated inner representations of goals, intentions, and emotional states of real or fictional characters”

“empathy and the ability to understand ‘other points of view’ are necessary for the working of our narrative mind”

ToM – “Theory of Mind” is that we know and acknowledge that other people have their own minds. We can also step into their shoes, empathize, react, and step successfully out of those shoes in the end. This is also used to create metarepresentations. Metarepresentations occur when we imagine five different scenarios before going into a tough meeting with someone. This is the human mind’s way of telling stories to itself in order to prepare for upcoming unpleasant situations and has served our species well for evolutionary purposes.

A successful company should be one that focuses on creating environments where there is a community of storytelling that allows for collaboration and recombination of skill sets and new ways to solve problems.

Real world examples:
Novartis restructured its building in Basel so that the work of each individual could be watched, talked about, and replicated. They called this a “knowledge campus” and guess how the information was transmitted: through authentic communication and storytelling – not through static, out of context presentations.

Pixar built their existing offices around the notion of information exchange through storytelling focused on collaborative efforts and recombination of ideas and backgrounds.

Yang, Chulguen (Charlie). “Telling Tales At Work: An Evolutionary Explanation.” Business Communication Quarterly 76.2 (2013): 132-154. Business Source Complete. Web. 14 June 2014.

Thank you in advance for humoring my metaphors.

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.emory.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=d017ff20-1bf6-4bdb-9641-493eb889fb0d%40sessionmgr111&hid=119