Doc Serls says "It's the Story, Stupid!"

The crowd shuffles to their seats, the lights dim, a brief echo of feedback, and the speaker begins. The death ray projector beams, fluffy motes drift in the shaft of light, a cascade of bullets tumble, a throat clears, another PowerPoint presentation has begun.

These moments are when humans gather together in dark sancutuaries to listen to a story in hopes of transformation. Hope is the last thing to die!

OK. We trash them, we suffer through them, but how do we begin to create a good presentation?

Thanks to Visual Being, I've learned of a whole community of people who are wrestling with the physical gear and psychological prowess involved in making presentations engaging and relevant.

Thanks to a recent post by Lee Potts, I learned of sage advice from "back in the day" before the Tech Bubble went bust. Part software history lesson, part self-help manual for the presentationally-challenged, it's from Doc Serls and it's great:

IT'S THE STORY, STUPID: DON'T LET PRESENTATION SOFTWARE KEEP YOU FROM GETTING YOUR STORY ACROSS

 

EXCERPT:

Stand and deliver

For many people, the only thing harder than writing a presentation is delivering it. There's no substitute for good coaching; but here is a primer that will help you in the meantime:

0. Use your emotions. Emotions are real. They authenticate us. And they're much more interesting than the absence of them.
1. Talk with your hands. Look at Tom Peters, who gets dozens of thousands of dollars for emoting loudly and chopping the air with hands. Or listen to Rush Limbaugh, who becomes a visual presence on the radio just by pounding the table and rattling papers.
2. Converse, don't perform. Nobody listens as a group. They listen only for themselves. Talk to each of them. Address individuals in the audience. Look them in the eye, then look at the next one. Connections are personal. You have the stage for the moment, but really you're in half a conversation. If you succeed, you'll start hearing the other half from all over the audience.
3. Use first and second person voices. This is about me and you. Not other people.
4. Command the space. The stage is yours. Move around. Don't stay behind the podium, if there is one. Step out into the open, where you can talk without any barriers between you and your audience. Get into a place where you can see the screen as well as they can.
5. Stand to the left of the screen. People read left to right. They should start with you and move to the screen.
6. Break the flow. In the middle of your talk, turn off the screen (if you can) and change the subject. Bring props and show them to the crowd. Kill all threats to monotony.
7. Rehearse at least twice. Get comfortable with everything you're talking about, not just your "script." Words are hard to remember. Meaning is easy. You get meaning across if you don't stumble over your words. And you won't stumble if you've rehearsed often and well.
8. Watch yourself. This is why a coach is so important. It's shocking to see yourself on tape, and awful to get critiqued by an amateur. But there's no better lessons than the ones you learn by watching yourself and learning form your mistakes.
9. Edit aggressively. Less is more. Create a market for your next presentation by leaving the sequel out of this one.