By Jon, on March 13th, 2012,   I’ve been saying for years now that while facts and figures are important an often integral to your presentation, it’s your story that will have your audience uncrossing their arms, leaning forward, listening and remembering. No matter how great your data is, if it’s delivered poorly, with text-filled slides and absent of any narrative, then your audience will tune out and your message will be lost forever.
I received a tweet this morning pointing me towards this video from brand consulting agency Landor. In just over two minutes they did an amazing job of capturing the issues plaguing businesses who try to tell their story using bland, boring, forgettable PowerPoints while showing how stories aid in attentiveness and recall. Take a look and let me know what you think in the comments.
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By Jon, on February 23rd, 2012,  You may (or may not) know that I live a double-life. While I’ve been designing effective presentations for years now, my full-time profession is within the marketing world as Director of Communications for Story Worldwide—a digital brand storytelling agency. I actually got my start designing effective presentations while in the marketing world, and it grew into this blog and a full-fledged business.
So if you’re a fan my musings, you’ve noticed that I don’t simply write about effective presentations. I discuss where presentations, marketing, storytelling and social media (all passions of mine) converge. That is why I’m excited to tell you about a one-day event Story is hosting called the Post-Advertising Summit, taking place in the heart of New York City on March 29th, 2012.
The idea of Post-Advertising is this:
Traditional advertising is dead. While saying that is Continue reading…
By Jon, on February 17th, 2012,  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You don’t need PowerPoint to create an effective presentation. It’s what I use, but it’s not your only option. In this brief TED Audition talk, Joe Sabia discusses how the art of storytelling has remained unchanged, but the way we tell stories (and the way we present) continues to evolve. However, it’s his use of the iPad acting as his visual backdrop that grabs a hold of the audience like a vice. It’s presentation style is unique, fluid, and most importantly, memorable.
All hail Lothar Meggendorfer!!
( Continue reading…
By Jon, on February 14th, 2012,  I’ve got a riddle for you. Which is heavier: a 10-pound bag of rocks, or a 10-pound bag of feathers?
The answer, of course, is neither. They weigh the same amount (I noticed this riddle works better when it’s said, not written, but oh well). This riddle came to mind when I was thinking about presentation lengths. Often I get a lot of pushback from clients when they hand over a 10-slide presentation and get back what’s now a 30-slide presentation. So I just ask them the same riddle.
What takes longer: A 10-slide presentation when you remain on each slide for one minute, or a 30-slide presentation where you change the slide every 20 seconds?
Neither. They both take 10 minutes. That’s because the number of slides doesn’t dictate the length of your presentation. Of course, it has an effect on it. It would be seizure-inducing if you tried Continue reading…
By Jon, on January 25th, 2012,  I came across a fantastic video recently entitled, Every Presentation Ever. This parody, brought to you by Growing Leaders Inc. and Habitudes for Communicators, includes nearly every blunder and annoyance that creeps its way into 99% of presentations (just my educated guess). I posted it on the Presentation Advisors Facebook page a few days ago. Watching it made me cringe, knowing that these mistakes aren’t a product of PowerPoint or the content, but because the presenter doesn’t know the very basics of effective presentation design and delivery.
However, I didn’t want viewers to get a chuckle and just move on. Instead, I want them to learn from these ever-so-common mistakes. So here are ten lessons that will help you become a better presenter (in order of their appearance in the video).
1. ARRIVE EARLY TO PREPARE The presenter is fumbling Continue reading…
By Jon, on January 1st, 2012,  In order to create an amazing PowerPoint presentation, you have to learn the process of effective presentation design. After four years of blogging, I’ve written a number of posts designed to help you create better, visually engaging and effective PowerPoint presentations. As all blogs posts do, some resonated better than others and often provided great discussion in the comments.
Instead of forcing you to sift through my site, page after page, or trying to search my site with keywords just to find the best posts, I have aggregated 20 of my best blog posts, including the 5 most viewed post written in 2011, to help you become a better PowerPoint presentation designer. Post types include specific presentation design techniques, book reviews, tips, methods, and more.
So without further adieu, here are the best PowerPoint presentation design posts from Presentation Advisors to make you a better presentation Continue reading…
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