Many major conferences ask their speakers to send in their PowerPoints in advance. Why? They are NOT their presentation! (This just happened to me, and I did it because the client IS the client.)
Unfortunately in 95% of the cases for most speakers in business today their PowerPoints (PP's, which could also be Keynote's for MAC folks) are the centerpiece of their message. They create their content around their PP's, rather than figuring out what they want to say, and then using PP's, (and videos, and exercises, and SHARP's, etc.) to SUPPORT their presentation.
When it comes to persuasive impact in our communications, it is not through technology, but only with it. YOU are always the centerpiece of your presentation, and no graphically dazzling slide should ever replace you.
With all the advances in technology, we must continuously emphasize the critical importance of human confidence in the delivery as well as in the tools of delivery - the primary tool being yourself. With greater "high tech" we need a corresponding increase in "high touch." Otherwise, advanced technology will just make our mistakes stand out even more.
That's exactly why Steve Jobs presentations are so powerful. (He led our Top Ten Communicators of 2005 list, even before the famous iPhone announcement.) While he uses elegantly simple slides and perfectly timed and executed demos, he remains the center of the presentation. Often, he will completely clear the screen (using a black slide - that's the way to do it) to keep the audience's attention on his energy, on his enthusiasm, and on his words. Not the PowerPoint's. (Or Keynote's in this case.)
Remembering that you are the presentation, develop visuals that enhance your point of view. After all, visuals are important:
- 55% of believability comes through the visual
- A 500% average increase in retention occurs when visuals are used in a presentation
- 83% of what we know is learned by seeing and observing
For your own personal and visual impact, see yourself on video. And when you get to support, for great tips on presentation design, check out Garr Reynold's blog Presentation Zen.
Always keep in mind that you are your most important visual aid. Train yourself first so that you have a confidence that never quits in the face of new technology.
You are the presentation
PowerPoints are not your presentation, says Bert Decker in a post that gets across a point that anyone who ever needs to communicate with a group of people should bear in mind – you are the presentation and the PowerPoint deck or other media is purely …
Hi Bert,
I use to visit your website, I also run a brazilian blog focused on presentations.
I was amazed by a coincidence!!
I published an article with almost the same theme on July 16…Its title was “Sua Apresentação não é seu Powerpoint” – Your presentation is not your Powerpoint. See at https://www.outrojeito.com.br/apresentacoes/sua-apresentacao-nao-e-seu-powerpoint/
Best Regards,
Milton
“You are the Presentation” – I respectfully disagree
I am in Wisconsin this week, visiting two clients, American Family Insurance and Kimberly-Clark. But the world doesn’t stop just because I am spending a few hours driving through this beautiful state. I arrived in my hotel room this evening
Bert, I also find this to be a problem when conferences require PowerPoint from all of their presenters. Most of the speakers at conferences I attend are not professionals in the field of public speaking and have very little knowledge about how to make an effective PowerPoint.
Another pet peeve of mine is speaking in rooms where the screen is (permanently) center stage, forcing the speaker to have to stand to the side. This really gives the impression that the speaker is secondary to the PowerPoint.
Bert, could you cite your sources or references for the statistics on how we learn, viz:
” * 55% of believability comes through the visual
* A 500% average increase in retention occurs when visuals are used in a presentation
* 83% of what we know is learned by seeing and observing”
Many thanks
Milton,
Did you “use” to visit my blog, or are you “used to” visiting my blog. I hope the latter.
Sorry I don’t speak spanish, but I’d love to read your post if you have it in English.
Lisa,
Thanks for your comment. You are right that all screens should be to the side so speakers can be in the center of the room or stage, as the case may be.
But most meeting and conference rooms are set up without this concept in mind – so when you are forced to speak where the screen is in the center, if you (and everyone!) use Black Slides, you can easily use the whole room to move around in when you have nothing on the screen, and the audience is concentrated on you!
Les,
Thanks for asking for the references – gives me a chance to mention my book – pages 84 and 85 of “You’ve Got To Be Believed To Be Heard.”
Specifically:
55% is from Professor Albert Mehrabian
500% is a typo – it is 200% from a 3M study
83% from the same 3M study.
FYI if you are interested 3M did several papers on the impact of the visual when they were promoting Overhead Projectors!
Great post Bert. I think it is so true that many people lose sight of the fact their Power Point presentation isn’t supposed to be the “main attraction”.
Bert,
Been instructing and consulting with presentations for 30 years and the PP-driven phenomenon is certainly real (and drives me nuts, too!).
I starting thinking back in time, when clients only had flipcharts, hand-made transparencies, opaque projectors and the like as support.
I know I’m not the first to say this, but the issue isn’t PP or Keynote or the platform. The issue is the pre-structured format which, if followed, forces a linear, unemotional, and data-driven talk.
My solution (after arm-twisting and double checking the bank balance):
We work off of totally blank slides or a mind-map if the person needs the techno-security blanket. If not, I video tape them simply talking about what they are going to talk about. Then we go and develop the presentation–and supporting visuals–from there.
If I get one more phone call for presentation coaching only to find that it’s PP training, I’m headed for the monastery.
Keep writing…
Right on Steve. Thanks for your comments, and keep on truckin’. It’s slowly moving in the right direction.
Send Me Your Presentation
Bert Decker has a great post in which he states that our PowerPoints are not our presentation and I agree with him 100%. There is a problem … I think that we are both wrong. Right now, most everyone considers
Bert, I don’t have your book to check the citations, but I am aware of Mehrabian’s research and his own cautions about its over-generalisation. From Wikipedia with respect to the 55% “rule”:
“Misinterpretation of Mehrabian’s rule
This “7%-38%-55% Rule” has been overly interpreted in such way, that some people claim that in any communication situation, the meaning of a message was being transported mostly by non-verbal cues, not by the meaning of words. This generalization, from the initially very specific conditions in his experiments, is the basic mistake around “Mehrabian’s rule”, and on his webpage the scientist clearly states this:
(…) Total Liking = 7% Verbal Liking + 38% Vocal Liking + 55% Facial Liking: Please note that this and other equations regarding relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages were derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e., like-dislike). Unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable. Also see references 286 and 305 in Silent Messages — these are the original sources of my findings. (…) [quote from https://www.kaaj.com/psych/smorder.html)
Forgive me if I don’t take the other numbers for gospel, however the thrust of your sentiments ring true with respect to appreciating the various emphasis we can give to learning styles.
Send Me Your Presentation
Bert Decker has a great post in which he states that our PowerPoints are not our presentation and I agree with him 100%. But, there is a problem … I think that we are both wrong. Right now, most everyone
Send Me Your Presentation
Bert Decker has a great post in which he states that our PowerPoints are not our presentation and I agree with him 100%. But, there is a problem … I think that we are both wrong. Right now, most everyone