The Seven Strategies of Master Presenters - Lifecycle Performance ...

104 / THE SEVEN STRATEGIES OF MASTER PRESENTERS
organization of the presentation was chronological. Sandy showed
seven slides, depicting what would happen at 0.1 seconds, at 0.2 seconds,
at 0.3 seconds, all the way to 0.7 seconds. Each slide had a picture
of what was happening to the car and its driver at each one-tenth
of a second. The pictures were somewhat blurry so as not to be so
gruesome that the audience would not be able to process the cognitive
message Sandy was trying to get across. The pictures were further
muted as the text appeared and he explained what was happening
during each tenth of a second. Sandy then ended his presentation
with a call to action, that all vehicle drivers and passengers should
wear seat belts at all times.
Why was this presentation so powerful? First, it had the element
of surprise—the smashing of the cup. Then it had the perfect segue:
seven-tenths of a second to smash the cup being perfectly analogous to
the seven-tenths of a second it takes to smash a car. Lastly, the presentation
was perfectly timed and organized using one-tenth of a second
increments to explain what happened to the car and its occupants at
each tenth of a second, and it ended with a clear call to action—wear
your seat belts at all times.
As this chapter illustrates, a good presentation begins with good
content, but good content without good organization is nothing but a
jumble of competing ideas, examples, and images. Once your content
and organization are top-notch, you can move on to the finer points
of dynamic delivery—which is the topic of our next chapter.