Making-Original-Products-presentationzen

A New Era Requires New Thinking
The skills necessary to be an effective communicator today are different than
in the past. Today, literacy is not only about reading and writing—which are
necessary—but also about understanding visual communication. Today, we
need a higher degree of visual literacy and an understanding of the great power
that imagery has for conveying important messages.
People who design visuals for live presentations typically regard PowerPoint
as a kind of document-creation tool. Their principles and techniques seem to
be largely influenced by the conventional wisdom regarding the proper creation
of business documents such as letters, reports, spreadsheets, and so on.
Many businesspeople and students approach multimedia slides as if they were
nothing more than glorified overhead transparencies that contain boxes for text,
bullets, and clip art.
If you want to learn how to become a better presenter, then look beyond the
advice given in books about how to use PowerPoint and books on presentation
skills (including this one). These books have their place, but you should be
looking to other forms of proven visual storytelling as well. Documentary films,
for example, tell nonfiction stories that incorporate narration, interviews,
audio, powerful video and still images, and at times, on-screen text. These
elements can be incorporated into live oral presentations as well. Cinema
and presentations are different, but not as different as you may think. I have
learned much about the use of imagery in storytelling from watching virtually
every documentary Ken Burns ever produced. And there are useful lessons
in storytelling and visual communication found in great films such as Citizen
Kane, Casablanca, Kurosawa’s Ikiru, and even the Star Wars trilogy.
The art of comics is another place to look for knowledge and inspiration.
Comics, for example, are amazingly effective at partnering text and images to
form a powerful narrative that is engaging and memorable.
Comics and film are two major ways stories are told through imagery. The
principles and techniques for creating a presentation for a conference or a
keynote address have more in common with the principles and techniques
behind the creation of a good documentary film or a good comic book than the
creation of a conventional static business document with bullet points.
22 Presentation Zen