Making-Original-Products-presentationzen

Asking the Right Questions
It is said that Buddha described the human condition as much like that
of a man who has been shot with an arrow. The situation is both painful
and urgent. But let’s imagine that instead of asking for immediate medical
assistance for his predicament, the man asks for details about the bow that
shot the arrow. He asks about the manufacturer of the arrow. He wonders
about the background of the people who made the bow and arrow, how they
arrived at the color choice, what kind of string they used, and so on. The man
asks many inconsequential questions, overlooking the immediate problem.
Our lives are a bit like this. We often do not see the reality right in front of
us because we chase ephemeral things such as larger salaries, the perfect job,
a bigger house, more status, etc., and we worry about losing what we have. The
Buddhist would say life is filled with dukkha (suffering, pain, loss, a feeling of
dissatisfaction)—we need only to open our eyes to see this. In a similar way,
the current state of business and academic presentation brings about a fair
amount of “suffering” in the form of ineffectiveness, wasted time, and general
dissatisfaction, both for the presenter and the audience.
There is much discussion today among professionals on the issue of how
to make presentations and presenters better. For them, the situation is both
“painful and urgent” in a sense. It’s important. Yet much of the discussion
focuses on software applications and techniques. What application should I
get? Should I get a Mac or a PC? What animations and transitions are best?
What is the best remote control? This is not completely inconsequential, but
it often dominates discussions on presentation effectiveness. The focus on
technique and software often distracts us from what we should be examining.
Many of us spend too much time fidgeting with and worrying about bullets and
images on slides during the preparation stage instead of thinking about how to
craft the story that is the most effective, memorable, and appropriate for our
audience.
Chapter 3 Planning Analog
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