As a copywriter, I’m always fascinated at how information is presented. Regular readers of this blog know that I tend to get curmudgeonly about those indigestible PowerPoint decks I’ve been called upon to prettify. That’s why I get so excited when I run across people like Scott Schwertly and the folks at Pecha Kucha who know what creating an effective presentation is all about.
Now, there’s someone new to add to the list of master presenters. Her name is Nancy Duarte, and she’s head of Silicon Valley’s Persuasive Presentation Experts. And she’s brilliant.
In a March HBR post, Nancy talks about creating conversations rather than presentations. She points out that “…presentations can’t be the Swiss Army knife of communication” and that a conversation is sometimes a much better idea.
We’re visual, reallyBasically, you know that a conversation is the ticket when you need to inform and interact with your audience. Ms. Duarte believes that the best presentations happen when you communicate with your audience ahead of time. That is, when you send them what she refers to as a slidedoc ahead of time. A slidedoc lays out your major points concisely (!) and pairs it with visuals. Slidedocs work because they help your audience understand and retain your ideas more easily. (Research shows that our brains are primarily visual processors.)
You can also follow a presentation up with a slidedoc, so that your audience knows how to present your ideas. You can also use them as a way to introduce yourself to someone you’d like to meet with.
I think slidedocs are a brilliant idea. Perhaps I should view them as competition, but I don’t. We’re visual creatures—a movie is 40 percent words and 60 percent images, after all—and that argues for words being the best they possibly can be.
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