Tom’s piece at Audio Video Producer……click here.

Make Your Point
Tips for Getting Your Way in a Meeting or Presentation

Posted by Todd Dunn, CTS at 1:53 PM .

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There is an old story, probably apocryphal, about the renowned presenter who was asked what he does to prepare himself just before going in front of an audience. His reply: “I check to see that my fly is zipped.” Good advice? Or missed opportunity?

Shock. Surprise. Humor. Suspense. There are few things that grab attention like an unzipped zipper. And isn’t attention the primary and necessary ingredient in the persuasion process? Without it a presentation is the sound of one hand clapping. Without it a presenter is the guy in the burning room on the tenth floor balcony yelling for help while 2,000 people watch a parade pass by.

Attention is a precious commodity these days. The problem is not that our attention spans have biologically eroded. (We are still thinking with the same 3-pound lumps of gray Play-Doh that we have used for millennia.) The problem is that a large, fast-changing, information-rich and media-saturated society sucks up attention like a seven-year-old downing a milkshake. Our capacity for attention is a constant. The demand for our attention is an exponentially increasing variable. The phenomenon is well-documented and regularly addressed by sociologists, psychologists, biologists, politicians, ad agencies and…what was I saying? Oh, yes. Attention.

Driven to Distraction
Despite all the attention being paid to the attention shortfall, there is no reason to expect the situation will improve. If we wish to capture attention, our only course of action is to enhance our attention solicitation skills. And I don’t mean learning to scream ever louder. Many presenters and presentation professionals pride themselves on their ability to win the attention of an audience. But how many actually take the time to study, learn, practice and improve attention-grabbing skills the way, say, a comic juggler, teenager, fashion model or deranged psychotic might?

I’ve sat in on more than my share of presentations over the years, and in that time I have seen a stunning array of attention-getters: presenters riding onstage on motorcycles, flying in from the ceiling, appearing in a puff of smoke. I have seen prestigious and respected individuals wearing funny hats, wigs and costumes of every sort. Fireworks, cannons, light shows, circus animals, marching bands, chariots, space ships, rowboats, you name it, it’s been used to yank attention. I have seen presentations that start with grabbers, such as “The world will end in exactly five minutes.” (It didn’t) I have seen presenters start by throwing money into the audience. (Real money.) One guy started his sales motivational speech by intimating that he once slept with Kathy Lee Gifford. I once saw a presenter begin by having someone shave his head. (He lost a bet.) Come to think of it, about the only thing I haven’t seen is, you guessed it, someone with their zipper open.

Obviously, the most extreme examples of attention-grabbing tend to be gimmicks or stunts that have little relevance to the meat of the presentation. A purist might argue that a truly great presentation with a powerful message is so grippingly relevant that gimmicks are superfluous.

Good Attention. Bad Attention.
Big event or small, overt or subtle, the real trick, the essence of the craft, is to become expert at not only getting attention, but getting the right kind of attention. 

Good attention is the kind that not only peels eyelids back over foreheads and superglues audiences to their seats, but also heightens receptivity and reinforces the message. Bad attention is the kind that distracts the audience in such a way that all they can remember afterward is that the CEO wore a gorilla suit.

I once interviewed a young and successful dotcom founder who at the time sported a full beard. It was just after lunch and as soon as we sat down I noticed a speck of something stuck in his facial forest just beneath his lower lip. I struggled to keep my eyes from darting down to his chin, but the speck drew my gaze the way a vole grabs the attention of a barn owl perched 100 feet up in a pine tree. Whether it was courtesy or cowardice, I resisted telling him, but I could barely keep my mind on the interview. Eventually, he turned his head to pick up something. When the light caught his face at a different angle I saw that the speck was a tiny metal stud in the piercing below his lip. I assume that, as with most body jewelry, he put it there to draw attention. But, in that context, he generated the wrong kind of attention…and never knew it.

Ten-hut!
If I still have your attention, here is a selection of resources that pay attention to attention. If you have other resources to recommend, please add them in the form of a reply. If you are a presentation developer, you might also care to share one of your most (or least) successful attention-getters.

This site from a course at Webster University and based on the 1986 book Principles and Types of Speech Communication (43 cents on Amazon) by Douglas Ehninger, lists nine fundamental attention-getting factors and a few attention-holding factors.

This academic reference taken from a 1997 book, Designing and Delivering Scientific, Technical, and Managerial Presentations by Peter Hager and H.J. Scheiber (89 bucks on Amazon) has a credible, if mundane, list of opening techniques.

If they are really a tough crowd, why not try this teacher tip on your corporate audience. 

The Web, and particularly the blogosphere, sometimes seems like one huge scream for attention. Millions of people wearing funny glasses and making armpit farts. (Okay, yes, I am posting this to a blog, but solely for purposes of professional development.) It may be that we are seeing on the Web the evolution of a new paradigm in attention-getting. This post from Flickrnation offers ten tips to get attention on Flickr. [scroll down] Give it a look. Many of the tips apply to any sort of presentation activity and may well provide clues as to how to snare the attention of the Flickr Generation.

Check out this straightforward quote by Caterina Fake, (her real name?) one of the founders of Flickr. “What is more thrilling than an entire hall of expectant eyes, what more overwhelming than applause surging up to us? What, lastly, equals the enchantment sparked off by the delighted attention we receive from those who profoundly delight ourselves? – Attention by other people is the most irresistible of drugs. To receive it outshines receiving any other kind of income. This is why glory surpasses power and why wealth is overshadowed by prominence.”

Read about ADT (attention deficit trait) in this C/Net News article by Alorie Gilbert.

Or, maybe we should all read Dr. Hallowell’s book: CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap – Strategies for Coping in a World Gone ADD.

On this blog a venture capitalist talks about the Attention Crisis.  I wonder if he’s working on an ADD IPO.

In the fields of psychology, education and advertising, attention is one of the most heavily studied human cognitive functions. For those of you who would like to learn more, but have a short attention span, Wikipedia has a brief history of the study of attention and some useful links.

Quote: “The best way to get attention is to give it.” 

Thongs get attention. (video)

And, if all else fails, there’s always the zipper.

Posted by Robert L. Lindstrom at 6:08 PM .

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Sociable Media’s Cliff Atkinson is featured in an LA Times most emailed story featuring his work on the Vioxx litigation.

Posted by Tom Bunzel at 12:00 PM .

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I’ve been a regular reader of Dave Shea’s mezzoblue.com, ever since I discovered him a year or so back through his ground-breaking ‘Zen Garden‘ work in the field of CSS .

This week he posts a well-considered article called ‘Speaking? Tips‘, about the lessons he’s learned through having to give numerous presentations on his work. The reader comments offer some added value as well.

Posted by Roy Hammans at 6:57 PM .

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Extending PowerPoint with Freepath by ZDNet‘s Dan Farber — Demo 2006: Grass Roots Software demoed a new presentation application, Freepath (the site is still not live at this writing) that lets you build a playlist by dragging and dropping elements into a composer. The software leverages PowerPoint content and also supports audio, video, PDF, Word and other data types. Freepath is available for $249 ($149 for the next [...]

Posted by Tom Bunzel at 1:34 PM .

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This “>thumbnail image provides link to an example of vidoe blog created with the demo version of the new Vlog It! tool from Serious Magic.
I originally created the video in Communicator using the V-screen and teleprompter and then dropped it into Vlog It! Amazingly Vlog It! itself has these same features — the main difference from the Communicator product is that it doesn’t output the same range of professional quality higher res video files.

As a bonus of this product, the FLV file (which normally takes Flash to create and use) along with the thumbnail images from your blog are in My Documents\Vlog It!\My Output.

Perhaps the coolest feature is the way to instantly create a blog thumbnail file and then drag and drop it into your blog’s editor. (Note: there is a slight glitch with the music coming up twice in this version but I think it serves to give you the idea). I see the Video Blog as a great presentation follow up tool to provide professionals with a way to follow up with their clients and audience.

As more and more portable devices play video, the subscription capabilities of text blogs will also be easier to incorporate into video downloads, making this a very cool rich media tool.

Posted by Tom Bunzel at 1:45 PM .

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To: All News and Wire Services
For Immediate Release:

Professor PowerPoint™ Loses Tenure
By Tom Bunzel

As an active member of the Visual Being web log, the Presentations Council of InfoComm International and the presentations community at large, I need to inform you all of a change in my circumstances necessitated by my recent correspondence with Microsoft’s law firm, Katten Muchin Rosenman.

I was contacted by a member of that firm a short while ago and informed that my use of the phrase “Professor PowerPoint™” was an improper use of its trademark and among other matters, potentially created confusion as to my relationship with Microsoft.

As many of you know, I have spent a fair amount of time and effort writing articles and books, educating users and in many ways promoting the use of PowerPoint™ in creating and enhancing presentations. However, when I explained these circumstances in some detail, I was informed that while Microsoft certainly appreciated my endeavors, my continued use of the trademarked name PowerPoint™ in my business and web site was inappropriate.

After consulting Microsoft’s web site pertaining to the proper use of its trademarks, I realized that there was no way I could continue as Professor PowerPoint™ without violating the clearly set forth canon of: “Do Not Use Microsoft Names or Trademarks as Part of Your Name”. There was very little wiggle room in that sentence.

To my relief the attorney added that Microsoft was not taking an aggressive posture in this issue. Since I had no great interest in retaining a law firm with the names of three partners on its letterhead, I appreciate that position immensely and sincerely.

So it is with some regret that this week I am publicly and irrevocably renouncing my position as Professor PowerPoint™, and now also admit that I got most of my diplomas through self study. (My B.A. in English from Tufts University is, alas, legitimate).

Obviously I had hoped to complete my career as a fully tenured Professor PowerPoint™ basking in the glory of a position in an albeit virtual and wholly nonexistent campus, but that is not to be. As of today the ProfessorPowerPoint™ web site is no more, and I have assumed a new position…

Henceforth my web site will be www.professorppt.com, and I hope that those of you who have linked to me in the past or referenced me in your own work will make the necessary adjustment.

The title of this web site has now been changed to “The Presentation Professor” (even though I shall remain, in reality, a humble untenured teaching assistant).

Let me make it perfectly clear that this entirely new web site has no relationship with either Presenters University or Presentations Magazine (even though I am an intermittent Contributing Editor at Presentations). Let me state for the record that I am also in no way connected to the “Ask the Professor” professor at Presenters University, the Video Professor on national television, nor any other real or virtual institution of higher education in the presentations industry. If in fact there are any other professors, real or virtual, teaching in the presentations community, I simply ask, can we all just get along?

It is indeed with a sad and heavy heart that I leave this entirely nonexistent campus, and set forth in search of new vistas in the presentations (and not just PowerPoint™) universe. I hope you will not forsake me for my past transgressions and continue to count me as a valued colleague as I carve out what I hope will be a new area of specialization and expertise beyond PowerPoint™ and into the virtually infinite realm of communicating more effectively using technology. (Oops, not to be confused with David Paradi’s http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com).

I will post my new office hours shortly but drop in any time. With fondest memories of a great ride, I remain sincerely,

Tom Bunzel
The Presentation Professor

Posted by Tom Bunzel at 4:10 PM .

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Many of you may already have spotted this, but I think Garr Reynolds’ post entitled Gates, Jobs & the Zen aesthetic (on Presentation Zen) is an interesting read.
I had already viewed Steve Jobs ‘Special Event’ presentation on the Apple site (longing for the days when I used to be allowed to use Macs at work – the IT department banned them a while ago now…). He certainly is a good performer and I enjoyed his approach. You can compare him with Gates, whose presentation is also available.

The previous day’s post on Presentation Zen ‘Bill Gates and visual complexity’ is also worth a view.

Posted by Roy Hammans at 7:23 AM .

1 Comment »

Those of you who missed the webinar can get a summary of many of the points I made about why video doesn’t play at my InformIT column. There is also more info on the PFCMedia tool for avoiding problems with codecs.

Posted by Tom Bunzel at 12:48 PM .

1 Comment »

Congratulations to Terry Irwin and Julie Terberg whose book ‘Perfect medical presentations: creating effective PowerPoint presentations for the healthcare professional‘ won first prize in the prestigious British Medical Association’s 2005 book competition in the ‘Basis of medicine‘ category.

Thanks to Perspector’s Steve Hards for the heads up on this one.

Posted by Lee Potts at 10:22 PM .

1 Comment »

A couple of months ago I was asked to give a presentation at our quarterly department meeting. These meetings regularly feature an ‘in-house’ speaker and I’d somehow managed to avoid being called for my turn of duty for over three years.

So what to talk about?

For years I’ve been proselytizing locally about new approaches to presentations and PowerPoint use – and I’d got about half-way through Cliff Atkinson’s book – I thought that it was about time I formally introduced the Beyond Bullet Points approach to our site.

I finally got around to preparing the talk at the beginning of this week – I find tight deadlines always focus the mind. I hastily skimmed the remaining chapters of the book, downloaded the template and started constructing my screenplay and storyboard. A presentation about presenting; I called it ‘Telling Stories’.

To cut to the chase, I gave the presentation today – 3 acts, 30 slides, 25 minutes – no bullets.

It was the only presentation given at a department meeting that has concluded with a spontaneous round of applause.

But basking in my five minutes of fame is not what this post is about. After all, most presentations – no, make that all presentations – given at internal meetings here follow the old-style format we are all too familar with. By adopting the storytelling approach and using striking visuals I produced something so different that people were impressed by my temerity if nothing else.

What I thought might be of interest was a document that I found whilst checking some links I planned on sharing with my audience. Just before the presentation I found a link to Till Voswinckel’s thesis: Presentational Visualisation: Towards an Imagery-Based Approach of Presentation Visuals (large PDF-4Mb) – on the powerpointless blog.

It seems to cover pretty well everything that I was talking about in my presentation and more. I haven’t read it all yet but thought that it might be of interest in the current debates surrounding academic research into approaches to presentation.

Posted by Roy Hammans at 2:59 PM .

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It is day five here in beautiful San Diego. The 3rd annual PPT Live! Conference has now ended. By far, this year’s conference was the best one yet. Kudos to Rick Altman, his staff, all of the speakers, and attendees.

The number one highlight of the conference for me (again) was the Late Night Guru Session with the Microsoft PowerPoint program management team. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Mary Waldera at 2:01 AM .

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Having coined the phrase “death by PowerPoint”, Dilbert hasn’t been shy regarding his feelings about business presentations. However, as evidenced in this strip from late August, it looks like he found the light and has embraced the use of dynamic, memorable images to support his message.

Posted by Lee Potts at 7:55 PM .

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I like to maintain a fifty-fifty balance between writing and consulting/training, but lately I’ve been doing the former and I need to get out more.

Fortunately last week I had a three hour session with about 30 attorneys – a group I have been targeting for some time. (I always hear that attorneys use PowerPoint a lot, but every attorney I ask says they never use it). So finally I found a live audience and there were some very interesting developments.

First I made the mistake of assuming that they actually knew PowerPoint. Many did but in a group of this size I had to go back to some basics, Layout, Task Pane, Animation, etc. Then they played Stump the Professor and had me figuring out how to animate a single data series in a chart with an Emphasis Effect. At the break one attorney set me straight.

“Look,” he said, “everything I do is about telling a judge or jury what I intend to prove, proving it, and telling them that I just proved it. I need tools for that.”

“So you use tables a lot,” I replied, insightful as ever.

“Bingo,” he said, “And I put a checkmark in there when I’ve proved it. But I need to learn how to use pictures and video to make the case.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Tom Bunzel at 1:32 PM .

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