Talk It Up!

Don't ask me for a deck when you want a document

When deciding what you want from marketing, think about how the content will primarily be used. While "a slide deck" might be the first idea that comes to mind, is it really the best format for the message's intenteded goals?

A down and dirty primer on purposing marketing content:

When a deck is best

A slide deck is best when the main purpose of the content is to be presented live in order to show something that cannot easily be explained by email or a flier. The goals are to communicate a message, engage in conversation and create an atmosphere in which the subject will ask questions in order to better understand the content. To those ends, the slides contained therein should contain graphical content that show the participant how and why something works. A slide deck:

• Is best for showing, not telling
• Contains primarily graphics
• Does not contain paragraphs of text
• Does not contain primarily bullet points
• Does not make sense independent of the presenter's words and actions
• Cannot be "read"
• Engenders discussion
• Should "cover" 2/3 of the time allotted with 1/3 for questions/discussion

When a document is best

A document, such as a one-sheet, spec sheet, flier or pamphlet is best when the recipient wishes to skim and absorb the content independent of its creator. It should be self-explanatory and tell a story using well-constructed paragraphs to lead the reader to a conclusion about the information contained therein. Its goals include to communicate a message to the independent reader about a specific topic, quickly provide a high level of detail and lead to setting up a meeting. To those ends, a document should contain detail-oriented prose to dive deep into the message as well as bullet points to aid in pulling out memorable key concepts. A document:

• Is best for telling, not showing
• Contains primarily prose
• Contains well-constructed paragraphs of text that tell a story and give detail
• Contains bullet points to pull out salient features and points
• Works best when read independently
• Engenders a meeting

Before creating a slide deck to present a message, ask yourself:

• Is the primary purpose to discuss this message in a live meeting?
• Is the primary purpose to engender live discussion of this message?
• Is the primary purpose to show the message in a way that is most beneficial with live interaction?

If the answer to any of these questions is "no," then switch to prose and create a document instead.

Quelling the butterflies on the fly

Have you ever been called to speak the day before? A few things to keep in mind to quell the butterflies.

This week, I was called to fill in on a presentation originally slotted to be given by a colleague, a multi-year veteran of Accenture. Since we had developed the material outline together, when she was called away on family matters, she asked me to fill in giving the talk. Yikes!

Presenting on the fly

I don't know about you, but I'm a preparer. I take an average of 20 hours to put together a talk and run through it multiple times in order to establish timing, flow and opportunities for audience participation. I was the kid who actually wrote out a full outline, first and second draft and completed the final draft days before the project was due. Some folks can BS and improv; those were never among my strengths, for better or worse.

In my attempts to quell the panic the day before the conference (or at least give the outward appearance of quelling the panic), this mantra kept circulating in my head: it's all about the content. It's all about the content.

What is your presentation goal?

Some speakers have finesse. Some speakers can captivate an audience, no matter the subject matter. Some will always have presence. For the rest of us, it comes down to confidence in the content. And in this case, while the content may not have been arranged in the 100% perfect format that my inner editor would have wished, it was spectacularly good content: a unique point of view, good supporting documentation, and, most importantly, it left the audience questioning some basic beliefs. Even if most ulitmately decided that current metrics are acceptable, the goal was to insert a new way of thinking into current metrics and question how, what and why we measure.

I spent several years teaching at the University of Texas, a few years more developing textbooks content and still more years as a presentation consultant. And one belief I have is that the audience will at best take away one or two ideas from your talk. They are not sponges that will absorb every point of your content; they won't absorb half of it. Do you absorb that much with each talk you attend?

Just one thing

My goal was to challenge current thinking and spawn discussion on how we might accomplish a change. If you have to present on the fly, consider quelling your own butterflies with this idea: will they walk away with one idea or factoid that they didn't have before? That is an admirable goal.

What are your presentation goals when notice and content are short?

PowerPoint Karaoke at BarCamp Seattle

Have you ever wondered what PowerPoint Karaoke is? As a devout hater of PowerPoint, I did, and I couldn't miss this session at my very first BarCamp.

Here's the idea: random slides. From random decks. Random order. No content. No previews. No plan. Three minutes. Fake the talk. GO!

The key? Choose a theme (a mission statement, if you will), and go with it. Bend the slides to your will! A sample of one of the best "talks" from Dylan Wilbanks:

What a great exercise for presenters: forget preparation and just go! Want to get over your fear of public speaking? PowerPoint Karaoke would be like dealing with a fear of heights by JUMPING OUT OF THE PLANE!

Poll Everywhere: live from Women in Nuclear

I got the chance to try out a nifty new tool at the Women in Nuclear conference today, Poll Everywhere. It allows you to do a live audience poll in which the audience sends in their votes live via SMS or Twitter, kind of like American Idol. It worked beautifully the first time out, embedded neatly into my PowerPoint presentation and delivered real-time, live results as the audience members texted in their responses.

Within about three minutes, we had these results in from 27 members of audience of about 50. Interesting statistics. In the past, LinkedIn has been the winner, but it seems that Facebook has overtaken it, at least in this crowd of professional women. And it was fascinating to see the poll results coming in live. I recommend it to make presentations a bit more dynamic and interesting.

It's easy to use; just set up the poll in advance. Poll Everywhere provides downloads for PowerPoint slides for both Mac and PC and for Keynote to easily drop into your presentation, and it also provides copy to brief the audience on how to participate (and to remind them to leave their phones on vibrate so as not to interrupt the speakers that come after you).

Hat tip to Shauna Causey for turning me on to this nifty little tool!