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    Awful Presentations: Why We Have Them and How to Put Them Right
    Awful Presentations: Why We Have Them and How to Put Them Right
    Awful Presentations: Why We Have Them and How to Put Them Right
    Ebook245 pages29 hours

    Awful Presentations: Why We Have Them and How to Put Them Right

    By Barry Brophy

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    About this ebook

    How many awful presentations have you attended? How many have you given?

    Awful presentations are too often the norm, with swathes of text on the screen, presenters speaking over everyone’s heads, little interaction, no stories, poor images and a bored audience. Why?

    In this book, presentation specialist Barry Brophy explains why competent people give hapless presentations. And it’s not because of nerves. Most of what you thought you knew about presentations is wrong; successful presentations are not about speaking but listening. They are not about your knowledge but the audience’s needs. They are not about ditching PowerPoint but using it properly. They are not about overcoming fear when speaking but overcoming caution when preparing.

    The truth is you already have the skills to present – your conversational skills – and anyone can craft a spellbinding presentation. Conversations work whereas presentations invariably fail, and this book explains the hidden mental habits which can lead you to misuse your already-perfected speaking skills when presenting.

    You will learn to:

    > Make your presentations zing. A presentation is not facts, it’s an interpretation of facts. Your job as a presenter is to advise and guide your audience.

    > Communicate knowledge to an audience at any level. A presentation fits into a wider communication chain. Understanding this will help you to figure out what works in a presentation – stories, images, videos, examples, analogies, demonstrations, interaction – and, crucially, what should be left out.

    > Make your presentation audience-centred not presenter-centred. Don’t define your presentation based what you know but rather on what the audience needs to hear.

    > Connect with your audience. Content is the dominant factor in a presentation, not delivery. You already know how to deliver; you do it every time you open your mouth. The key is to tap into this conversational energy and fluency.

    > Embrace PowerPoint to make your presentations first class.

    About Barry Brophy. Barry Brophy has nearly two decades of experience helping people make presentations in both the private sector and as a lecturer at University College Dublin. There he has developed specialist Masters Courses that run across all disciplines and has carried out research on how oral presentations work. He is also the author of The Natural Presenter – Turning Conversations into Presentations, which was published in 2007.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBennion Kearny
    Release dateAug 21, 2017
    ISBN9781911121329
    Awful Presentations: Why We Have Them and How to Put Them Right

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      Book preview

      Awful Presentations - Barry Brophy

      Awful Presentations: Why We Have Them and How to Put Them Right

      *

      Barry Brophy

      *

      [Smashwords Edition]

      *

      *

      Published in 2017 by Dark River, an imprint of Bennion Kearny Limited.

      ISBN: 978-1-911121-32-9

      All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

      This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that it which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

      Dark River has endeavoured to provide trademark information about all the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Dark River cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

      Published by Dark River, an imprint of Bennion Kearny Limited, 6 Woodside, Churnet View Road, Oakamoor, Staffordshire, ST10 3AE

      www.BennionKearny.com

      Cover image by Hamza El Gehani

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      ABOUT BARRY BROPHY

      ABOUT THIS EBOOK | READ ME

      CHAPTER 1: Reading Off the Slides – Bullet Points and More Bullet Points

      The Problem

      The Reason

      The Solution

      1. Decluttering

      2. Planning, Prompting, Documenting

      3. What to Put on the Slides

      Pictures

      CHAPTER 2: Being a Hologram – Not Making Eye Contact

      The Problem

      The Reason

      The Solution

      Listening with Your Eyes

      Checking, Not Staring

      Better Engagement

      CHAPTER 3: Fear – Nerves Are Good, Caution Kills

      The Problem

      The Reason

      The Solution

      1. Overcoming Caution

      2. Overcoming Nerves

      Self-Obsessed Presenters

      CHAPTER 4: Running Out of Time – The Art of Zooming

      The Problem

      The Reason

      FAQ

      The Solution

      Setting an Aim

      The Red Button

      CHAPTER 5: Doing All the Talking – Interaction Is Key

      The Problem

      The Reason

      The Un-Closed Feedback Loop

      The Solution

      Level 1 – Full Strength, Active

      Level 2 – Full Strength, Passive

      Dealing with Questions

      Level 3 – Medium Strength, Pre-Planned

      Level 4 – Medium Strength, Deferred

      Level 5 – Mild Interaction

      Level 6 – Very Mild Interaction, a Hint of Interaction

      Presenter-Free Presentations

      CHAPTER 6: Being Boring – No Topic Is Boring; Boredom Is Relative

      The Problem

      The Reason

      The Solution

      Boredom is Relative

      Audience Focus

      Arguing the Point

      Justification of the Conclusion

      CHAPTER 7: Talking Over Their Heads – Experts Who Lose the Room

      The Problem

      The Reason(s)

      The Curse of Knowledge

      Reluctance to Be Inaccurate

      Loss of Creativity

      The Solution

      Speaking in the Concrete

      CHAPTER 8: Telling no stories

      The Problem

      The Reason

      The Solution

      CHAPTER 9: 2-D Presentations – Overlooking the Humble Demo

      The Problem

      The Reason

      The Solution

      Lectures and Presentations

      Abstract Demonstrations

      CHAPTER 10: Graph Death – Pain but also Power

      The Problem

      The Reason

      The Solution

      Go Slow

      Use Gestalt Associations

      Think Beyond the Obvious

      CHAPTER 11: A Distinct Lack of Urgency

      The Problem

      The Reason

      The Solution

      Other Books from Bennion Kearrny

      The Laurel and Hardy Legacy: Sitcom Stars Talk Stan and Ollie

      Write From The Start: The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Professional Non-Fiction

      What Business Can Learn From Sport Psychology: Ten Lessons for Peak Professional Performance

      You Will Thrive: The Life-Affirming Way to Work and Become What You Really Desire

      ABOUT BARRY BROPHY

      Barry Brophy has nearly two decades experience in helping people make presentations in both the private sector, and as lecturer at University College Dublin. There he has developed specialist Masters courses that run across all disciplines in the university and has carried out research on how oral presentations work and what gets remembered. He is also the author of The Natural Presenter – Turning Conversations into Presentations, which was published in 2007.

      ABOUT THIS EBOOK | READ ME

      The print version of this book is large and in colour but many eReaders are a bit smaller and only offer grayscale. As such, we have tried to anticipate readers’ issues and have tweaked the images accordingly; but, even then, there may be images that you struggle to make out fully.

      If you experience any difficulties with images, please email us and we will do our best to help rectify matters!

      info@BennionKearny.com

      CHAPTER 1: Reading Off the Slides – Bullet Points and More Bullet Points

      The Problem

      I could show you many examples but do I really need to? We have all experienced this problem, probably hundreds of times. People fill slide after slide with bullet points and then read them out, one by one. You know you’re in trouble when you catch a glimpse of the slide-sorter at the start of the presentation, and it looks like an aerial view of the American Great Plains: lots of dull-coloured rectangles, each intricately lined. Not only does it resemble ploughed prairie, it is about as interesting.

      *

      [above] The all too familiar text-laden, bullet point slide.

      *

      This is bad for the audience – who wants to read text, or have it read to them(?) – but it is worse for the presenter because he or she gets sucked into gawping at their own slides to remember what they were going to say. And it’s actually even worse than this because a bullet point-driven presentation is indicative of an encyclopaedic approach – point; sub-point; sub-sub-point – which is totally unsuitable for a short, transient, audio-visual communication. And, apart from being ineffective, it is also a missed opportunity to use more visual content that will excite curiosity and make your points easier to understand and memorable. It’s a bad idea all round.

      The Reason

      The million dollar question is why on earth do people do this? Repeatedly. If you look for a precedent in popular culture you won’t find one. The only time text is overlaid with someone talking is when subtitles are used in films and this is only done when the audience doesn’t speak the language of the film (obviously). Subtitles are typically made as unobtrusive as possible so as not to detract from the interesting pictures that the audience actually wishes to see.

      If you search the education and psychology literature, again you won’t find evidence that on-screen text aids verbal delivery. In fact, the field of Cognitive Load Theory throws up many studies that say the exact opposite: text is distracting, not enhancing, and certainly not appealing. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a cognitive psychologist to work this out. Try reading a book and having a conversation at the same time; it can’t be done.

      In my experience there are three reasons why people persist in filling slides with bullet points. None are good reasons, but because presentations are so presenter-centred – with presenters worrying far more about what they are saying than what the audience is hearing – these three factors dominate thinking during the preparation phase.

      Firstly, bullet points act as a prompt for the presenter. This is helpful to the speaker but not the audience. Why would they want to see the speaker’s guide notes? Also it leads the presenter into a damaging cycle. The more text you put on the screen, the more you need to read that text to remind you what you put there in the first place. The act of having a prompt begets the need for one, if you think about it.

      *

      [above] The more you put on the screen, the more you have to look at the screen to remember what you put there.

      *

      The most extreme example of this I have encountered was a philosophy PhD student who, at conferences, favoured reading his paper out, word for word. This is actually the norm in many of the humanities disciplines. He told me that his argument was so intricate and required such precise explanation, that he had to write it down in a very ordered way or he would lose his train of thought. The obvious counter-argument to this is that if he needed such a precisely crafted script to allow him, the expert, to follow his own argument, then what chance had the audience got of following it?

      The second reason for bullet points is that people plan their presentations in PowerPoint. Often I hear presenters say things like, ‘Well, I have ten minutes, so that’s ten slides: three on company background, one each on our five products, and two to wrap up.’ This approach can only result in a brain-dump of bullets and not a well-structured presentation.

      To be honest, I can understand why it happens. A presentation is like an exam: you prepare and worry about it for maybe weeks on end, but the second before you start to speak – just like the second before you turn over an exam paper – you still have nothing to show for your efforts. Everything may yet go wrong. No matter how many times you run through the presentation in your head, those words keep sliding around mercurially and coming out differently. The worry is that when you get up to speak, they won’t come out at all. By writing these words down on slides, you’re latching them in place. Now you can be sure that the presentation will progress in a precise order which is greatly reassuring. The only downside is, your presentation will be awful.

      The third reason for this hail of bullets is the increasing tendency for companies to use PowerPoint ‘slide decks’ – a term I abhor, by the way – as documents. ‘Email me the PowerPoint,’ is an expression you often hear and suggests that the presentation should work nearly as well without the presenter. The irony being that the ‘slide deck’ is usually the least interesting part of that presentation.

      So if you look at these three reasons for bullet points you’ll realise that they perform functions before, during, and after the presentation. Before the presentation, PowerPoint is a plan; during the presentation it is a prompt; afterwards it is a document. But although these are valuable aids to the presenter, none benefit the audience. And you could probably throw in a fourth reason why people fill their slides with text: they see other people doing it! Which, as hopefully this book will show, is the worst reason of all.

      The Solution

      The solution is simple.

      1. Get rid of the text, or nearly all of it.

      2. Figure out how to overcome the challenges – planning, prompting, documenting – that bullet points are normally used for.

      3. Find something good to put on the slides instead. We’ll come to that.

      1. Decluttering

      Getting rid of the text is not difficult and although it may be traumatic, like decluttering your kitchen, it will be a weight off your mind. Delete all the text. In fact, delete the entire file, close PowerPoint and take out a blank sheet of paper. This is where you begin the planning process.

      2. Planning, Prompting, Documenting

      Next write down an aim for your presentation in one sentence. This is where the presentation will take your audience and this will be your conclusion. Think of the presentation as the justification of this conclusion. Let’s say you have spent four months working on a project, then your conclusion might be:

      -

      Recommendation for future direction of project…

      or

      Get agreement/decision on…

      or

      Prompt audience to ask questions about…

      -

      Then you can build the content around this end point. We will look more closely at how you do this in chapter 4 on structure, but for now take it that having a clear plan makes the choice of relevant visual aids much easier. The key thing is to separate your plan from your slideshow. The slideshow should be like a salesman’s carpet-bag of samples which you dip into when you need something to help you make a point.

      Now you have a plan, what should

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