Presentation Zen

David Heinemeier Hansson presents at Startup School 08

David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails and partner at 37signals shares his ideas on creating a profitable startup company in a presentation titled "The (a) secret to making money online." I was tipped off to these presentations from Startup School '08 because a reader found the online presentation of the talk noteworthy. I watched the talk initially just to see how the video works, but then I got interested in David's talk. Actually, it's quite good (raw and honest, no bullet-point snoozer, etc.). Although the audio quality and camera work are not great (not the presenter's fault) I thought this is a really good talk. Smart content from a credible source and a simple straight-forward delivery. Checkout the talk in the format below (click on the arrow to go to full screen view), or go to the source here. If you'd like to just watch the video of David's talk (low-rez) see the video on the 37signals site here.

As for the online display of the presentation (slides on the left and below with video on the right) I think it's really interesting and it might work very well in some cases. Personally, I prefer to see the presenter and the visuals in the same frame with some good camera work, something like the videos you see on TED. This seems simpler, but it requires a good video footage of the presenter and the on-stage visuals and some good editing in post. I also watch a lot of video presentations on my iPod where videos of presentations like those on TED work pretty well so long as the slides used in the talk are simple and very visual. (Nonetheless, I'll have to play around with Omnisio in future.)

Checkout the other talks at Startup School 08.

Six pixels of separation: A conversation about presentations

Mitch Joel is the President of the award-winning Digital Marketing agency Twist Image. Marketing Magazine dubbed him the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing” and in 2006 he was named one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world. Mitch, from Canada, is also a great presenter and is in high demand for his informative and inspirational talks on issues such as marketing in today's world, digital marketing, personal branding, etc. Mitch has shared the stage with former US President Bill Clinton, Anthony Robbins, Dr. Phil, Sir Ken Robinson, and many more. Go to his speakers page on the Speakers' Spotlight to get more detail on Mitch and his speaking topics. Watch this sample video of Mitch on stage.

Mitch Joel has a great blog called Six Pixels of Separation (a book by the same title is in the works as well). If you have any interest at all in marketing, branding, entrepreneurism, and new media then you really should checkout Six Pixels. But it's the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast that I really want to turn you on to. This week marks episode #102 and Mitch has an amazing following across the globe. I've been listening faithfully since January when I discovered SPOS (listen to episode #102 to find out how I learned about it). I love the freshness and rawness of the delivery and I always learn something new from Mitch's informal show. Go here to subscribe on iTunes, etc. Last week I had the honor of being Mitch's guest. Our conversation about presentations and communications in general ended up taking the entire podcast. Download the podcast to your iPod, etc. and give it a listen when you have some free time. It's just a frank conversation (me on a cell phone in Japan, Mitch on a phone back in Canada). Here's the link to podcast #102 on the SPOS page.


PODCAST: Digital Marketing guru Mitch Joel from Twist Image and Six Pixels of Separation called me from Canada last week to talk about presentations and other issues related to communications and marketing. Click map above to listen. (Time: 51:07).

Links
• Twist Image
• Six Pixels of Separation
• Mitch Joel's Facebook page
• Mitch Joel's Twitter page
• For Americans (just in case)

Dr. Edward de Bono on creative thinking

If you are not aware of the psychologist and physician Dr. Edward de Bono, then you owe it to yourself to at least explore his contributions. I knew of Dr. de Bono from his book Six Thinking Hats, but recently my interest in his work was renewed when I spoke with an executive of a famous multinational firm in Hong Kong who said they'd really benefited from some of his methods. Dr. de Bono says that so-called Western thinking, using analysis, judgement, and argument, is largely concerned with "what is." This is all well and good, he says, but it's not sufficient. There is another aspect of thinking which is concerned with "what can be." This type of thinking involves creative thinking and "designing a way forward." Dr. de Bono is credited with coining the terms Lateral Thinking and Parallel Thinking (See Dr. de Bono's site for detailed definitions). Lateral thinking is about changing concepts and perception and reasoning about a problem in ways that would not ordinarily be possible with traditional forms of logic. The idea is to get away from predictable, expected ways of thinking about problems using techniques that help people approach problems in very different ways. Lateral thinking methods can lead to creative and so-called "outside the box" thinking. One of the techniques is Provocation which de Bono touches on in the short video below. (Watch YouTube video.)


Summary of some of Dr. de Bono's thoughts from video
• If our brain is a computer, then the software we're using was largely designed 2,400 years ago. We've done virtually nothing about thinking since the days of Socrates, Plato, and  Aristotle. (In his book Six Thinking Hats de Bono suggests that thinking systems based on analysis, judgement, and logical argument are excellent in the same way that the left front wheel of a car is excellent. That is, there is nothing at all wrong with it, but it is not sufficient).

• Creativity is a skill, not just a matter of individual talent (therefore it can be learned). But it's not merely a matter of inspiration, etc.

• Creativity is more than just being different. The creative idea is not just different (for the sake of being different). Creative ideas must necessarily have or add value.

• People are reluctant to be creative out of fear of making "a mistake." Problem is (at least in the English language) we don't have a good word to describe creative ideas that just don't work...except to call them "mistakes." That is, we do not have a good word for this: "Fully justified venture which for reasons beyond our control did not succeed." If you do not succeed with your creative idea this is called a "mistake." And people generally like to avoid "mistakes." (We need a better word!)

• Provocation is one of the methods of lateral thinking. Provocations runs opposite to our normal logical thinking. Provocations put you on a new path and open up new ideas (even though this may not seem obvious at first).

• Thinking outside the box. Escaping from, breaking out of the box to change concepts, change perceptions, change constraints and rules. Developing an idea that would not have been expected in our usual behavior and our usual thinking.

Six Thinking Hats
Dr. de Bono is perhaps most famous to many people for his Six Thinking Hats method, a method designed to help people break away from traditional argument or adversarial thinking. From Edward de Bono's website: "Adversarial thinking completely lacks a constructive, creative or design element. It was intended only to discover the 'truth' not to build anything." Parallel thinking methods help two or more parties, then, engage in more cooperative and coordinated forms of thinking that lead to creative solutions. Rather than explaining the Six Hats in detail here, simply watch the video below where Dr. de Bono, in his typical de Bono analog style, presents his ideas to the audience (an effective method for him). The book is useful, but you can get the basics of the method from the materials available online. You might consider using the Six Thinking Hats method in the preparation stage of your next big group presentation project.

Links
• Edward de Bono
• de Bono Consulting

The Miami Herald's Richard Pachter on the PZ book

The Miami Herald's Business Books columnist Richard Pachter wrote an article yesterday praising three new business books, including Presentation Zen. Richard writes a really nice column, so I'm most honored indeed to get a thumbs up from him. Richard talks about two other new books in the article that I have not read yet, but based on his recommendation I have ordered both or them. The first book he reviews is Powerlines: Words That Sell Brands, Grip Fans, and Sometimes Change History by Steve Cone. Actually Steve Cone's other book from 2005, Steal These Ideas!: Marketing Secrets That Will Make You a Star, looks like a good book as well if you want a good refresher on fundamentals of marketing (I ordered this one too). The second book Richard recommends is Subliminal Persuasion: Influence & Marketing Secrets They Don't Want You To Know by Dave Lakhani. It looks like this may be useful to people outside of sales an marketing as well (Lakhani's Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want looks good too). Finally, Richard says some nice things about the PZ book. Go checkout the article on The Miami Herald's website -- More than words: Books tell you how to motivate.

• Other reviews and articles by Richard Pachter.

Business manga: presenting Daniel H. Pink's latest book

Best-selling author Daniel H. Pink is one of the most interesting people I've ever met. His second book -- A Whole New Mind -- is so spot on for our times, I dedicated 5-6 pages of my book outlining how the key ideas in his book can be applied to the world of presentations. I am a huge Dan Pink fan. So I was very happy to receive Dan Pink's latest book --  The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need -- last month. I read it just an hour after I received it (during lunch; 160 pages of manga so it reads fast, and I eat slowly). When I met Dan last year in Japan, he was in Tokyo for a few months on a Japan Society Media Fellowship studying the manga industry. I didn't know he was going to write a business book in manga exactly, but we did indeed discuss many of the same issue that are in his brilliant new book. We're the same age and share a similar perspective on work, careers, education, etc. There are more than six lessons that a young person needs to know in order to be successful, of course, but the six that Dan touches on in his book are fundamental. This book is simple, memorable, and presented in a creative and evocative way. I loved it! I'm purchasing several to give as the perfect graduation present this year.

Watch the trailer of Dan Pink's latest book below (link)

A presentation about the book
I highly recommend this wonderful book. I have given one informal presentation on some of the principles in the book as part of a presentation on personal branding. Below, you can see the slides I used in that presentation (though I have added some text and some slides to make them a bit more meaningful sans narration). The illustration of myself was whimsically made by my wife (a designer and artist) several years ago on a piece of scratch paper in a Kyoto Starbucks. I scanned it and altered it a bit to give it different looks for this presentation. Yes, it's crude and very, very simple, but that's the idea. All slides either have only text or photographs from istockphoto.com. Very simple slides to create. These slides are very beta at this point, but perhaps they can be of use to you.

| View | Upload your own

• BusinessWeek article on Dan's book: Career Advice from a Comic Book

Note: If you would like to download the slides in pdf format, go directly to the slides on the Slideshare site, you'll see the download option there under the slide deck.

BusinessWeek: Rethinking the Presentation

Earlier this month, BusinessWeek ran a short article called Rethinking the Presentation by columnist and famous communications coach Carmine Gallo. In this article, Carmine features some tips from Presentation Zen as well as tips from Cliff Atkinson and Nancy Duarte. You already know that presentations with slideware today are largely ineffective. But it can be hard to convince your boss, for example, that speaking to slideuments (or docupoints) is a practice that should be tossed. Bad habits and conventional wisdom are hard to overcome. Well, this is a very short article (which means your boss may actually read it), but it comes from a very credible source: BusinessWeek. So print this out (it's one page), highlight the keypoints, and give it to your boss or other key people in your organization than can actually have an impact on the "PowerPoint culture" within your firm (or school, etc.). It's not much ammo, but it's a start (and it's free and easy).

While I'm on the topic of Carmine Gallo, checkout his website (lot's of videos, etc.) and watch his video presentation below on how we can learn a thing or two about presentation from the Grand Master of the keynote, Steve Jobs. I have been pointing to Steve Jobs's keynotes for years now, beginning with this post comparing Jobs with Bill Gates and the Zen aesthetic.

Carmine Gallo on learning from Steve Jobs


Carmine is the author of a really cool book on communication and presentations called Fire Them Up. (Here's a video about the book.)

• How to Present Like Steve Jobs (article with tips).

Simple & visual: Tales Of Mere Existence

OK, this example is mostly just entertainment, yet there are some simple life observations in this material as well that are evocative if nothing else. In terms of presentation style, however, Levni (Lev) Yilmaz -- the creator of Tales of Mere Existence -- has found a unique way of creating visuals that are supremely simple and support the narrative in a way that adds both clarity and emotion. Apparently, his technique is to film himself drawing the simple cartoons from underneath a pane of glass. This means he has to draw the letters backwards. It's an interesting effect. There are many good ones on his YouTube site. Below are a few of my favorites (the first one reminds me of my own dating experience in college -- totally been there).

 Never Visit Your Girlfriend At Work


Subtext

How to Break Up is also good (over one million views). I'm Not Going to Think About Her is good too.

My aim in pointing you to this is not so much the creative content (not everyone will find these amusing), but simply to show you some other examples of people using creative and simple visual techniques to enhance narratives. Perhaps I have been preoccupied recently with simple hand-drawn images since I have just read the excellent The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam and Dan Pink's new book in manga (more on both of these great books later -- both are highly recommended.)

Simple & Visual: Using paper and digital video to bring clarity to complexity

Following up on the very simple visual style from The Story of Stuff presentation below, I'm going to point you to some other creative, smart people in the next few posts who are using simple drawings and other elements to enhance their presentations. Today, I'd like to point you to a very cool company called Common Craft. Here's what they do in their own words:

"We use video and paper to make complex ideas easy to understand. We present subjects 'in plain English' using short, unique and understandable videos in a format we call Paperworks."

I love the way they merge visuals from the analog world to tell stories digitally. They are fantastic storytellers. I'm sure you can apply a trick or two from their creative style to one of your future presentations in slideware, etc. The video below is their latest one which explains what Twitter is. It's very timely for me as I have just begun to use Twitter myself (I know, I'm slow. But I didn't really see the need personally. Now I am beginning to get it. Here's my Twitter page. You're welcome to follow me. I'll also post more links on Twitter from time to time that don't make it into the Presentation Zen website.) Below are a couple of samples from Common Craft.

Twitter in Plain English

RSS in Plain English

• The Common Craft YouTube page (all their cool video presentations).