How to create a compelling presentation.
Each and every day – managers, sales persons and specialists of any kind hold presentations where the purpose is to convey messages which hopefully will lead to some sort of change. Most of the presenters are prepared in that sense that they have their speaker aid i.e. Powerpoint or Key Note-presentation. Unfortunately, they have forgotten that the slides are there to help the audience to understand the message. In other words it’s an aid for the audience – not a an aid for the speaker. However in reality, the slides truly become an aid for the speaker since it’s more or less his/her script that’s on the slides. We don’t present better today than we did 25 years ago . Most things in the corporate world have developed over the last years – but not how we present.
There are of course some brilliant exceptions. Benjamin Zander, the speaker, teacher and the former conductor of Boston Philharmonic Orchestra really knows how to convey a message and most importantly how to let his audience understand the message, internalise it and remember. In this TED-talk he doesn’t use any visual aid (Ppt or Key Note) but we guarantee you’ll remember his main points. Just watch and listen and reflect upon: how he sets communicative frames, how he changes presuppositions, how he uses metaphors, how he uses not just our left part of the brain in his communication and how he communicates with other channels than the devastating Powerpoint. Brilliant and intriguing!