Meet Sam. Sam just launched a “beta” version of his new web gizmo several days ago. His shiny new web gizmo aims to solve the world’s problems, projects to earn a jillion dollars in revenue in the first year, has no foreseeable competitors due to its patented technology, and seeks to overtake Google in Alexa rankings .
But now its show-and-tell time. Sam needs to come up with face-melting presentation to shock-and-awe potential users, investors, and strategic partners. How will Sam prepare the perfect presentation to show-off his revolutionary new product?
We see this scenario all the time, and the sad part is that awesome products and web apps are all too often hidden behind horrible lackluster presentations. This is understandable. Hackers and web developers often excel at putting together great web apps, but are pretty lousy at presenting them. Perhaps it’s “the curse of knowledge” , or perhaps it’s simply not knowing how to put together an engaging presentation. Either way, I’ve compiled the top 3 presentation techniques taught by the most important thought leaders of today.
1. The Guy Kawasaki 10/20/30 Rule
Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and well-known tech blogger, created the idea of the 10/20/30 rule for powerpoint presentations. The idea is simple: a presentation should be comprised of 10 slides, lasting no longer than 20 minutes, with font no smaller than 30 points. The main takeaway here is that too many presentations have too much information written into the presentation slide deck. The audience is not there to read what’s on the screen…they are there to listen to you. The slides serve the purpose of aiding your presentation, not being the presentation.
2. Pictures Paint 1000 Words
Studies show that the average adult attention span is around 20 minutes…not very long. Images are a great tool to maximize audience attention and engage them on an emotional level. Garr Reynolds, author of Presentation Zen, illustrates this technique masterfully. He shows how effective presentation slides can be when an image dominates a slide and conveys the core message of the slide. The example on the right shows this technique compared to the above example (admittedly not the best example, but you get the point).
3. Tell a Story
Oftentimes, products and web apps were created to cure pain points and problems, and many presentation techniques advise people to start by describing the problem. Although this is a good direction, presentations like this can also get lost in ambiguity and irrelevance. Instead of just starting with the problem right out of the gate, a more effective technique is to put the problem in the context of a story. Thought leaders Dan and Chip Heath, authors of Made to Stick, explain that stories and examples are what puts problems into context that the audiences can relate to and sympathize with. In their article “Making Presentations That Stick“, Dan and Chip’s #1 tip is to tell stories that make abstract ideas more concrete. Joel Spolsky, one of the pioneer bloggers on software development, also discusses the importance of storytelling in his blog article, “How to Demo Software“. He not only uses storytelling in his presentation style, but also uses old story telling techniques, such as suspense, in his demo pitches. To learn more about great storytelling, I recommend one of my favorite books on story telling and screenwriting, “Story“, by Robert Mckee. Using traditional storytelling techniques such as setup/payoff, conflict, etc can really help elevate your craft of storytelling for presentations.
With these 3 basic presentation tips, Sam spent several days crafting the perfect presentation to pitch his new web gizmo. He wittled down his hour long presentation into a short & compelling story of why jillions of users will sign up for his product. With that presentation, Sam was able to secure 10 zillion dollars in financing, buildup his company, and win entrepreneur-of-the-year award just in time for his 20th birthday. Congratulations Sam!
4. Bonus: Pechu Kucha
As a bonus tip, we recommend you try out your newly found presentation-fu at a local Pechu Kucha event. In case you don’t know, Pechu Kucha Night is an event comprised of presentations. The rules of the presentations are: 20 slides, (typically) 15 seconds each, 5 minutes long. The slides are set on auto play, and the presenters must keep up with the slides…therefore minimizing long windedness, etc. These events originated in Japan, but have found popularity in the US under the name “Ignite“. Check one out to practice your presentation-fu!
