If you have a problem either staying awake or getting to sleep, you know how quickly presentations can induce that foggy haze akin to taking Ambien. Considered a must-use tool, PowerPoint presos conjure hellish feelings of having to endure a yawnfest of slides packed with far too much detail -- those dull paragraph-long bullets that are repeated verbatim in monotone by the speaker, along with caricature-like clip art and animation. But let’s not kill the messenger. PowerPoint is merely the medium. It’s all about throwing out bad, shop-worn cliche habits to build strong, compelling presentations.
A book that I ran across a couple weeks ago in Kramer Books, Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte, sets out the true art AND science behind constructing and delivering presentations. I thencoincidently, ran across a live webcast with Duarte, interviewed by Chris Brogan, the writer/blogger of all things marketing and communications ( co-author of bestselling Trust Agents), which revealed some great truths for today's audiences with shorter attention spans.
You can watch their 29 minute video discussion here, or read the key highlights I jotted down below. Duarte also published a subsequent companion book, Resonate, which explains and dissects the power of storytelling in today’s communications.