presenting is storytelling at the university of lugano (2010-04-23)

8/9/2019 Presenting is Storytelling at the University of Lugano (2010-04-23)

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www.tudor

girba.com

Presenting is storytellingTudor Grba

www.tudorgirba.com

Tudor Girba Lugano - April 23, 2010

www.tudor

girba.comRoadmap

Every talk must start with a roadmap So:

Introduction

Slides Template

Design

Audience

Story

More about slides

Conclusion

2


www.tudor

girba.comRoadmap Every talk must start with a roadmap So:

Introduction

Slides Template

Design

Audience

Story

More about slides

Conclusion

3

The following slides are intended to be read either by looking at the laptop screen, or with the back tothe audience.

One common wisdom is that there should be a roadmap at the beginning. That is many times a goodthing, only we should design the roadmap to be meaningful.

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/meaningless-roadmap


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www.tudor

girba.comAbout this talk

I used to be extremely afraid of speaking in public In fact, I was so afraid that I could hardly speak

But, because I had to speak, I spent a bit of timethinking about it

Today, I will share with you some of my reflections onhow to do presentations

I am actually quite nervous to talk about it here

4


www.tudor

girba.comRoadmap

Every talk must start with a roadmap So:

Introduction

Slides

Template

Audience

Story

More slides

Conclusion

5


www.tudor

girba.comSlides Every decent talk is accompanied by slides Text is difficult to read so, slides should not have more

than 6 first level bullets

The text should be no smaller than 12 pt A good slide has an engaging design Dont just use a standard design

Show that you care

Lets see what a good template is made of ...

6

This is actually true.


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www.tudor

girba.comThe template in 4 steps1. Align title to the left, and add logo to the top right

The logo should not be too large, but it should be visible at alltime

Adding it to the right, makes it secondary in the visualhierarchy so that it is not compete with the rest of the text

2. Choose colors and style to match the corporate look

3. Delimit the title zone and readjust the style

4. Add footer

Slide number is important to let the audience know about theprogress

Add your name, just in case they forgot it

Add the date and place of the presentation to show that it iscustomized for the situation

7

STOP

why are we here?

If you take this approach, just make sure to not add the total amount of slides, because you do not wantto discourage the audience :)

This is one way to deliver talks. While it can be straightforward, it is completely inneffective. Theaudience gets bored, and the retention is low.

Before we go forward: why are we here?

Lecture |lek ch r| is a noun meaning an educational talk to an audience. It comes from the latin wordlegere, and it used to have meaning of the action of reading, that which is read. There used to be atime when reading and exposing facts to an audience was the way of spreading information. Nowadays,we have plenty of other means to take care of that.

We are certainly not here to read slides. We are here to communicate. Speakers have to start takingresponsibility.

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/how-much-time


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the talk isnotyourslides

storythe talk is your

presenting is storytellingwww.tudorgirba.com

If your audience wanted to read, it would not need to come all the way to the presentation.

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/powerpoint-poisoning

The audience wants to hear a story, a point of that is interesting. Something that would not get by justreading the manual.


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story = fairy tale

designyour story

audience?who is your

The story does not have to be a fairy tale to capture my imagination. In fact, it should not be a fairy tale.

Good stories are typically not straightforward. They require design and discovery.

The first step is to figure out what your audience is? What do they expect? What are their values?


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let me tell you a story

about

Paris

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pingnews/421079337/sizes/l/

When we think Paris, we think historical monuments and romance.

I went to Paris and I set my mind to see how other people see Paris.


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I was surprised to see that some dont even look at Paris.

And when they do look, they do it in a strange way.

I thought that maybe it was that they were just blocking the sun.

At night, we finally got to Louvre.


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And we set our minds to go see the famous Mona Lisa.

So, the second day, we took the metro and we headed to the Louvre.

We got to the Louvre, but we were surprised to not find Mona Lisa quite that easy.


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So, we looked for an information point, and just near it ...

We found Mona Lisa.

Actually it was not really Mona Lisa, but just a guide about The Da Vinci Code. We did not want theguide, and we started to search Mona Lisa by ourselves.

Along the way we stumbled across a naked lady without the arms.


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And we finally got to the room of Mona Lisa.

I was slightly disappointed by the sign.

There it was! Mona Lisa.

Because we were not allowed to take pictures inside the room, I took a picture from outside of it.


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But, no one else took the sign seriously. My take is that they did not regard themselves taking pictures,they regarded themselves as just looking at Mona Lisa.

Even though some did not even look.

Or when they did, they did it in a strange way.


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who is your audience?

how do they see the world?

how do they reallysee the world?

Any design process should start from the audience. Who is the audience?

You have to know how they see the world.

If you think you know your audience and how it sees the world, think again. Your audience will never bethe same and it will never seize to surprise you.

Btw, the picture of the lady combing her hair in the beautiful mirror, was taken just outside the Mona Lisaroom.


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messageone

To provide a genericmeta-model forexpressing softwareevolution analyses,we need to recognizeevolution as an explicitphenomenon and modelit as a first class entity.

messageone

Strive to choose one message. Not two, not one and a half. One. A 30 seconds ad has one punch line.A good movie has one single message that summarizes the main point (of course, is the movie is notPulp Fiction).

So should your talk have just one core message. Bring plenty of evidence, but focus on one message.

You might say that ads and movies are just for entertaining.

But, a PhD dissertation is also about one thesis. 3,4,5 years of work and all you get to defend is onesingle statement.

One message. I cannot stress this long enough :).


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messageonedeliver

slides

slides are visual aids

Its not enough to choose the r ight message, you also have to choose a matching delivery means thatmatches your audience.

Slides used to be called visual aids. The difference between the two terms is that slides describes thetechnology, while visual aids describes the goal.

These days, it is a must for a talk to be accompanied with slides.

Slides used to be called visual aids. The difference between the two terms is that slides describes thetechnology, while visual aids describes the goal. We focused so much on getting the technology right,that we forgot about the goal. Always have the goal in mind.


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slides arevisual aids

Important sign

1. At this sign, stop, look around and proceed if no other car iscoming your way.

2. Important!!!! The cars coming from the other directions willnot have to stop.

3. This sign was put here by the authorities in charge.

4. This sign concerns vehicles only. Pedestrians should look atthe signs dedicated to them.

5. This sign should not be touched or hindered in any way. Anyviolation is punishable according to the law.

STOP

The term visual aids has two components. Visual is the first one. Slides have to be visual.

Lets take an example.

Imagine driving. What would you do if you would see this sign at a crossroad?

What about if you see this one? There is no doubt as to what you have to do. There are three reasonsfor this:

- it is big so that we notice it- it is red so that we pay attention, and- it is so distinct and simple that it leaves no place for confusion. it only conveys the relevant information.


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STOP

not alldetails are important

omit needless words

The difference between the two signs is that one is detailed but only the other one is actually effective intraffic.

Slides should be like traffic signs:- They should stay on the side,- They should come to our attention for a very brief period, and- They should become invisible.

How to achieve that?

The good news is that not all details are important. In fact, only few details are important.

When it comes to the English language, the Elements of Style is a book that should not be missed.


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for sale: baby shoes, never wornErnest Hemingway

Twitter can be a great medium to exercise conciseness.

This message is exactly 140 characters long.


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we sell fresh fish here

fresh fish here

fresh fish

The story goes that Vijay, a young indian, wanted to open a fish store. He does it and displays thefollowing logo.

Story inspired from Presentation Zen, the book.http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/the-fish-story

The second, day his father stops by and says: we is not really needed, and it is obviously that you areselling.

The third day, the brother stops by and notices that here is superfluous.


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fresh

fresh

The neighbor then passes by and says: You are in the fish market, and the logo already says fish.

Getting the hang of it, Vijay himself thought: everyone can smell that the fish is fresh.

If you ask me, I still think fresh should be stated. But the essence is that you can almost not go wrongstripping away details.


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design is not the abundance of simplicityit is the absence of complexity

emphasizingeverythingISemphasizingnothing

whitespace

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Graphic-Design-Space-Architecture/dp/1581152507

One particular graphic design resource that is most often forgotten is whitespace.


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Whitespace is defined by the objects inside.

Whitespace is not necessarily white.

Which is the background and which is the foreground?

In this example, whitespace and content are in conflict. This design makes the audience perceive thewhole thing as a blob.


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Now you perceive white as being whitespace and black as being content. This design makes theaudience perceive the whole thing as a blob.

One small difference solves the conflict. You now perceive two blobs.


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But, is whitespace a wasted space? No. If you fill it completely, you lose everything.

Whitespace can guide your eyes. For example, this arrangement implies no particular reading order.

This one, however, will guide your eye line by line.


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y

x

remove chart junkincrease data ink

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fill it for a reason

Less can be even more.

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/empty-your-slides

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXAcwriid0


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slides are not documents


www.tudor

girba.com

80

One thing to remember is that slides are not documents. They do not have the same purpose and theydo not have the same capabilities. As such, they should not be treated in the same way.

If you feel the need to rely on a template like this, you are probably doing something wrong.

Why exactly do we see so many slides that resemble documents?

Take a look at what we see when we open the slideware program. The default template wants us toenter a title and some content in form of bullets.


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projector = screen

It is difficult to not put too many things on a slide, because the default look of PowerPoint urges you toadd them. Most templates just go along these lines.

Bullet points are not evil. They are just not the answer to everything.

And they are especially not the answer to effective slide design.

The projector is a different medium than the screen.

On the one hand, the projector has a much poorer resolution, and as the distances from which it is beingwatched differ greatly, we can only rely on it to deliver very few details accurately.

On the other hand, the projector offers an opportunity: it allows us to focus on just one thing, and we can

control the advance. This is an important characteristic that should be used in the process of design.

So, next time you open your slideware program ...

S h d i f lid f


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Start the design of slides from an empty canvas.Do not let the default document metaphor influence your choice.Take control.

On the one hand, a slide is a poorer graphical than a printed document.On the other hand, their dynamic nature offer an opportunity: focus. A slide should encapsulate oneconcept.

When each slide encapsulates a point, the story is in between these points.

htt // i k d / k h / i li ti / ll df


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The more text there is on a slide, the more I willtend to speak it as it is written on the slide.But, you can read a text much faster than I can speakit.In such situations, my speech becomes noise as yourather prefer to just go ahead and read it by yourself.That is the reason why slides should not have textthat competes with my speech, but rather be as visual

as possible to complement it.

I guess you are already reading this line while I amstill somewhere in the middle of the text.

notes will set you free

The more text there is on a slide,the more I will tendto speak it as it is written on the slide. But,you can read a text much faster than I can speakit.

In such situations,my speech becomes noise as yourather prefer to just go ahead and read it by yourself. That is the reason why slides should not have text thatcompetes with my speech,but rather be as visual aspossible to complement it.

I guess you are already reading this line while I am stillsomewhere in the middle of the text.

notes will set you free

http://www.iwm-kmrc.de/workshops/visualization/sweller.pdf

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/powerpoint-presentations-a-disaster/2007/04/03/1175366240499.html

One assumption isthat slides must also carry the message in the absence ofthe speaker, and hence most of the content must be on the slides. The result islotsof bullet pointsand lotsof text.

However, lotsof text competes with the spoken wordsbecause we can justread faster than we speak. And we want the audience to hear what we have tosay.

Another option isto put the text in the notesand provide slides with notesforasprintouts.

http://www.iwm-kmrc.de/workshops/visualization/sweller.pdf

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/powerpoint-presentations-a-disaster/2007/04/03/1175366240499.html

One assumption is that slides must also carry the message in the absence of the speaker, and hencemost of the content must be on the slides. The result is lots of bullet points and lots of text.

However, lots of text competes with the spoken words because we can just read faster than we speak.And we want the audience to hear what we have to say.

Another option is to put the text in the notes and provide slides with notes for as printouts.

This is how the previous two slides look like when they are printed with notes.

Fi t l f t b f f


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large

fontstransition

First, large fonts can be seen from far away.

Second, using large fonts will prevent you from putting too many things on the same slide.

When points are encapsulated in a slide, transition is what brings cohesion to the story.

The slides overview is perhaps the most useful tool in your slideware because it is the one that has thepotential to reveal the story.

One rule of thumb is that if you cannot see what a slide is about in the overview, you probably have toomuch on it.

Ok lets step back We said that slides are visual


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slides arevisual aids

slides are visual

aids

Ok, lets step back. We said that slides are visual.

Not all visuals are aids. For a visual to be helpful, it needs to complement the speech.

But, at the end, slides are still just aids. They should only complement the talk, not replace it.

This is how a blank slide looks like.


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Show you believe


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7% Words

38% Voice

55% Body language

presentationze

n.com

tudorgirba.com/blog

blog.duarte.co

m

thebackofthena

pkin.com

Show you believe.

Mehrabian model of communication: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabian

7% of meaning is in words38% of meaning is paralinguistic - how you use your voice tone55% of meaning is in body language (e.g., facial expression)

Dont hide behind the wall. Just go out.

Recommended resources.

http://presentationzen.comhttp://thebackofthenapkin.comhttp://blog.duarte.comhttp://tudorgirba.com/blog

A great place to find examples of amazing talks is www ted com


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www.ted.com

rehearserehearserehearserehearserehearse

rehearserehearserehearserehearserehearserehearse

remote control

A great place to find examples of amazing talks is www.ted.com.

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/ted-talkshttp://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/favorite-ted-talks-posted-until-2008http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/favorite-ted-talks-posted-in-2009

There is no replacement for rehearsal.

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/rehearse-rehearse-rehearse

Technology must never be obvious. Anything pulls the attention of the audience away from the story is adistraction.

Use a remote control to render the technology invisible. Slides should magically appear and disappearas needed by the story.

Regular breathing ensures a regular pace of speaking


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BreathE

pause

technical talks?what about

Regular breathing ensures a regular pace of speaking.

Pause is the whitespace of speech. Pause puts the words in value.

A pause can be used for transitioning to another idea. In fact, a major transition should be marked with apause.

When you feel like stumbling, just pause, breathe, and take another route.

http://www.tudorgirba.com/blog/to-pause-or-not-to-pause

Facts alone are boring And that is a fact


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any fact has its ownstory

content form

yesterdays

weather

Facts alone are boring. And that is a fact.

Regardless of how apparently boring a subject appears to be, there always is an exciting story hidden inthere.

Take a look at this talk, for an example:http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

Designing and building the form is typically perceived as an effort that comes after the main effort ofdesigning and building the content. That is not an optimal process, because we cannot reason aboutcontent in the absence of form.

Let me tell you a story about the first paper I ever wrote. It was about predicting changes in a softwaresystem using a Yesterdays Weather metaphor.

In Switzerland using yesterdays weather as a predictor for todays weather is a poor prediction model


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30% 90%In Switzerland, using yesterday s weather as a predictor for today s weather is a poor prediction model.

However, in Sahara, it is a great way to predict weather, given that most days look like the previous one.

This prediction model is contextual to the place, or system, in which it is to be applied. So, beforeapplying this technique on a software system, we first have to see if it proved to be reasonable in thepast.

Once I had the basic idea, I just implemented it. And indeed, it turned out that my assumption was right.On some systems it makes sense, on others it does not.

The only problem was that the algorithm was so complex, that I could not manage to explain it topeople.

And I knew it was ugly and that I should do something about it. I just did not know what.

So, I stepped back and rethought the model behind. What exactly was I doing?


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present

past future

YesterdayWeatherHit(present):

past:=all.topChanged(beginning, present)

future:=all.topChanged(present, end)

past.intersect(future).notEmpty()

prediction hit

hit hit hit

YW = 3 / 8 = 37%

hit hit hit hit hit hit hit

YW = 7 / 8 = 87%

So, I stepped back and rethought the model behind. What exactly was I doing?

I eventually created a small picture and based on that I rethought the model. It turned out that thealgorithm to check the assumption for each day was three lines long.

And obtaining the overall value was just an average.

And, in the end, even the actual implementation became similarly simple (and even more generic).

All in all, it was because I could not present the idea, that I had to rethink the approach altogether. Ofcourse, I could have just accepted that the problem is just too complex and cannot be made simpler, butthat is never a good enough point.

V. S. Ramachandran is a neurologist. Among other things, he invented a simple cure for the phantom


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content form

S a ac a d a s a eu o og st o g ot e t gs, e e ted a s p e cu e o t e p a topain.

The idea is that people with phantom limbs can still feel pain in the non-existent part of the member. Theproblem is that this pain cannot be treated directly because it is actually not real. But, it is a seriousproblem, with people that constantly feel deep pain for decades.

The treatment turned out to be extremely simple and cheap. A mirror is placed on a table, and typicallythe phantom limb is placed in a box behind the mirror, and the healthy limb is placed in front of themirror. The patient is then asked to look into the mirror and do exercises with the healthy limb. As thepatient looks in the mirror, it appears that the phantom limb is actually moving. Through these kind ofexercises, the pain goes away.

You can find more information in his very interesting TED presentation:http://www.ted.com/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html

The bottom line is that form plays an important role in the way we perceive and think of the world. It istime to stop ignoring it and embrace it during the design process.


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presenting is storytelling at the university of lugano (2010-04-23)

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