The Presentation Lab E-Book

Simon Morton

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 248

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Revealing the difference between great slides and great presentations Based on a proven process from one of the world's most prominent presentation consultancy and design firms,The Presentation Lab challenges everything you thought you knew about creating and delivering engaging business presentations. Author Simon Morton shares his unique Presentation Optimization methodology and takes readers on a journey of evolution and revolution to discover what makes an effective presentation (and you may be surprised to know that great design is the last thing you need to worry about). Using practical tips and drawing on Simon's experiences working with companies around the globe, The Presentation Lab will help everyone who ever needs to present by revealing what works, what doesn't and, more importantly, why. The Presentation Lab tackles "Death by PowerPoint" head on by dispelling presentation myths, examining the latest presentation innovations, exploring new concepts for audience engagement and delivery and challenging to status quo of today's business presentation landscape.

Leseprobe

Contents

Foreword

Element A

Introduction

Element B

The Basic Toolsfor the Job

Element C

The Base Elements of Your Presentation

Element D

Creating Compelling Content

Element E

Delivering the Final Results

References

Index

Cover design: Phil Evans and Alex Warwick

Copyright © 2014 by Simon Morton. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN 978-1-118-68700-0 (paper); ISBN 978-1-118-89165-0 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-89177-3 (ebk)

For Lisa, Beth, and Peter—you make me brave. x

Thanks and Acknowledgments

Simon Morton

This book is the culmination of almost a decade of thinking, sleeping, reading, crafting, and doing presentations. This occasionally unhealthy obsession wouldn’t be possible without the friendship and support of the amazing people that make up the Eyeful Presentations team across the world. In particular, my hat is doffed and my gratitude overflows (in chronological order) to Dan, Sal, Faz, and Zo—you’re very special people. Thanks for the support (I’m still wearing it).

Thank you also to the amazing customers who have chosen to join us on the journey thus far. Your faith, enthusiasm, and willingness to challenge the status quo is the key to great presentations. I’m glad we’ve been able to repay your trust over the years.

Finally, a huge thank you to the hyper-talented Alex and Phil for the incredible designs that make this book all the more special. Thank you also for admirably resisting the temptation to strangle me whenever I popped into the studio with yet another idea or scrappy drawing.

The least important thing about a presentation is the presentation itself.

The most important thing is the effect it has on your audience—that is, what your audience does and feels as a result of hearing you speak.

Your presentation is a means to an end, not the end itself.

But people don’t view it like that. Instead, they tend to prepare by thinking:

Unsurprisingly, this often leads to overlong, uninspiring, one-way rants that do more harm than good. I’m sure you’ve heard a few of these in the past week alone. And, let’s face it, we all hate sitting through them, don’t we?

Now, at last, here’s a book that can change all that.

I first met Simon a few years ago. To be honest, I was a little wary beforehand. I’d met lots of “PowerPoint experts” before. I’d found most wore “to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail” blinkers. You know the type of thing: “You’re delivering a presentation? Great—we design slides. Let’s discuss how we can make yours whizzy and shiny.”

But he was the complete opposite.

Like me, Simon’s core belief is that a presentation is an audience thing. They—not the presenter—decide whether the presentation is good or not.

It’s they who decide whether to follow the Call To Action. So it’s they who should be our sole focus throughout. Get this right, and everyone benefits. It makes things easy and quick. It’s more pleasant. Things get done.

This book will help you deliver the best presentations of your life. You’ll learn techniques that will permanently change the way you speak to others. I know this, because I’ve seen it happen. Simon’s company and I have worked together many times, helping thousands of people—both presenters and audiences—enjoy presentations more and transforming the way companies communicate, leaders lead, and sales teams sell.

This book will show you how to take your audiences with you on a journey, in such a way that they want to—and do—the things you want.

Better still, it will change how you feel about presentations. Because, let’s face it, what you say on the outside mirrors what you’re thinking on the inside.

But best of all? Your audiences will love that you’ve read it.

And when that happens, everybody wins.

Andy Bounds

Communication expert and author of international best sellers The Snowball Effect and The Jelly Effect

Clear communication has never been as important in business as it is today. The examples range from something as simple as crafting a lucid e-mail to a colleague, all the way to sharing a vision and inciting passion in an audience via a more complex presentation. The ability to do these things—and so many others—is a must-have for every successful businessperson today.

The exciting news is that communication—business and otherwise—has changed beyond all recognition over the past few years.

So much of our professional interaction has moved away from the “old school,” formal scenario of standing and presenting to a group of businesspeople (often in a horseshoe configuration of desks . . . just to make you feel that little more nervous/inferior).

Nowadays, we tend to find ourselves communicating quite informally—in person over a coffee/beer in an airport lounge or at networking events and online via social media or webinars. More often than not, the opportunity for our communication (and presentations) to be interactive crops up, and we should be grabbing these chances with both hands.

Wherever you happen be when these exchanges begin, you have a chance to not simply shine as a presenter but, more important, to share your ideas, vision, proposition, or just plain old story in a powerful way. Add to that the fast-growing list of presentation tools and technologies now available to us and we’re in a golden age of presentation development. Happy days.