Presentation Zen [14]
“Do only what is necessary to convey what is essential. [C]arefully eliminate elements that distract from the essential whole, elements that obstruct and obscure…. Clutter, bulk, and erudition confuse perception and stifle comprehension, whereas simplicity allows clear and direct attention.” —Richard Powell
Life is about living with limitations and constraints of one type or another, but constraints are not necessarily bad, in fact they are helpful, even inspiring as they challenge us to think differently and more creatively about a particular problem. While problems such as a sudden request to give a 20-minute sales pitch or a 45-minute overview of our research findings have built-in limitations—such as time, tools, and budget—we can increase our effectiveness by stepping back, thinking long and hard, and determining ways we can set our own parameters and constraints as we set out to prepare and design our next presentation with greater clarity, focus, balance, and purpose.
As daily life becomes even more complex, and the options and choices continue to mount, crafting messages and making designs that are clear, simple, and concise becomes all the more important. Clarity and simplicity—often this is all people want or need, yet it’s increasingly rare (and all the more appreciated when it’s discovered). You want to surprise people? You want to exceed their expectations? Then consider making it beautiful, simple, clear… and great. The “greatness” may just be found in what was left out, not in what was left in. It takes creativity and the courage to be different. Your audience is praying that you’ll be both creative and courageous.
Pecha-kucha: A Sign of the Changing Times
Pecha-kucha is a global presentation phenomenon started in 2003 by two Tokyo-based expatriate architects Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein. (Pecha kucha is Japanese for chatter.) Pecha-kucha is an example of the changing attitudes toward presentation and a wonderfully creative and un-conventional way “to do PowerPoint.” The pecha-kucha method of presentation design and delivery is very simple. You must use 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds, as you tell your story in sync with the visuals. That’s 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Slides advance automatically and when you’re done you’re done. That’s it. Sit down. The objective of these simple but tight restraints is to keep the presentations brief and focused and to give more people a chance to present in a single night.
Pecha-kucha Nights are held in over 80 cities from Amsterdam and Auckland to Venice and Vienna. The pecha-kucha nights in Tokyo are held in a hip multimedia space and the atmosphere on the night I attended was a cross between a cool user group meeting and a popular night club.
If nothing else, the pecha-kucha method is good training and good practice. Everyone should try pecha-kucha; it’s a good exercise for getting your story down even if you do not use the method exactly for your own live talk. It doesn’t matter whether or not you can implement the pecha-kucha “20x20 6:40” method exactly in your own company or school, but the spirit behind it and the concept of “restrictions as liberators” can be applied to most any presentation situation.
The method makes going deep difficult. But if there is a good discussion after a pecha-kucha