Jon over at Pattern Recogintion has a great post on how to introduce complexity into your PowerPoint presentation by following the principles of story telling rather than creating the usual, formulaic PowerPoint that we’re all so used to.
He created a presentation following the guidelines set out in a Microsoft training book called Beyond Bullet Points and found that people started taking far greater interest in his presentations. Jon says:
“Cliff Atkinson suggests structuring your presentations like Hollywood movies. You need a “protagonist” (which is actually your audience), a normal world thrown out of balance, a journey, a crisis and a resolution (the thing you are selling) etc. etc.
“I found his grid system (available free here) a bit too didactic but the basic insight that you have to emotionally grip the audience with some sort of personal peril or crisis before you can take them on a rational, persuasive journey is a powerful one. And, once you’ve done the rational bit, to close the sale you need to remind them of that original emotional feeling and how you, and only you, can save them.
“It seems to work.”
Inspired by this, I’ve bought a copy too, and it seems to be pretty good stuff.
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