We are competing for relevance.    – Brian Solis

Award-winning author and presentation expert Nancy Duarte has a new book out: HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. This is the final part of a series outlining of each of the book’s sections as well as zeroing in on a specific topic.

Section 7: Impact

• Build relationships through social media – engage with users so they’ll engage fully and fairly with your ideas
• Spread your ideas with social media – facilitate the online conversation
• Gauge whether you’ve connected with people – gather feedback in real-time and after your talk
• Follow up after your talk – make it easier for people to put your ideas into action

As a visual learner, I have images and objects around my office that help me keep things top of mind. One very prominent image is a diagram from Bert Decker’s book You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard. It shows a presenter’s journey from information (focusing on education) to influence (focusing on motivation). If you are not urging your audience to do something, to take action, you should have just sent a memo.

The final section of Duarte’s book challenges you to do just that. All the ideas above are great, but here’s a little more about one that many presenters would run from:

Spread Your Ideas with Social Media

Use social media content the way you use stories, visuals, and sound bites: to reinforce and spread your message.

Social media activity usually spikes during a presentation, with moderate chatter beforehand and afterward. Facilitate the conversation at its peak by:

• Streaming your presentation – post a live video stream of your talk so people can attend remotely
• Time-releasing message and slides – use technology to automatically push key messages out at key moments during the presentation
• Select a moderator – enlist a colleague to keep the social media thread constructive
• Repeating audience sentiment – use the moderator to repeat and validate what live audience members are saying
• Post photos of your talk – enlist someone to photograph your presentation and post online
• Encourage blogging – invite bloggers, journalists, and social media specialists to attend and cover your presentation

If it’s worth speaking about the first time, it’s worth doing all you can to keep people talking about it.

This is the final part of a series looking at Nancy Duarte’s new book HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations, highly recommended for all leaders.

When audiences see that you’ve prepared – that you care about their needs and value your time – they’ll want to connect with you and support you. You’ll get people to adopt your ideas, and you’ll win the resources to carry them out.

Leaders speak.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

At our studio we don’t write our stories, we draw them.    – Walt Disney

Award-winning author and presentation expert Nancy Duarte has a new book out: HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. This is a continuation of a series outlining of each of the book’s sections as well as zeroing in on a specific topic.

Section 5: Slides

• Think like a designer – visuals should convey meaning
• Create slides people can “get” in 3 seconds – do they pass the glance test
• Chose the right type of slide – bullets aren’t the only tool
• Storyboard one idea per slide – plan before you create
• Avoid visual clichés – make your slides stand out
• Arrange slide elements with care – make your visuals easier to process
• Clarify the data – emphasize what’s important, remove the rest
• Turn words into diagrams – use shapes to show relationships
• Use the right number of slides – size up your situation before building your deck
• Know when to animate – and when it’s overkill

Create Slides People Can “Get” in Three Seconds

Audiences can only process one stream of information at a time. They’ll either listen to you speak or read your slides – they won’t do both simultaneously.

Make sure they can quickly comprehend your visuals and then turn their attention back to what you’re saying.

Think of your slides as billboards on the highway: when people are driving by, they only briefly take their eyes off the main focus – the road – to process billboard information. Similarly, your audience should focus on what you’re saying, looking only briefly at your slides when you display them.

To create slides that pass the glance test:

• Start with a clean surface – start with a blank slide
• Limit your text – keep it short, easy to skim, and large enough to be visible from the back of the room
• Coordinate visual elements – Use one typeface for the entire deck, use a consistent color palette, and use photos of a similar style
• Arrange elements with care – align graphics and text blocks, and size all objects appropriately

Streamlined text and simple visual elements help your audience process the information much more quickly.

Next: Delivery

This is Part 6 of a series looking at Nancy Duarte’s new book HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations, highly recommended for all leaders.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Are ideas born interesting or made interesting? Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Switch: How To Change Things When Change is Hard

Award-winning author and presentation expert Nancy Duarte has a new book out: HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. Over the next few days, I will be posting an outline of each of the book’s sections as well as zeroing in on a specific topic.

Section 2: Message

• Define Your Big Idea – clearly state your point of view
• Generate Content to Support the Big Idea – when you’re brainstorming, more is more
• Anticipate Resistance – think through opposing perspectives
• Amplify Your Message Through Contrasts – create and resolve tension
• Build an Effective Call to Action – get things done
• Choose Your Best Ideas – sort and filter
• Organize Your Thoughts – outline your presentation by writing clear, active slide titles that hang together
• Balance Analytical and Emotional Appeal – stay credible while you reel people in
• Lose the Jargon – is your language clear enough to pass the “grandmother test”

Build an Effective Call to Action

Presentations should move people to act – but only if you explicitly state what actions you want them to take, and when.

Are you asking them to be doers, suppliers, influencers, or innovators?

Doers instigate activities. They are the worker bees. Once they know what needs to be done, they’ll take on the tasks. They also recruit and motivate others to complete important activities.

Suppliers get resources. They are the people with resources – financial, human, or material. They have the means to get what you need to move forward.

Influencers change perceptions. They can sway individuals or groups, large or small, mobilizing them to adopt and evangelize your idea.

Innovators generate ideas. They think outside the box for new ways to add value to and spread your idea. They create strategies, perspectives, and products.

(Duarte, p 39)

Whether your audience is corporate, political, scientific, academic, or religious, the people you’re addressing should fall into one of these categories.

Be explicit in your request – and about how it will benefit your audience.

Next: Story

This is Part 3 of a series looking at Nancy Duarte’s new book HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations, highly recommended for all leaders.

Part 1

Part 2