Monday, November 03, 2008

Powerful Presentations

I read a great article last night in the November issue of Fast Company (p. 87 if you subscribe to that magazine).

It was about building good Powerpoint presentations and was written by Dan and Chip Heath (the guys who wrote Made to Stick, a great book about developing messages that stick with your audience).

So what does a Powerpoint presentation have to do with performing in front of a live audience? EVERYTHING! The same principles apply and the same mistakes are made by 99% of the Powerpoint presentations as are made by 99% of the people calling themselves entertainers (predictable, routine, and boring…)

Even though the article I read is about Powerpoint presentations, it is really about creating ANY sort of presentation that results in RESULTS. You have heard about people saying "Show, don't tell" but yet most of the performers presenting school shows, library shows, reading programs, motivational programs, sales programs, trade show routines, and gospel presentations are NOT getting RESULTS because they are not truly communicating their message.

Instead they are just decorating it.

"Show, don't tell doesn't mean to include a world map on your slide about "thinking gloabally". That's decoration, not communication. A good idea doesn't need visual drapes" say the Heath brothers in this article.

Instead they give the example of a VP discussing the amount of paperwork required of their department store outlets (519 pages every two weeks).

"This is two weeks' worth of the audit documentation that's required of our stores. You've all heard the phrase that the road to hell is paved with good intentions?" The speaker then shoved the papers across the table "Well, this is the road to hell."

No Powerpoint presentation needed. No graphs, charts, or statistical spreadsheets could convey the information better than 519 pages fluttering to the ground in front of a group of shocked executives.

And if you're a performer who has ever worried about getting caught using a sleight, or questioning whether or not your audience was paying more attention to the method of your performance rather than the words and message you were trying to deliver, let me assure you that the people in the audience mentioned above were NOT wondering if the paper was recycled. Nor were they speculating about whether or not the printing on the pages was actual documentation or just some random text to make a point. They didn't have a nagging desire to go up after words and count the pages to make sure there were exactly 519.

No, this audience was impacted. They got the message, plain and clear, with no distractions.

Three years ago I released a program titled "Developing Educationally Significant Programs" and it has become my best selling product to date. It is about this very topic. It is about creating programs that make a difference in the lives of your audience. It's about doing more than entertaining. It is about changing lives.

The trend in magic is to figure out a way to force your message into a routine that you've already done a hundred times. Superficial research, don’t learn anything new, just take a standard effect and force your square message into that round hole. How many things can these three pieces of rope represent? The three bears, the three wise men, mind/body/spirit, earth/wind/fire, and on and on and on and on.

But these object lessons don't illustrate the message. Instead they just decorate it. Professor's Nightmare is a great piece of entertainment and there are lots of great ways to create interesting patter for that trick to make it more relevant and entertaining. But while an added message might increase the entertainment value of that particular piece, the routine does NOT return the favor when it is added to a meaningful message.

Whenever a magic routine is crammed into service that routine almost never increases the educational impact of an important message.

Why? Because it doesn't convey information. It's just "decoration". And quite frankly, the fact that it is such a good trick and such a nice routine often makes it a DISTRACTION. Rather than an audience listening to what you are saying, they are concentrating on what is happening and that is only very loosely tied to the real message you are trying to convey.

Now re-read the presentation that the Heath brothers wrote about in their Fast Company article (quoted above in italics). Can you imagine the hairs standing up on the backs of all the necks in that room when the speaker shouted "This is the road to hell" as he shoved the massive stack of papers?

Wow! It couldn't get any better...unless he had 3 pieces of rope each a different length, one representing too little paperwork, one representing too much paperwork, and one representing just the right about of paperwork...

Developing Educationally Significant Programs is $79 and includes a manual, two audio CDs, and performance rights to all the pieces included in the program. If you are someone who is hired to change and influence your audiences rather than just entertain them (this includes gospel presenters, trade show workers, school show presenters, motivational speakers, and library performers, among others) then you MUST have this program.

Click HERE to find out more about it. Learn what it takes to really set yourself apart from the crowd. It's more than unique patter. It's about understanding what it takes to make a difference. It's about understanding what it takes to develop educationally significant programs.

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