書摘: 書摘:Winning Strategies For Power Presentations(3) ZT
In presentations, the process begins by assembling all your story
elements. A chef prepares for a meal by gathering all the
ingredients, seasonings, and utensils, but doesn't use every last
one of them. Once you have assembled all your presentation
ingredients, assess every item for its relevance and importance to
your audience--not to you. Your audience cannot possibly know your
subject as well as you do, and so they do not need to know all that
you do. Tell them the time, not how to build a clock.
Delete, discard, omit, slice, dice, or whatever surgical method you
choose to eliminate excess baggage. Be merciless. Retain only what
your audience needs to know.
Once you have made that first cut, make another pass, and then
another. Each time you do, you see your draft with fresh eyes and
find another candidate for your scalpel. Follow the advice of the
classic Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style:" "It is always a
good idea to reread your writing later and ruthlessly delete the
excess."
Bestselling horror novelist Stephen King--who knows a thing or two
about ruthless killing--follows a similar practice. In his 2000 book
"On Writing," he shared a note his editor once sent to him: "You
need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft -10%."
Deal with your vast mass of unwieldy material in your preparation,
"not" in your presentation; behind the scenes, "not" in front of the
room. A gentler way of saying "kill your darlings" is "when in
doubt, leave it out."
CHAPTER THREE
How Long Should a Presentation Last?
"I can well understand the Honourable Member's wishing to speak on.
He needs the practice badly."
--Sir Winston Churchill
"Be Brief and Concise"
Every presenter is painfully aware of the short attention span of
modern audiences. Jason Gay, who writes for the "Wall Street
Journal," captured the essence of the phenomenon perfectly:
"You are busy, busy, busy! This is presumed in 2012. You are too
hurried to pay cash for your coffee--oh, it's so arduous, removing
the bills from the pocket, unfolding them, handing them to the
cashier, waiting for change, which can take up...to...nine...
agonizing...seconds. So you pay with an app on your
smartphone--blip, done."
But short attention spans pre-date 2012; they go all the way back to
the twentieth century.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of America's, if not the one of
the world's, most accomplished orators answered the question in the
title of this chapter with his famous advice, "Be sincere, be brief,
and be seated."
This wise counsel is sadly all too often ignored in most
presentations where brevity is a rarity. FDR was referring to the
length of a speech, but brevity is also important in regard to the
amount of detail in a presentation.
James Collins, author of the novel "Beginner's Greek," addressed the
subject in a "New York Times" Book Review essay titled "The Plot
Escapes Me." Mr. Collins described how much he likes to read books,
but that once he finishes, "I remember nothing about the book's
actual contents...all I associate with them is an atmosphere and a
stray image or two." He went on to note that he is not alone, "most
people cannot recall the title or author or even the existence of a
book they read a month ago, much less its contents."
Curious about the phenomenon, Mr. Collins discussed it with Maryanne
Wolf, a professor at Tufts University and Director of Center for
Reading and Language Research. Professor Wolf validated the
experience. "There is a difference," she said, "between immediate
recall of facts and an ability to recall a gestalt of knowledge. We
can't retrieve the specifics, but to adapt a phrase of William
James's, there is a wraith of memory."
As important as controlling the amount of content is in written
text, it is even more important in live presentations. Readers of
text--whether in print or electronic form--can always go backward in
the text to clarify details, but audiences for presentations--who
receive the content in real time--do not have that option. If they
lose track, they will either interrupt the presenter or tune out; at
which point the presenter loses too.
The lesson for you is to be concise. Be mindful of not only the
overall length of your presentation, but also the amount of detail
you include and--just as important--how you organize those details.
Craft your presentation with just three to five high level themes,
and be sure that any information you include clearly relates to
those themes. Then, as you present, keep referencing the themes and
tying the details back to them. Your audience may forget the details
after your presentation, but they will "recall a gestalt" of your
story.
Or as Guy Kawasaki, that master of well-turned phrases, in his own
variation of FDR's advice, wrote in his book "Enchantment," "Make it
short simple and swallowable."
書摘:Winning Strategies For Power Presentations(1)
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/shiyongyingyu/178268.html
書摘:Winning Strategies For Power Presentations(2)
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/shiyongyingyu/178278.html
In presentations, the process begins by assembling all your story
elements. A chef prepares for a meal by gathering all the
ingredients, seasonings, and utensils, but doesn't use every last
one of them. Once you have assembled all your presentation
ingredients, assess every item for its relevance and importance to
your audience--not to you. Your audience cannot possibly know your
subject as well as you do, and so they do not need to know all that
you do. Tell them the time, not how to build a clock.
Delete, discard, omit, slice, dice, or whatever surgical method you
choose to eliminate excess baggage. Be merciless. Retain only what
your audience needs to know.
Once you have made that first cut, make another pass, and then
another. Each time you do, you see your draft with fresh eyes and
find another candidate for your scalpel. Follow the advice of the
classic Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style:" "It is always a
good idea to reread your writing later and ruthlessly delete the
excess."
Bestselling horror novelist Stephen King--who knows a thing or two
about ruthless killing--follows a similar practice. In his 2000 book
"On Writing," he shared a note his editor once sent to him: "You
need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft -10%."
Deal with your vast mass of unwieldy material in your preparation,
"not" in your presentation; behind the scenes, "not" in front of the
room. A gentler way of saying "kill your darlings" is "when in
doubt, leave it out."
CHAPTER THREE
How Long Should a Presentation Last?
"I can well understand the Honourable Member's wishing to speak on.
He needs the practice badly."
--Sir Winston Churchill
"Be Brief and Concise"
Every presenter is painfully aware of the short attention span of
modern audiences. Jason Gay, who writes for the "Wall Street
Journal," captured the essence of the phenomenon perfectly:
"You are busy, busy, busy! This is presumed in 2012. You are too
hurried to pay cash for your coffee--oh, it's so arduous, removing
the bills from the pocket, unfolding them, handing them to the
cashier, waiting for change, which can take up...to...nine...
agonizing...seconds. So you pay with an app on your
smartphone--blip, done."
But short attention spans pre-date 2012; they go all the way back to
the twentieth century.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of America's, if not the one of
the world's, most accomplished orators answered the question in the
title of this chapter with his famous advice, "Be sincere, be brief,
and be seated."
This wise counsel is sadly all too often ignored in most
presentations where brevity is a rarity. FDR was referring to the
length of a speech, but brevity is also important in regard to the
amount of detail in a presentation.
James Collins, author of the novel "Beginner's Greek," addressed the
subject in a "New York Times" Book Review essay titled "The Plot
Escapes Me." Mr. Collins described how much he likes to read books,
but that once he finishes, "I remember nothing about the book's
actual contents...all I associate with them is an atmosphere and a
stray image or two." He went on to note that he is not alone, "most
people cannot recall the title or author or even the existence of a
book they read a month ago, much less its contents."
Curious about the phenomenon, Mr. Collins discussed it with Maryanne
Wolf, a professor at Tufts University and Director of Center for
Reading and Language Research. Professor Wolf validated the
experience. "There is a difference," she said, "between immediate
recall of facts and an ability to recall a gestalt of knowledge. We
can't retrieve the specifics, but to adapt a phrase of William
James's, there is a wraith of memory."
As important as controlling the amount of content is in written
text, it is even more important in live presentations. Readers of
text--whether in print or electronic form--can always go backward in
the text to clarify details, but audiences for presentations--who
receive the content in real time--do not have that option. If they
lose track, they will either interrupt the presenter or tune out; at
which point the presenter loses too.
The lesson for you is to be concise. Be mindful of not only the
overall length of your presentation, but also the amount of detail
you include and--just as important--how you organize those details.
Craft your presentation with just three to five high level themes,
and be sure that any information you include clearly relates to
those themes. Then, as you present, keep referencing the themes and
tying the details back to them. Your audience may forget the details
after your presentation, but they will "recall a gestalt" of your
story.
Or as Guy Kawasaki, that master of well-turned phrases, in his own
variation of FDR's advice, wrote in his book "Enchantment," "Make it
short simple and swallowable."
書摘:Winning Strategies For Power Presentations(1)
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/shiyongyingyu/178268.html
書摘:Winning Strategies For Power Presentations(2)
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/shiyongyingyu/178278.html
