Business presentations have become a major communication medium. Meetings without slides are virtually unthinkable. Often an intercultural element comes into play, unnoticed by the presenter and the listeners. International teams in big corporations are common today. And English is being used worldwide as a corporate language even in non-american businesses. What advise can be given to business people who face the challenge of making a presentation in front of listeners of sometimes very different cultural backgrounds? Continue reading...

At a military conference in North Carolina in April, some high-ranking officers spoke out about the dangers of using PowerPoint to convey crucial information. Brigadier-General Herbert McMaster said, “It’s dangerous, because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control.” In 2005, McMasters had banned PowerPoint when he led an operation in Iraq. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable,” he told the conference. That kind of harsh PowerPoint criticism isn’t new, but it seems that over the last ten years a lot has changed in respect of how presentations are perceived, designed and delivered. Continue reading...

Apart from his enlightening topics there is a lot we can learn from Barry Schwatz’s presentations — although (or, maybe just because) he is not our picture-book presenter. After the video three thoughts, in order of appearance. Continue reading...

Now that the iPad has arrived — to US customers at least — we are eager to listen to the first hands-on experiences of real-life customers. The app that interests us most is Keynote. We have been Keynote users since day one and know the program rather well. Our main question is: Can we use Keynote on the iPad for serious work, can we just import our Keynote files to the iPad and present them in our seminars? So far, we know little more than what Apple tells us: “Keynote is the powerful presentation app you love from iWork, completely reworked for iPad and Multi-Touch. So you can do everything on iPad with a tap or drag of your finger — from creating your first slide to presenting your work.” Let’s see how Apple’s claims stand up to the first customer reviews on iTunes, three days after the release… Continue reading...

Some time ago, in the executive conference room of a small company in Düsseldorf, we showed the final version of a marketing presentation that we developed for that client. It was a small audience, four decision makers, the president of the company among them, and they loved it. They loved the structure, they loved the slides, and they loved their company image. But beyond all that, they were impressed that we did not look back on the screen once, and still had all the slides and animations come in at the right time. After working for weeks on a presentation it would be surprising not to be familiar with every slide and every animation. After all, that is the main reason why a presenter should create her own visuals, or at least spend enough time with them. But a presenter can’t be expected to fly completely without instruments, and we certainly didn’t. Continue reading...