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...

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...

A presentation can be built around one central slide. Van Jones gives us a perfect example — not only of how such a slide looks like, but of how to present it with impact as well. The central question of the presentation is: “Is there some way we could connect the work that most needs doing with the people that most need work?” Continue reading...

Musician and entrepreneur Derek Sivers talks about open mindedness and tolerance using some unexpected examples of how easily we jump to conclusions and how always the exact opposite can also be true. In only 2:20 minutes he takes us on a surprising journey around the globe — from a street in the U.S. to Japan, China, Africa, and India. Maybe most surprising: although very short, his presentation feels deep and meaningful, and helps us understand ourselves — and others — a little more… Continue reading...

The amount of information available to us over the internet grows rapidly. Recent advances in computer technology as well as software design make it easier than ever before for anybody with a computer to visualize all kinds of data. But, the same data can be visualized in very different ways — to serve very different purposes. Alex Lundry, Vice President and Director of Research at TargetPoint, talks about the political power of data visualization and offers a few short lessons about visual literacy. Continue reading...

When pictures started moving and films came up in the 1880s it was only logical to incorporate text to substitute for spoken words — at least as long as films were silent. That kind of text was static and limited in the amount of words displayed. In order to display more text, frames had to be changed over time, or text had to be animated. The simplest form of animated text were rolling end titles. Only in the 1960s text started to be truly animated in film titles. Since then animated text has been widely used in film and television and became part of our visual culture. Continue reading...

The ever increasing speed of change and its totality that we are facing today leaves us in need of explanations — more than ever before. In order to keep pace we have to make sense of it all. We have to understand the own position in relation to the processes of globalization, climate change, and conflicts. It might well be a matter of survival — not only on an individual level and not only for people outside the western industrialized nations. Devdutt Pattanaik explains the basic differences between East and West by telling wonderful stories about mythical figures from both worlds. Continue reading...

About three years ago, in February 2006, Sir Ken Robinson mesmerized the audience at the TED conference with his presentation, Do schools kill creativity? This was a defining moment for TED, making Ken Robinson somewhat of a figurehead for TED Talks. In his latest book, The Element — How finding your passion changes everything, he gives another inspiring insight into the field of human creativity and its limitless opportunities. He urges us to search for our very own Element, the point where natural talent meets personal passion. Continue reading...

Why are so many presentation slides cluttered and loaded with data, and why does it seem so difficult to create simple and meaningful visuals? What seems so hard to do on a computer looks far easier on a sheet of paper. Nobody would try to paint a complex mural on a flip-chart (without extensive prior practice anyway). On a flip-chart people allow themselves to be simpler, more visual, and even more playful than in front of their computers. So, why don’t we just pretend to prepare for a flip-chart presentation, and then transfer the results into our presentation software? Paddy Hirsch, Senior Editor of Marketplace, gives a beautiful flip-chart presentation that we would like to use as an example of how this can be done. Continue reading...

In this Google TechTalk, psychologist Dan Siegel introduces his findings about the mind: 1. The mind is a process that regulates the flow of energy and information, it uses the brain to create itself. 2. The flow of energy and information incorporates three basic elements: brain (mechanism), mind (regulating), relationships (sharing). 3. A healthy mind emerges from integrated systems defined by nine functions: body regulation, atunement, balancing emotions, capacity to extinguish fear, ability to pause before acting, insight, empathy, morality, and intuition. Continue reading...

Yesterday, Guy Kawasaki publicized his 10-20-30 rule for presentations on his weblog. There is much to say pro and contra that rule. But, first we have to understand who this piece of advise is aimed at. Guy is a venture capitalist, and feels extremely bothered by boring sales pitches of startups looking for investors. As an act of pure self-defense, he came up with a simple rule of thumb. Continue reading...