Wired Presentations

Glimmer by Warren Berger

Glimmer: How design can transform your life, and maybe even the world by Warren Berger.

The presentation world has been focused on slide design for years. While slides may have gotten better (the jury is still out) delivery has not. A couple of weeks ago I began searching for non-presentation books for inspiration and ideas. During this search I discovered Glimmer.

Glimmer is about Design: making things effective and useful and orchestrating great experiences. From OXO kitchen tools to the Segway you will learn from the actually creation of well designed products. Reading this book will make you look at everything from a different perspective. It is worth reading the book to live these stories but that wasn’t what effected me the most. That happened in the last part of the book…

“The older you get, the more you begin to think like a designer.” — Warren Berger

As I get older I find that it is easy to take dissimilar ideas and combine them. In the book this is called smart recombinations. It turns out that getting older actually makes you better at this. Getting older also makes you question things like, “If I were to have the perfect life what would that look like?” The last part of the book is all about applying design principles to your own life. It was a nice surprise to find this topic in the book. I plan to reread this part of the book in the very near future.

Back to presentations. There are many things in the book that apply to field of presentations. The most important one — to me — is that design isn’t just about making something look good. It has to function well and be useful. I wish that the people who equate a great presentation with slides would take this to heart.

You should put Glimmer on your reading list! Highly Recommended!

Get Seen by Steve Garfield

Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Vision by Steve Garfield.

It is hard to quantify how much you can learn from this book. Trust me – it’s a lot! If you are interested in video this is a great place to start. Steve takes us from acquiring a camera (he recommends starting with what you have) to placing your videos on the Web.

One of the themes of this book is this: Don’t let money stop you from making videos. He points out that you likely have a video camera masquerading as another device. If you have a point and shoot digital camera it probably includes a video camera. Steve is very fond of the Panasonic DMC-FX37 point and shoot camera (This model is old and newer cameras are available). He also uses his cell phone for videos. If you don’t have a video camera in your current arsenal then take a look at the Flip Video and Kodak Zi8. They are cheap, small, and totally usable.

The takeaway: You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment; just start using what you have.

Light and sound are also covered. The book is worth it just for this information.

The book would not be complete  without discussing places on the Web where you can upload your videos. It isn’t only YouTube.com. There are lots of other video services where you can share your videos with the world.

I started with the Kindle version of this book. It is OK but for this type of information — Step 1, Step 2, … Step n — it was difficult to follow. This is especially true if you want to follow the instructions in the book. I liked what I was reading in the Kindle so much I bought a hardcopy of the book. My enjoyment level sky rocketed.

Just reading this book made me pick up my video cameras and play around with them. I have been experimenting with them for the past month or so (much to the detriment of my blog writing). Hum, a book that makes you take action! That’s rare.

Highly Recommended!

Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk

Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk Crush It: Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk.

This book is awesome. It is a combination of great information on using the Web to realize your dreams and tough-love. The truth is that each of us have potential to excel. There is ability, talent, and — here is where the tough-love comes in — determination and HARD WORK.

In the book Gary dispels some myths:

1) Your passion has to be in something that lots of people care about. It doesn’t take a lot of people. The internet enables anyone to reach their tribe and just about everything has a tribe. Choose your passion and let’er rip. But be flexible. Don’t be so rigid that you won’t alter your plans. Be flexible.

2) You have to be an entrepreneur in order to “crush it.” There are plenty of people who have found their tribe and their passion in the corporate world. Using the tools and techniques detailed in the book it is possible to take your corporate work to a whole new level. I want to highlight this important aspect of the book: Gary is one of the few writers of this type of book who doesn’t belittle employees. You can “crush it” in the corporate world. I like that.

3) You must quit your day job. You can start applying the lessons learned here immediately. Work on you passion during your free time. Yep, sleep or work, it’s your choice. Laying the groundwork while you are employed will make parting ways with the corporate world a little easier.

4) It’s easy. Just get started. It isn’t easy. It takes hard work. But, you can do it if you are willing to put in the time and effort.

Gary also discusses some tried and true “rules” of the social web. You must participate in your community. You must develop great content. And, you must be yourself. This last one is huge. He talks about his DNA throughout the book. His DNA is high-energy and high-effort. It is who he is and he is faithful to that in all his endeavors. In order to make this work, you have discover who you are and be true to your DNA.

Just writing this makes me want to read Crush It again. You know what, I am going to.

There is a post on Gary’s presentations coming up in the very near future. For the time being, follow @garyvee on Twitter and watch him on Wine Library TV.

Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun

Confessions of a Public Speaker is the 2nd of 52 books I will read this year.

How did I find Scott Berkun’s new book, Confessions of a Public Speaker? Oddly enough, it started on Twitter. I believe it was Kathy Sierra (@KathySierra) that tweeted about Scott’s promo video and the weighty cognitive load it placed on the viewer. The comment stream is pure gold and well worth reading.

Why did I read the book? I didn’t like the promo video, but Kathy seemed positive about the book. So I decided that I should read it. Besides, I do a lot of presentations and writing at work and figured that I would learn something.

“… the “Confessions…” book is amazing (I was one of the lucky ones that got an advance look and it “grabbed me by the throat, pinned me to the wall, and did not let up ’till I’d finished.” — Kathy Sierra

Lessons learned. Great presentations don’t just happen, they must be pondered. When it comes to presentation design, thinking is one of the most important ways you can spend your time. Scott’s book is the only book I have read on presentations what talks about it. I am obsessive about this portion of design and now I find that I am not alone.

Plus, Scott preaches … practice … practice … practice. This is a hard sell for most, but it is THE most important that you can do to ensure that your presentation is successful. Sure, you can immediately fire-up PowerPoint if you want to, but know this: The most beautiful set of slides in the world is useless if you suck. And if you don’t practice there is a good chance that your presentation will do just that, suck!

The book does not follow the usual recipe for a presentation book. There are no recipes for content development, no talk of gestures, etc. In short, this book is like sitting at a bar with your friends discussing presentations. It is highly engaging and dare I say, hard to put down. It’s a great book.

I really enjoyed the chapter, “You can’t do worse than this.” It contains presentation horror stories and shines a light on the fact that even expert presenters have things that go worse than expected. It’s hard not to like “train wreck stories.”

If you are new to presentations this should be the first book that you read on the topic. It gives a lot of great advice that many people take for granted. Plus, Scott points out that no one is perfect and no presentation is perfect. Although we strive for perfection, it is unobtainable. In short, do your best and give your presentation — it will be OK.

The final verdict: Presenters of all skill levels should read this book! I highly recommend it.

While you wait for your book to arrive be sure to check-out Scott’s blog. It’s full of very good stuff.

Kathy Sierra photo by Stephanie Booth

I am a huge fan of Kathy Sierra and her blog: Creating Passionate Users. There is no bigger advocate for software or Web end users. Plus, she can write like no other and really knows how to create interesting images. She doesn’t claim to be a “presentation guru” so don’t look to her for delivery advice: go to Bert Decker for that. This is one of the things that I like about her; she doesn’t claim to be something she’s not.

Kathy hasn’t actually written a guide to presentation design: I mined her blog and pieced it together for her. This is only the tip of the iceberg. It is worth your time to browse her blog postings; there is so much great stuff in there.

Better Beginnings: how to start a presentation, book, article… – Kathy discusses various techniques to grab an audience’s attention from the start — techniques guaranteed to have them in the palm of your hand.

Stop your presentation before it kills again – Kathy rails against the bullet laden slides that we all love so dearly. Pay strict attention to the “Do My Slides Suck” test. I really like the part where she puts the slide on trial. Pay particular attention to this point: It is hard for many people to discard a slide once they have created it. Don’t fall into that trap. Execute the useless buggers — they serve no purpose.

Add graphics to your blog, book, or presentation – Before Presentation Zen and Slide:ology there was Kathy Sierra. For technical presenters she is the master. In this post she discusses graphics.

“People pay attention to graphics. They respond to graphics. They learn from graphics.”

You should pay attention to what she says. She knows what she is talking about. Her blog is overflowing with outstanding graphics. It is easy to look at an image and tell if it is a Kathy Sierra original. Yes, her graphics are identifiable just like Stevie Ray Vaughn’s searing guitar riffs (that may be a stretch but bear with me).

Give users a Hollywood ending – Kathy applies learning theory and film making to designing presentations. We all know it is important to end strong but how do you do it. You will also learn why it is important to design many endings into your presentation.

Many, perhaps most, presenters focus all their attention on the middle (meat) of their presentations. Kathy points out that audiences are more apt to remember the details covered at the end. Read this post to learn some tricks for creating that compelling ending.

… but is it memorable? – You need to make sure you make your presentation memorable. Kathy shares some thoughts regarding how you can do that. More importantly, she gets you to think about it. Thinking is the unsung hero of great presentation – we should do it more often.

There is a ton of great content on Kathy’s blog. She no longer adds to it but there is enough content on it to take hours of your time. You should jot that down on your Getting Things Done (GTD) lists — spend hours of time reading and studying Kathy Sierra’s blog. You will be glad you did.

For more Kathy Sierra images by Stephanie Booth click here.

If you search Amazon.com books using the search term “presentation” you will get somewhere close to 417,207 hits. In your list you will see many of the most popular books. That is a shame because you won’t find the crown jewell of presentation books. Face it, sometimes you have to dig to find diamonds.

Add the word “decker” to you search list, resubmit the query, and you will hit the jackpot. The first book that you will see is:

You've Got to Be Believed to Be Heard

This is THE book on presentation that you have been looking for: If you learn the contents it will literally improve your life. I don’t say that lightly and I am not exaggerating — I mean it!

You may be asking, “Jeff, there are lots of presentation books out there — what makes this one different?” That is easy to answer. Bert Decker knows what he is talking about. He has years of experience in taking scared, ineffective, folks and turning them into confident people who can get their point across. You may have heard of some of them: Charles Schwab and Bonnie Blair.

Before I buy a presentation book I scour the Web to see if I can find videos of the author actually presenting. It is shocking but many of them just aren’t very good presenters. Bert is the real deal — he can actually present. Don’t take my word for it, look on YouTube and watch some of his work.

Plus, Bert’s organization has trained over 100,000 people how to communicate more effectively. That is A LOT of people.

Before we get into what the book is about, let’s discuss what it isn’t about: This book is not about PowerPoint design. It is my opinion that PowerPoint design books are the needed only after you learn how to craft and deliver a message. This book is about crafting delivering your message. That being said, there is a great piece of PowerPoint advice involving black slides.

Are you an “Old Communicator?” Mark McQwire is. Did you believe a word that Mark McQwire said when he testified about his alleged steroid use before the US Senate? If you didn’t then Bert can point out the problem. You see, “Old Communicators” have trouble connecting with an audience and the result is simple: don’t connect and we don’t believe.

“New Communicators” know what it takes to connect with an audience. They are believable. Not only do they hone their message they know how to deliver it in such a way that the audience will believe them. This happens when you combine your message with solid delivery skills. This connection happens in what Bert calls the First Brain.

The First Brain is the nonreasoning, nonrational part of our brain. Bert calls this the Gatekeeper and your message must get past it. The Gatekeeper is constantly asking the question “Friend or foe?” This discussion is worth the price of admission.

I am a huge believer in visualization. This is not simply picturing positive outcomes, although that it part of it. Visualization is mentally rehearsing all aspects of an activity you are preparing for. There is a great story in the book about how Major James Nesmeth used visualization to take 20 strokes off of his golf game in seven years. He didn’t touch a golf club during that time. Oh, he also used visualization in order not to die. You see Major Nesmeth was a Vietnam POW.

The First Brain can’t tell the difference between vivid visualization and an actual event. Fascinating! You can use this to greatly improve your presentations.

Finally, the book describes the Decker Grid and how you can use it to rapidly craft a presentation. It is simple and easy to do. Plus, it organizes your thoughts so that you never read a speech. You simply note the trigger word and continue on speaking from the heart.

I don’t want to spoil it for you; you really should get the book. Read it and internalize it. Use it to make your life better. Don’t just take my word for it hear what others have said…

“this is a breakthrough book, with new important ideas. After reading it you will be a believer…that success and fulfillment are achievable only if you’re an effective communicator. And it shows the way.” –W. Pendleton Tudor, Chairman, AdWeek

“Bert Decker makes communicating come alive…A must read!” –Coauthor, The One Minute Manager

“The sentences are alive and vital. Bert Decker says something and says it powerfully.” –Dr. Normal Vincent Peale

“The Decker Method is a must for anyone who truly wants to succeed.” –Charles Schwab, Chaiman Charles Schwab & Co.

If you have a question for Bert he is very easy to find. Check-out his blog or Tweet him at @BertDecker. In the mean time, buy the book. You won’t be sorry.