With successful presentations in Tokyo behind me, I boarded the 5:03pm Super
Express bound for Osaka complete with my ekiben (a special kind of Japanese
lunch box or bento sold at train stations) and a can of Asahi beer in hand. The
quintessential "Japan experience" for me is zipping through the Japanese
countryside aboard cutting-edge rail technology while sampling traditional
Japanese delicacies with my chopsticks, sipping Japanese beer, and catching
glimpses of temples, shrines, and even Mount Fuji out the spacious side window.
It's a wonderful juxtaposition of the old and the new, and a pleasant way to end
the day.
While in the midst of savoring the contents of my bento, I glanced to my right
across the aisle to see a Japanese businessman with a pensive look on his face
reviewing a printed deck of PowerPoint slides. Two slides per page, one page after
another filled with boxes crammed with reams of Japanese text in several different
colors. No empty space. No graphics except for the company logo at the top of
each slide box. Just slide after slide of text, subject titles, bullet points, and logos.
Were these slides used for visual support in a live oral presentation? If so, I
sympathize with the audience. Since when can an audience read and listen to
someone talk at the same time (even if they could actually see the 12-point text on
the screen well enough to read it)? Were the slides used merely as a kind of
document printed in PowerPoint? If so, I pity both the author and the reader
because PowerPoint is not a tool for document creation. Boxes of bullet points and
logos do not make for a good handout or report. And judging by the way the man
was flipping back and forth between the printed slides, perhaps frustrated by the
ambiguity of the content, this was becoming apparent to him.
What a contrast in the presentation of content, I thought to myself: The beautifully
efficient, well-designed Japanese bento before me containing nothing superfluous,
compared with the poorly-designed, difficult-to-understand deck of printed
PowerPoint slides across the aisle. Why couldn't the design and presentation
of business and technical content for a live talk have more in common with the
spirit of the simple bentos sold at Japanese train stations? For example, the
Japanese bento contains appropriate content arranged in the most efficient,
graceful manner. The bento is presented in a simple, beautiful, and balanced
way. Nothing lacking. Nothing superfluous. Not decorated, but wonderfully
designed. It looks good, and it tastes good. A satisfying, inspiring, and fulfilling
way to spend 20 minutes. When was the last time you could say the same about
a presentation?
A delicious Japanese bento and a PowerPoint presentation may seem to
have nothing in common, but it was at that moment in time many years ago,
rolling across Japan at 200 miles an hour, that I had an insight or an
"awakening." With this flash of awareness, I realized that something needed to
be done to end the scourge of bad, PowerPoint slides and the lifeless narration
that accompanies them, and that I could do something to help. In Japan, just
like everywhere else in the world, professionals suffer through poorly designed
presentations on a daily basis. Presentations in which the slides often do more
harm than good. It is not enjoyable, and it is not effective. I knew that if I could
begin to help others look at preparation, design, and delivery of so-called
"PowerPoint presentations" in a different way, perhaps I could do my small part
to help others communicate far more effectively. That moment on the Bullet
Train—somewhere between Yokohama and Nagoya—was when I began writing
this book by sharing my thoughts on the Presentation Zen Web site, a blog that
would go on to become the most visited site on presentation design on the net.
This book has three sections: Preparation, Design, and Delivery. Along the way
I'll provide a good balance of principles and concepts, inspiration, and practical
examples. I'll even show you before/after photos of the actual bento on the
Bullet Train that was the inspiration for this book. Before reviewing the
current state of presentations today and why
presentations matl than ever before, let's first look at
what is meant by “Presentation Zen”
asyaerere
19.10.13 в 12:59
