Presentation Zen

The "Godin Method" of presentation design

I have seen a lot of marketing professionals over the years give some pretty awful presentations. But Seth Godin appears to be one marketing "guru" who has given serious thought to how to design appropriate messages and accompanying visuals. Seth gets it. Can we call seth's presentation approach the "Godin Method"? (See the "Kawasaki Method" and "Takahashi Method".)

In an interview with Cliff Atkinson, Seth shares some of his views on presentations/PowerPoint:

"As a public speaker, I see far more than my fair share of presentations. Worse, a lot of them are from people getting paid to give them - and they're horrible. Horribly produced, horribly ineffective."

Many professionals who give presentations are not actually selling a product, so does all this selling and pitching stuff really apply, say, to academics, researchers, or to the guys down the hall in the accounting department? This was a question asked in the Atkinson interview. Seth comments:

"It seems to me that if you're not wasting your time and mine, you're here to get me to change my mind, to do something different. And that, my friend, is selling. If you're not trying to persuade, why are you here?"

A good question. A question I ask myself many times while watching (enduring?) highly paid senior managers and executives present information...one slide after another (...and another).

Seth wrote an ebook not too long ago that was a #1 bestseller on Amazon for about a year. I think the price was about two bucks for the downloadable PDF file. The money went to charity. The short book is well worth two bucks, but now you can get it for free if you agree to buy Free Prize Inside (it's on the honor system). The digital version is not copy protected so you are allowed to share the file with others in hardcopy or digital form. Spread the word.

I found slides demonstrating the "Godin Method" of presentation from the Ideavirus page on sethgodin.com. These particular slides (random sample thumbs below) are now over five years old. Back in the summer of 2000 there were probably not too many people with visuals like these...or today for that matter. Take a look at the slides. They are not for everyone, of course, but just click through the deck of 60 slides with an open mind. Perhaps you'll get some ideas for the design of your presentation visuals for a future talk. What aspects do you like? What design details would you change to fit your situation?

Sample thumbs from the July, 2000 presentation by Seth Godin:

     

     

     

          

The Kawasaki Method: an enlightened presentation approach

Following up on a recent post on Guy Kawasaki's highly touted presentation skills, let me point you below to an article featuring excerpts from a recent presentation by Guy which you may find interesting.

Remember that Guy's presentations almost always follow a "top-10" format — essentially ten slides and ten major ideas. That's it. Simple. Although it is not officially recognized as "a method" like the now mildly famous "Takahashi Method" in Japan, I will from now on refer to Guy's presentation style as "The Kawasaki Method." You may want to do the same. Who knows, maybe by naming it, an actual movement of sorts will develop across the planet. Guy's method — the "Kawasaki Method" — is not a panacea by any means or the perfect method for every presenter or every situation. It is one enlightened, simple method among others. No panaceas or "final answers" on presentation design or methods exist.

This article on the Always On Network features excerpts from a recent presentation by Guy for Autodesk's "Realize Your Ideas" tour. In the first part of this presentation,"Make Meaning," Guy shares his thoughts on public speaking and the genesis of the "top-10" format ("Kawasaki Method"):

"One of the things I learned about in the formative stages of my career was public speaking. I learned by watching lots of presentations, and one thing I figured out early on is that most CFO-level speakers — particularly CEOs, particularly male CEOs—really suck as speakers. They're boring; they're long; they wander around. I saw speech after speech, and I discovered that if there's anything worse than a speaker who sucks, it's a speaker who sucks and you have no idea how much longer he or she is going to suck. That's a horrible feeling.

To prevent you from getting that feeling, I've developed a Top 10 format. All of my speeches are in Top 10 format, because if you think I suck, I at least want you to be able to track my progress through the speech so that you know approximately know how much longer I'm going to suck."

                           — Guy Kawasaki

Read the rest of the presentation excerpts on the Always On site.

Train to Osaka: Finding inspiration in Japanese print ads

Like most people in Japan, I spend a lot of time riding trains. Trains here are clean, comfortable, and on time. The trains are also full of print advertising hanging and fixed to every conceivable space. This is not bad, however, as the print ads allow passengers something to read if they should tire of their magazines, books, or the audio files on their iPods. I enjoy scanning the print ads while I commute as this allows me the chance to keep abreast of new products and events, and also to study graphic design trends and observe the way graphics and print are used in the media.

For the most part, Japanese poster design — although usually very creative — is anything but simple or "zen." Busy, colorful, noisy, and intense seems to be the order of the day (these words also describe my first Japanese boss, but that's another story). So last year when I noticed the JT (Japan Tobacco) "Smokers' Style" campaign I was immediately impressed, delighted, and amused by the way the agency designed the JT posters. Depending where you are in the world, these green and white posters may not seem so special, but for me, given the clutter found in most posters and print ads, these poster where like a breath of fresh air (quite ironic given the nature of the campaign, I realize).

There are actually several different campaigns by JT. But two in particular stand out. One is called "The kind manners of Mr. Inhale" (called "Su-san" in Japanese). The "Mr. Inhale" campaign posters may be creative, cheeky, and colorful, but they also have less visual impact when compared to the clean simplicity of the posters from the "Smoking manners awareness" campaign ("Anata ga kitsugeba mana- ha kawaru" in Japanese).

     

Notice the difference in terms of impact and clarity between the two posters above. The one on the left is from the "Su-san" set. The poster on the right is from the "Smoking manners awareness" set.

I asked a local Japanese graphic designer I know, who works here with some of the largest firms in the world, what she thought about the JT posters from the stand point of effective visual communication. I asked her to compare the posters from the two different campaigns above. She much preferred the "Manners" posters for their clean, simple messaging. Here's what she said:

"It seems like they use different taste/artist for each campaign. The "Manners" campaign posters are indeed much simpler. It is one-color printing with green, the most eco-friendly color. The two simple colors, white and green, are a good choice for these messages. The "Manners" ads use a pictograph-like illustration. Pictograph is the ultimate form of universal design, and it is simple enough for anyone to understand: old or young, Japanese or non-Japanese. Also, there is so much clutter and noise in most print advertising that this very simple design actually stands out more. People see this on the street or in the train where it is filled with clutter. Also, it is a bit comic-like, so people like Japanese who grew up with comics are naturally drawn to it."

What struck me when I first saw the posters is how much they reminded me of the slides used in a PowerPoint presentation I once saw on the issue of environmental resource planning. The use of white space, simple colors, minimal use of text, and the consistent use of unique pictographs to illustrate systems, processes, and events really made for good visual support of a content-rich presentation to an international crowd. With some additional editing, I could imagine using visuals like these below for a presentation.

   

       

EXERCISE: Take a look at the two sets of posters here and here. If they were PowerPoint visuals, how do they compare for simplicity, clarity, beauty, grace, impact, and overall visual support? Are there any principles or techniques in these examples that you can adapt to your presentation design project?  Perhaps a future project?

FYI
Here you can see links to the campaign's TV ads, links to all the posters used in the campaign, and a smoking manners screen saver (so if you want to give subtle hints to your coworker, this screen saver might do it). There is even a "manner poster maker" which allows you to type in your own text.

Download the "Manners Screen saver" here. The screen saver will circulate through several different posters. I guarantee no one else in your office will have this screen saver. Voice your smoking-etiquette evangelism! You can download the "Su-san" ("Mr. Inhale") screensaver too here.

See how manners are changing in Japan. Simple pie charts along with the graphical and written representation of the behavior in question.

See TV commercial promoting "smoking manners awareness" in QuickTime or RealPlayer.

Living large: "Takahashi Method" uses king-sized text as a visual

In the Japanese language Nikkei newspaper yesterday I stumbled upon an interesting article featuring stories on people who have started small grassroots movements — however unintentional — by doing something in a unique way. One such person is Mr. Masayoshi Takahashi who has gotten a lot of people interested in his unique way of presenting, now labeled the "Takahashi Method."

Takahashi uses only text in his slides. But not just any text — really big text. Huge text. Characters of impressive proportion which rarely number more than ten, usually fewer. The goal, he says, is to use short words rather than long, complicated words and phrases. Last year Takahashi gave a presentation at a conference using the method or style that he created. People were deeply impressed by his presentation — not the content, but his slides. Over the past year, blogs across Japan have been buzzing about Takahashi and his presentation style and people began calling it the "Takahashi Method."

Why this method?
About four years ago Takahashi had to give a 5-minute presentation at a conference. He wanted a way to get his message clear and powerful in such a short time and found that his method was excellent for having people understand and remember his presentation.

Takahashi is a computer programmer who did not have software like PowerPoint (the slide above says "I don't have PowerPoint"). He says he did not have access to photos or drawing programs either. So he was stuck with text. Still, he wanted to be different. He wanted to be effective. So he started thinking very hard about how to use the best word for each slide as he took the audience through his presentation. The words or phrases resemble Japanese newspaper headlines rather than sentences which must be read. His slides, though they are all text, are visual, visual in the sense that (if you read Japanese) they are instantly understood and support his talk. As he says, if you have bullets or sentences, the audience will read those and may miss what you are saying.

Is the method applicable?
I really like aspects of Takahashi's approach (in terms of slides). Takahashi says that the method is really designed for people who are not good at presentations and who are quite nervous about the idea of presenting. This method, then, is easy to do, helps the presenter get organized during planning and keeps the presenter on track while presenting. The method provides clear visual support for the audience and helps make the content more memorable. While it may not be a perfect method or applicable in all situations, it is still far better than the method used by most business people in Japan. Most slide presentations in Japan consists of boring reams of bulleted text (used later or simultaneously as "handouts") which many people can not read since the text on screen is too small (though that rarely keeps people from trying to read the slides anyway).

The slides used in my presentations are usually a mix of full-screen, high-quality photos, some charts/graphs, and slides with single words, short phrases, or short quotations. The idea of using very, very large type on screen is a good one. And though I think photos and graphics can be most effective, when we do use text on a slide, we would be well advised to keep it large and concise.

You can see all the slides here used by Takahashi in his recent presentation on "The Takahashi Method." The sample slides I feature below were taken from his presentation slides available on-line. In Photoshop I added a background screen to give the slides context.

     
(Left) "The Takahashi Method" title slide. (Right) "Huge characters" — He stresses using large letters on slides.

     
(Left) "Easy to see." He states that small text is impossible for people in the back to see, so keep it "big." (Right) "History." Takahashi begins to talk about the background of his method.

     
(Left) "Four" main points he'd like to discuss. (Right) The "first" point is....

Guy Kawasaki: Presenter extraordinaire

You have heard me praise the presentation skills of Steve Jobs many times before. He's the high priest of presentations. But there is another master communicator with a strong Apple history known for his engaging and charismatic presentations: Guy Kawasaki. Guy is a Silicon Valley legend of sorts. He first gained fame over twenty years ago as a tech evangelist for Apple, "leading the charge against world-wide domination by IBM." Currently Guy is Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures and the author of many popular business books including his latest, The Art of the Start. He is a sought-after speaker because he brings the rare combination of experience, great content, and a wonderful engaging style.

Presentation advice from the frontlines
I recommend you buy Art of the Start for two reasons: (1) because it is a relevant, useful book for any business person, especially entrepreneurs or future entrepreneurs, and (2) because Guy devotes an entire chapter to the "Art of the Pitch" which contains solid tips and advice for making effective presentations to people who can help or invest in your ideas. And when you think about it, most presentations are pitches, are they not? Most presentations are (or should be) about selling your idea to get buy in, agreement, financial support, research funding, and so on. Great content is necessary, but it is not going to sell itself. Not usually. We've got to pitch or sell our data and ideas to be effective. So Guy's tips on "pitching" are applicable to most business or technical presentations.

Allow me here to highlight just one idea (among many) from Guy's chapter on pitching. "Pitch constantly," Guy says. Forget about the idea of "rising to the occasion" on the presentation day. If you shuffle badly through practice and give it a half-hearted effort in preparation, you will surely be lousy on the day of the presentation. The best musicians and athletes, for example, perform in practice just like they do during the actual concert or event. There are no shortcuts. Says Guy:

"Familiarity breeds content. It's when you are actually familiar and comfortable with your pitch that you'll be able to give it most effectively. There are no shortcuts to achieving familiarity — you simply have to pitch a lot of times.

"Twenty-five times is what it takes for most people to reach this point. All these pitches don't have to be to your intended audiences — your co-founders, employees, relatives, friends, and even your dog are fine auditors."

Slide simplicity
Guy takes a very "zen approach" to his presentations and the supporting PowerPoint. His talks usually evolve around ten key points, no matter the topic. His visuals, then, will consist of ten slides each with one key message spelled out. That's it. Simple. The visuals keep Guy on track and help him tell his story and give a strong feeling of organization to the tone of the talk. Guy kindly agreed to do a couple of presentations for me while I was at Apple. His 10-points/10-slides approach was very effective and allowed the audience to focus on his words, his face, and his personality...this made his content far more accessible. You can download slides from Guy's keynote presentation for the WOMMA 2005. In this presentation his visuals follow the 10-point/10-slides guide (though he includes an eleventh, "be a mensch" for good measure).

Brendon Wilson has posted transcripts of "The Art of Positioning & Presentation" talk from the Art of the Start Conference. Scroll to the middle to find the section on presenting.You can download the audio files from Guy's presentations (and others too) from the 2005 Art Of the Start Conference.

Business Training Direct has a good article featuring Guy's ideas on presentation simplicity. Cliff Atkinson also has a good, short interview with Guy worth reading. And here in an interview with Technation, Guy talks about "The Art of the Start" and many other things as well.

Mensch extraordinaire
Guy talks often about being a Mensch — and from what I've seen he backs it up. When I first met Guy in his office at Garage in 2001, before I ever had a chance to ask if he'd like to present at one of our future Macworld events, he volunteered. He then accepted several other opportunities to give of his time to user groups. Guy can make a lot of money by public speaking, no doubt. But he also "gives it away" quite often. Now that's a Mensch.

What is good PowerPoint design?

Occasionally, I'm asked by colleagues or clients to send samples of "great slides" or "good PowerPoint." I usually hesitate to send examples of slides since my answer to the question, "what does a great PowerPoint slide look like?" is "...it depends." In a world which often thinks in terms of absolutes — "this is good, that is bad" — "it depends" is not the most popular answer.

Context matters
However, as far as design is concerned, it is useful not to think (judge) in terms of "right or wrong," but rather in terms of what is "appropriate or inappropriate." That is, is it appropriate or inappropriate for a particular context? "Good" and "bad" are indeed terms we use when talking about design — including  PowerPoint slides — but I'm personally cautious of this dualistic thinking, especially when judging a design without its full context available. So much depends on how the visual is placed within the context of the presentation, and the content and objectives of that particular presentation are of paramount concern. Without a good knowledge of the place and circumstance, and the content and context of a presentation, it is impossible to say this is "appropriate" and that is "inappropriate."

Simple but not simplistic
If there is one important precept worth following, it is the idea of simplicity. The best visuals are often ones designed with an eye toward simplicity. Yet, this says nothing about the specifics of a visual presentation. That will depend on the content and context. For example, even the best visuals used in support of a presentation for one audience on, say, quantum mechanics, may appear complicated and confusing to a different audience.

Simplicity is often used as a means to greater clarity. However, simplicity can also be viewed as a consequence. A consequence, that is, of our careful efforts to craft a story and create supporting visuals that focus on our audience's needs in a clear and meaningful way. Ok, simplicity is great you say, but how simple? What is the formula for simplicity? If you can't give me concrete examples, you might say, at least give me a formula for making powerful, simple visuals. But do static formulas for achieving simplicity exist?

In Living Zen, author Robert Linsen (in speaking on the simplification of needs in everyday life) says that a "simplification of existence" is a consequence of an "effective experience of Zen." In other words, as one discovers their true nature, "needs" such as possessions or status are reduced or seen for what they are: superfluous. This begs the question then: "What are the minimum or maximum needs for an individual?" To this the author responds

"No one can define them or draw up a system around them. That is where we should exercise our judgment....Use depends for each one of us on the place and circumstances. If we were to codify the laws concerning it they might soon become a great bondage for us."

Here the author is not necessarily speaking of design and presentation visuals, of course, but we can see how we can apply Zen principles to everyday life including design, even the design of slides and other visuals. Simplicity is an important design principle. But simplicity in design is as much art (small "a") as science. It is, therefore, quite difficult to offer up prescriptions or "rules" for appropriate design. Without full knowledge of the context and circumstances, such rules could become "a great bondage," so to speak, leading to inappropriate design choices or recommendations.

Visual makeover
Having said all of that, below are a few slides demonstrating different visual treatments in support of a single message. The context is a presentation on gender and labor issues in Japan. The purpose of the slide is to visually support the claim that "72% of the part-time workers in Japan are women." This statistic is from the Japanese Ministry of Labor. The figure "72%" is something the presenter said she wanted the audience to remember as it is discussed again as the presentation progresses. So how to design a slide that is subtle, simple, memorable, and fits into a theme that is appealing and attractive?

     

BEFORE. Above (left) is the original slide. The problem with the slide on the left is that the clip-art used does not reinforce the statistic, nor does it even fit the theme of women in the Japanese labor market. The background is a tired, overused PowerPoint template. The text is difficult to read. And as one trainee commented: "it's ugly."

The slide on the right (above) was an effort to display the same information in a pie chart. Besides using an overused template, the visual displays the pie chart in a distorted and inelegant fashion. For the sake of clarity, it is usually best to avoid 3-D effects. Also, rather than giving the slide a title, a declarative sentence that states the point directly may be more appropriate.

     

AFTER: All the slides were redesigned to match the theme above. The slide on the left was the one used for the presentations. But the one on the right could also be used effectively. Notice that either slide (especially the slide without any text) would be virtually meaningless without the presenter's narration. The handout that followed the presentation expanded on the relevance of the statistic and gave it context. The five-page handout proved to be a good reference for those who attended the presentation and for those who did not.

                           

Using a pie chart is also a good way to represent this simple statistic. Here (left) the large text at the top can be easily seen. The text reads more like a headline — a declarative sentence — rather than just a title or category. The slide on the right is another possible way to support the message. In this case a completely different template was used.

Should you design your slides to look like this?
The design choices are many. The examples above are just a few attempts at improving the look & feel, impact, and effectiveness of the original slides. Should you design your slides to look like this? That's your call and depends on your specific circumstance. Also, this particular example does not deal with a technical presentation. If your presentation is on a less technical topic such as leadership, HRM, marketing, etc. then simple slides like these may be very effective. If you are giving a very technical presentation to a technical audience hungry for data, then your slides may look quite different. But even for a very technical presentation, embracing simplicity of design and striving for the greatest clarity possible should still be the objective. How you do that will depend on a great many things.

In future I will show a design makeover featuring more technical content. In the meantime, if you have good examples of visual support for very technical presentation content, please feel free to share it with me. I'd love to see your examples.