Michael in Los Angels, a finance expert who arranges structured finance transactions for real estate developers, sent me the link to this Slideshare below that was created seven months ago. "It's very simplistic but it does a good job of giving a pretty good flavor for what went down," wrote Michael in a recent email. "Everyone knew this was going to eventually fold, although I don’t believe anyone really knew that the credit markets would get to this point." Michael even used one of the slides in a recent presentation and he said the entire auditorium got it. "It was amazing how powerful just showing one slide was." A few finance professionals have sent me the Slideshare link this week; it's a good followup to the whiteboard presentation in the previous post. Visually this Slideshare is simplified to the point of being quite crude, and yet as a sort of tongue-in-cheek overview of at least part of the financial crisis this works. The downside of this Slideshare is that you'll have to view it at "Full Screen" to read the text. Warning: some of the language may be too crude for some (you've been warned), but given what took place in the market this week, I heard much worse in the Tokyo pubs.)
It can't get much clearer than that! What ever happened to safeguards and systemic guidelines to control such criminal greed? If the system lets it happen, don't be shocked when it finally does happen. Now, all of us pay it!
Stick figures can have an impact, Garr. Rough, but very functional and instructive.
Posted by: Michael Sporer | October 12, 2008 at 11:23 PM
I wonder who created this presentation 7 months ago. Is it the "guest" who uploaded the slides to slideshare?
Posted by: Jan Schultink | October 12, 2008 at 11:26 PM
Classic! Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Art Johnson | October 13, 2008 at 02:19 AM
What I find amazing is that I have already received a French translation of this presentation (I am French) twice last week! It is clearly going around...
Alan
Posted by: Alan Schmitt | October 13, 2008 at 03:56 AM
As a reader to Presentation Zen some times, I've noticed this site is getting really politcal. I think I'll find other presentation blogs. It has been fun to read.
Posted by: EX-READER | October 13, 2008 at 06:26 AM
Sorry, but this is an example how plain text is superior than text with images... when the images add almost nothing to the message. There are only 5 images--and 4 if you count the money-in-the-garbage only once.
I totally believe in visual communication, but this just doesn't serve it well.
Posted by: Phillip Kerman | October 13, 2008 at 10:20 AM
> As a reader to Presentation Zen some times, I've noticed this site is getting really politcal.
This is "really political?" It's the biggest story in the world right now. Should I ignore good speeches and good examples, etc. just because the content is related to important world events? And how would a discussion about the financial crisis offend one's political sensibilities?
I did not mean to offend anyone, but I am not sure how the blog has become "really political." True, I have highlighted the US prez. candidates last month in terms of their speeches. Oh well... c'est la vie.
Posted by: Garr | October 13, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Hi Garr, I've been lurking here since year and a half. Just to balance ex-reader's post I want to thank you for all work you sharing with us here. I started to use powerpoint regularly some 2 years ago for teaching political advertising (which is highly visual, and just like billboards one could find some inspiration in it to make better powerpoint presentations). I worked with ppt because it seemed most convinient way to emmbed videos and show them to students but then Dark Side start to work on me and I added more and more text. I knew that something was wrong after first semester and started to look for some help and fresh ideas. I found your blog and that was it. Really, really inspiring. Changed my approach in a really ZEN or Kaizen way.
Thanks Garr and I await your book in Polish.
Toomasz
Posted by: Toomasz | October 13, 2008 at 09:23 PM
I had to squint to see this.
Posted by: Susan | October 14, 2008 at 12:02 AM
@Susan click the little "full screen" button
Posted by: Phillip Kerman | October 17, 2008 at 11:30 AM
So simple but even it describes the point deeply. And I love the descriptive humor. Great job.
Posted by: Financial Crisis | May 26, 2009 at 02:38 AM