Leaving on a Jet Plane (Part Deux)

Whirlwind trip with a ton of meetings. CAC, CAC-T, BCTP, CGSC, MC COE and even ABC.

Looking forward to how Microsoft can help the Army save time and money using MPM.

More Posts soon.

DK

Introducing Your Organization to the Modern Presentation Method

Change is hard!  Especially within an organization.  People are afraid to move from what is familiar, even if it is sub-optimal, to something that is unfamiliar.  People have been emailing me lately asking how they should introduce the Modern Presentation Method into their organizations.  My answer is simple.  Do it very slowly.  Find the low hanging fruit.  And then fix it.

I recommend you find a presentation that is given regularly in your organization.  Something that is repeated frequently.  Here are some examples.

• Sellers and Marketers:  Your core “pitch deck”.  The one you use whenever you are presenting on screen to prospective customers.
• Teachers:  Any class you teach frequently.  Just pick one that looks bad or is too long.
• Managers and Organizers:  All-Hands meeting.  Team or Project Status meeting.

 

The next time you need to do that presentation, create a second version of it using the Modern Presentation Method.  Then, when you are reviewing it beforehand with the stakeholders, show them   the before and after versions.  If you did a good job, they will love the new version created with the Modern Presentation Method.

To put my money where my mouth is, I am going to do a before and after of an AAR deck for a training unit at one of the Joint Readiness Centers.  We’ll see if I can get permission to post it so I can show you what I did.

Thanks for tuning in.

 DK

mailto:dkarle@microsoft.com

A Company Training Meeting Template

No one in the Army like training meetings.  I know that I hated them.  Someone gets up and presents a stunningly long deck of slides that eventually numbs the audience into resigned acceptance.  In fact, yesterday I was talking with a hard charging 11B E7 who has been selected for E8 and he was describing how his unit would conduct training briefings on Friday afternoon and they would drone on and on.

So to help all of you who hate sitting through the same I propose that instead of presenting a PowerPoint deck up on a screen you adopt a variation of what I have here.  This is a traditional company training meeting PowerPoint deck boiled down to a single 11×17 slide.  The beauty of briefing from a single 11×17 is that it puts the entire problem right in front of the audience.  Most people, me included, have trouble envisioning an entire 8 week training cycle in their mind.  In addition, when it is presented, piece by piece, slide by slide on screen, what is difficult becomes impossible.  This method resolves that.  It also gives the audience something to take notes on.

Here is an example of an 8-week training calendar on an 11 x 17.

 

Here is a single week’s schedule.

 

Moreover, here is the template that I used to build both.  This is what I call a slide starter.

 

The way to build one of these decks is very simple.  Open the slide starter file (Training_Meeting_Slide_Starter) and save as a new filename. 

Go to the instructions slide and select the appropriate content you want to add.  They are

Training Summary Table – This is for the details for each event during a single week.  It contains placeholders for all the key information the commander wants to summarize a training event such as training areas and supplies.

 

Notes – Here is where you put notes for each training event.

 

Weekly List – This is simply a list of each training event for a week, by date, with a simple red-yellow-green status.

Add your content until it is fully filled out and then print the 11×17.  Instructions on how to print 11 x17 are listed on the instructions slide.

Note:  Moving to 11×17 is a challenge at first for the briefer (it is a radically different approach to building the PowerPoint Deck) and it can be challenging for the person[s] being briefed.  I am interested in what you think about how we can overcome these barriers and what can be improved.

Thanks for tuning in.

 DK

mailto:dkarle@microsoft.com

Training Breakthrough – One Army Unit is converted to The Modern Presentation Method

Sorry for being so late, but today I have been busy, secretly training a unit of the US. Army in how to improve their briefings using the Modern Presentation Method.  The training was a huge success, the officers and NCOs involved are excited to try out what they have learned on an unsuspecting O6 later this week.  We’ll let you know how it goes.

Now, my good friend, Doctrine Man has been busy this weekend posting on the evils that all of you are facing from terrible briefers out there in Army land.  Now, in order to help the Tool behind the Tool (DM’s description) I have decided it is time to tackle the four briefing styles with some cool templates.  In this homage to the hapless briefer, I will try to give him or her the perfect template from which to conduct their next briefing.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post where I will tackle the ubiquitous and often horrible Company Training Meeting.

Thanks for tuning in.

 DK

mailto:dkarle@microsoft.com

Stopping the Never Ending Story – For Sellers and Marketers

Today’s blog post is for all of you out there who use presentations to sell or market to an end customer. These are Pitch Presentations.

Now, one of the most annoying problems in presenting today is something called the Never Ending Story.  This type of presentation is too long and generally has a confusing storyline.  It goes on, and on, and on.  The way to prevent this is to apply the simple rules down below when you are building your presentation.

1. Only Include What Is Truly Important – There is a natural tendency to try to include every fact, detail, and data point in a presentation.  You have to fight this every step of the way.  Your goal should be to present the minimum amount of information necessary to drive the result you want.Move extraneous details to your slide notes and move extraneous slides to your appendix.  That way the data is still there and you can pull it out during the conversation post your presentation or give it out in a handout.
    
2. Plan To Present For Half Of Your Allotted Time – Most of the time you will have a 30, 45, or 60 minute meeting.  I almost exclusively present for only half of my allotted time.  The remaining time I leave to have a dialogue or conversation with my audience.  Your audience will always have questions and concerns and the best way to respect their opinions is to let them express them to you.I account for this 50% rule when I start Visualizing a presentation and I will set a slide count based on it.  So what does this mean?
   30 Minute Meeting or Presentation – 15 minutes of presenting = 1 to 12 slides
   45 Minute Meeting or Presentation – 22.5 minutes of presenting = 1 to 16 slides
   60 Minute Meeting or Presentation – 30 minutes of presenting = 1 to 20 slides
    
3. Use a Story Arc – Pitch presentations are always a story designed to excite, inspire, and activate.  Many people have trouble coming up with a story framework that does this.  Story arcs are specific story plots that you can use to help create your story framework.  Try using one of these time tested story arcs in your next pitch.   Below is just one of the more than 50 different story arcs that I use for Pitch presentations! 
   
   This particular presentation is called “A Day in the Life” (Day_In_The_Life_v1) and is useful for any product that the customer may have with them throughout the day, from smartphones to shoes.   I have included a PowerPoint deck built from the Super Blue Template that you could use as a starter deck to build a finished presentation.   
   Note – These are all 30-minute meetings, so 9 slides in this case.

    

Conclusions

So there it is, just three simple rules.

1. Cut the fat – Only include what is truly important for the audience to know and move everything else to the appendix or handouts.
2. 50% Rule – Only present for half of your allotted time.  Use the rest to have a conversation.  Enforce this by setting a slide count and sticking to it.
3. Use A Story Arc – Save yourself time and apply one of these time tested story arcs to your pitch. 

 

Thanks for tuning in.

 DK

mailto:dkarle@microsoft.com

Stephen Kosslyn – Brain Ninja

Wow!  Just finished meeting with Stephen Kosslyn PHD, former Dean of Social Sciences at Harvard, currently the Director for the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.  Dean Kosslyn is a pioneer in the world of cognitive neuroscience.  For 35 years, he has been a groundbreaking researcher in how the mind perceives, stores, and recalls mental images.  In other words, he’s a Brain Ninja!

 

He has also written a number of great books on how presenters can up their game.  His latest one is called Better PowerPoint (R) : Quick Fixes Based On How Your Audience Thinks.  Head over to Amazon and download it, use it, and you will be a better presenter.

The good doctor was kind enough to give me his time and his thoughts on the Modern Presentation Method.  I learned a great deal today and can’t wait to get back to Redmond and put his advice to good use.  Thanks for the time today Dean Kosslyn!

Thanks for tuning in.

 DK

mailto:dkarle@microsoft.com

BAM! Your Modern Presentation Method Cubicle Poster Has Arrived!

All right, people have been asking me all week, do you have a single slide that shows what the Modern Presentation Method is?  So here it.  The five steps are outlined (Visualize, Storyboard, Build, Rehearse, and Execute), if the method varies by presenter experience level (101, 201, 301) I call out how it is different, and best of all I show which problems each step fixes.

 

So quick, download it, print it out, and proudly display in your cubicle.  Take a pic of it with your smartphone and email it to me! 

Thanks for tuning in.

 DK

mailto:dkarle@microsoft.com

Steal This Super Blue Template!

It has been a crazy week!  I spent most of it at the Microsoft – US Army Symposium talking about how the Modern Presentation Method can help the Army save time and drive better presentation outcomes.  They loved it!  More to come on that in future weeks.

For today, I wanted to offer up another cool template.  This one is called the Blue_Super_Template.  Download it and steal it!

Here’s an example of one of the slide layouts!

 

Thanks for tuning in.

 DK

mailto:dkarle@microsoft.com

A Super Template – Steal This And Use It!

I have put together an template based on the tenets of the Modern Presentation Method that you can use to quickly create a beautiful and compelling presentation.  There are 8 basic layouts in this template.  In each case, the presenter can use the templates to quickly build out your PowerPoint deck.  Today I am going to walk you through the template and tomorrow I am going to show you how I used it to fix someone’s PowerPoint deck for them.  Here is the Template – Black_Super_Template

Here are the individual layouts, each with a quick example to show what a finished slide built from them looks like.

NOTES SLIDE

This is where I put all of the slide detail.  This is a hidden slide that the audience doesn’t see so my on-screen slides stay sharp and my handouts have all the detail because I print out the notes slide that corresponds to each slide that I display on screen.

BANNER SLIDE

This slide is great for introducing a subject or a demo. 

SECTION TITLES SLIDES

I almost always use section title slides to help break up my deck into a logical flow for the audience.

SINGLE EXAMPLE SLIDE

Let us say you want to talk about just one thing on your slide.  This single example slide is great for that.

TITLE ONLY SLIDE

Same as the Single example slide but just with more freedom.

SLIDES FOR MAKING MULTIPLE POINTS – Group A

The bane of all presentations today is “how do I organize multiple points on a single slide”?  Well no more.  I have included layouts that allow you to put between two and eight points on a single slide.  Here is group A.

SLIDES FOR MAKING MULTIPLE POINTS – Group B

Here is group B. 

SLIDES FOR MAKING MULTIPLE POINTS – Group C 

Here is group C.

SLIDES FOR MAKING MULTIPLE POINTS – Group D

Here is group D.

To get this template, just click on this, Black_Super_Template and it will download it. Open it and choose to save it as a PowerPoint Template.  Once you do that, it will appear in the custom template section every time you choose to create a new PowerPoint.

Thanks for tuning in!

 DK

mailto:dkarle@microsoft.com

Lies, Damn Lies, and Data – When and How to Use Data in Your Presentation

Data is great when you need to show your audience the effect of a particular situation.  “The reason we are up X% in sales can be directly attributed to an increased investment of Y in training the sales force.”  Any time you use an example in your presentation, it is a good idea to make sure you have concrete data points to support your position.  However, there are some pitfalls that must be overcome when using data.

 

Is It Accurate

Only The Facts – Data purports to tell the truth, right?  Anytime you put data in a presentation, you need to make sure the data is factual.  If it is not factual or it is unverified, make sure you notate that below the data.

Benchmarking – Let’s say you are presenting a set of sales data in a staff meeting.  It is a monthly staff meeting and you have done it already six times previously.  Before you present your data, it is often a good idea to remind the audience of the data you presented last time.  Especially if you made projections.  This gives your audience continuity.

Agreeing On The Truth – Make sure everyone agrees that they believe the data.  This is simply the most common misalignment in an organizational meeting.  I present a set of facts backed by what I think is solid data and someone does not agree with me.  Alternatively, maybe I am presenting a scorecard and someone does not agree with my data criteria for red-yellow-green.  The best way to solve this problem is to get agreement on the data before the meeting by shopping the data around to key stakeholders for their comments. 

Is It Understandable

Being Able To See It – This is the #1 sin I have seen.  The presenter loads the slide up with data and the slide becomes unreadable.  There are two solutions for this problem.  The first, if you are presenting on the screen, is to put summary data on the slide in a font large enough for the audience to read.  Then hand out a data pack built in Excel that gives the audience the rest of the data.  This will often suffice.  However, in a world in which you are working with a very complicated data set and by that I mean I mean hundreds or thousands of data points; I will usually create a single comprehensive slide on tabloid-sized paper (11×17) with all of the key data on it and hand out the printed out slide.  I might still include a data pack, but the key of the large slide is that you can put the complicated picture in front of your audience on a single piece of paper. 

Levers, Levers, Levers – This brings us to the notion of levers.  Levers are the specific actions that a leader or manager can execute in order to bring about change in their organization.  The notion of levers are critical when working with data as often times when you create that 11×17 with all the data, it is the interplay between disparate data sets that creates a lever that can be pulled.  More on this later, but for executives especially this is a critical concept.

Backing Up Your Main Data With Supporting Data – I love data packs.  Most of the time you have either a drought of data or a flood of data.  In the case of a flood, you need to move all supporting data off the slide into an excel spreadsheet[s] so you can focus the audience on the key point.  They way to do this is data points.

Macros – Last, do not forget to use Macros.  Most of the data that you will be getting in today’s organization comes from existing databases such as sales and personnel databases.  If you have any type of data that you have to repeatedly report on in any kind of rhythm, such as a monthly status meeting, I suggest you do the following.  First, figure out exactly what data you need, who owns the system that generates the data, how often you will need it, and in what format.  Second, arrange with the database owner a regular cycle where they generate the necessary reports into Excel.  Third, have someone from the IT staff build a Macro that exports the data from Excel into a PowerPoint file in the format you want it.  It’s a little more work for the first few times that you do it, but it saves significant time in the long run as what can take hours to do manually (moving data from Excel to PowerPoint) can be automated into a process that takes just a few minutes.  Real powerful stuff.

Thanks for tuning in.

 DK

mailto:dkarle@microsoft.com