Association Executive - November/December 2007 - (Page 8)

5 By Cliff Atkinson The First Slides: Unlocking the Story Buried in Your Presentation © Dreamstime / Endostock f you use bullet points in your presentations, it’s probably because writing bullets helps you build slides quickly and reminds you to cover all the points you want to make. But although bullet points may help you do many things, one thing they cannot do is help you to tell a story. Organizations today have adopted the word story as their new mantra. Marketing messages should tell a story; corporate strategy should tell a story; mission statements should tell a story; and even websites should tell a story. Why the sudden interest in the story? For one clue, look no further than the approach you may be applying to your own presentations, which locks out the possibility of telling a story in the first place. 8 ASSOCIAT IO N EX EC U T IV E NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 I The Origin of Bullet Points The origin of bullet points in presentations is clearly visible on most presentation software, such as PowerPoint slides—a type of outlining approach that everyone uses yet no one questions. This approach always begins by placing a category heading at the top of a slide, such as: Our History; Challenges; Outlook; and Lessons Learned. It is remarkable that you see exactly the same headings in every presentation—across organizations, professions, and even cultures. These headings do nothing more than establish a category of information, which you then explain with a bulleted list below it. Although this approach can help you create slides quickly, it also guarantees you never do anything more than present a series of lists to an audience. When the primary way we communicate is by presenting lists to one another, it is no wonder the phenomenon of story is gaining momentum, because a story is the opposite of a list. Where a list is dry, fragmented, and soulless, a story is juicy, coherent, and full of life. Presented with the choice, any audience will choose life. So that leaves us with the essential problem: If we can agree the era of the story is dawning, and that bullet points are standing in our way, how do we unlock the power of a story in our presentations? This is becoming an issue of strategic concern to organizations where the presentation has replaced the written word as the predominant way of communicating information. To find the

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Association Executive - November/December 2007

Assocation Executive - November/December 2007 Contents From the CEO The First 5 Slides: Unlocking the Story Buried in Your Presentation What Does That Mean? Pay Attention to Non-Verbal Cues Avoiding Telephone Turmoil Turning Your Blind Spot into an Asset Inside NYSAE Book Beat Save the Dates Member News Meeting in Calgary Meeting in Delaware Meeting in Chicago Meeting in Pennsylvania Index of Advertisers

Association Executive - November/December 2007

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