Storytelling to make your presentations memorable: Tragedy

We continue our study of different story types to try to understand what is so compelling about how stories are told and how to apply the fundamentals of storytelling to presentations. Our next story type is Tragedy, and it’s only natural since it is the opposite of Overcoming the Monster; it’s the tale of the villain spiraling down into evil.

The transformation into villain is something that happens throughout the tale, and when the villain is defeated in the end, the audience is satisfied. The power behind this story is that even though as an audience you may have come to like this antihero, who is the main character of the plot, in the end you feel it is only just that this evil comes to an end. Examples of this are abundant, from Shakespeare’s Mac Beth to The Godfather’s family, the Corleones.

There is a great example of how this type of story was used for a presentation: In 2005 lawyer Mark Lanier, representing Carol Ernst, sued Merck pharmaceuticals for the death of the plaintiff’s husband after taking one of the pharmaceutical’s pain killers. Lanier enlisted the help of Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points, to prepare the opening speech. This type of case is hardly ever won, but with Atkinson’s extraordinary way of depicting the giant Merck as negligent, the jury was compelled to find Merck guilty and fined them for $253 million, $1 million per slide used in the presentation.

Here is a great example of the power behind a story well told and how presentations can be used in many ways. Now, I’m not saying you should go out to try to bring down Toys ‘R’ Us because the clown toy you got for Christmas when you were 7 scared the life out of you… but you get the point.

Until next time,

Byron Stanford for Project Presentation.

Wednesday, 30 June 2010 11:39 Written by Byron Stanford 1 Comment

Storytelling to make your presentations memorable: Overcoming the Monster

Our second type of story is also a very typical one. Many times you can see both The Quest and Overcoming the Monster story lines closely knit. However, Overcoming the Monster has a very clear objective: there is an evil somewhere in the world, and only the hero, with the right weapon, can defeat it. You know the plot well, you’ve read it in the classic Beowulf, or seen it in The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. There is a reason why these stories are timeless; they appeal to us all, that is why a presentation based on one of these types is going to be so powerful.

This is how the plot goes: we have a monster, a dragon or some other representation of evil; the hero who must slay the dragon; and the special weapon, a sword or even a ring! These 3 elements are easily transferred to a presentation. Say your company is presenting their SEO services for websites. Bad SEO is the dragon; you can show how evil is spreading through the land, the Dark Side is taking over. There is hope though, there is a hero, your company, that comes to the rescue to defeat this problem. Your service is the weapon, it is the ring that destroys evil.

There is a strong association happening here; from all the stories we’ve heard in our lives we know there is only one way, and one person who can defeat the dragon. If you succeed in making your audience associate the problem you are solving with the evil in all these Overcoming the Monster stories, subconsciously you are telling them that you are the only one with the weapon to save them. Here lies the power of storytelling, there is something behind it that the audience is not aware is happening, but that affects the way they see the situation.

What other types of presentations can you come up with following this plot?

Until next time,

Byron Stanford for Project Presentation.

Friday, 25 June 2010 12:52 Written by Byron Stanford 0 Comments

Storytelling to make your presentations memorable: The Quest

As I said before, there is something about stories that makes us remember them with great ease. There are 7 different story plots that have been used historically: The Quest, Voyage and Return, Rebirth, Comedy, Rags to Riches, Tragedy and Overcoming the Monster. Believe it or not there is no story or movie you remember that does not follow one of these plots.

So how do we make our presentation into a story? Let’s take a look at The Quest.

The quest is the most typical plot of all and partially present in almost every story. It pictures a hero who must set off on an adventure, usually a journey to achieve something or retrieve an object. Think of Homer’s Odyssey or any Indiana Jones movie. These stories are timeless and burn into your mind because they transmit something; it’s something that typical, every-day presentations just don’t convey.

An example of a presentation based on The Quest could be an NGO that wants to bring fresh water to a village in Africa. You have the problem, a village with no clean water, this is what makes the hero embark in the adventure, be it an NGO or Indiana Jones; you have your objective, fresh water/Holy Grail; and you have problems along the way, be it changing a river’s course or monkey-brain-eating tribes. Now you have all the ingredients for a fascinating story. Finally, all you need is to tell the tale of how the hero overcomes the obstacles to reach his goal. This will probably be done in a few steps: journey, facing the obstacle, finding the Holy Grail; or informing people about the problem, raising money, bringing fresh water to people who need it.

That easy! You’ve spread your message as a story, it’s catchy, and people remember it! There is no need for long explanations. What you are trying to do is convey a message, don’t get lost in the details or you might as well write a book like El Quijote, which is also a quest, by the way. Nowadays, when attention spans are much lower, these resources can really help us promote our ideas. Another example of a quest-like presentation could be a company’s move into a new market; there are many other types of presentations you can make using The Quest, I’m sure you can come up with many.

Don’t miss the next post! We’ll be discussing Overcoming the Monster.

Until next time,

Byron Stanford for Project Presentation.

Wednesday, 23 June 2010 12:18 Written by Byron Stanford 4 Comments

Are your presentations memorable?

Why is it that when you give a presentation people can’t seem to remember it 5 minutes after it actually happened? But they sure remember that story you told about how you woke up naked in the middle of a forest! There’s something about those stories we tell that makes people remember them for years, whereas that presentation which took you days to prepare is forgotten after two beers.

We are social beings, and as such, we are hot wired to remember stories and anecdotes, not data and figures. Your anecdote is remembered because it has all the elements of a good story: it’s told in a logical sequence; it has an unexpected element of surprise; and it has a memorable ending, be it because it is funny or also unexpected.

Why not tell our presentations like we tell stories? The most interesting presentations I’ve seen told a story to the audience. People relate to this in a different way, they are interested in what you say throughout the presentation and remember it after it is over. Prepare your next presentation as if it were a story and you’ll succeed for sure.

In our next posts we are reviewing the 7 different types of stories of all times, and how to make presentations with them: The Quest, Overcoming the Monster, Tragedy, Rebirth, Rags to Riches, Comedy and Voyage and Return. Don’t miss them!

Until next time,

Byron Stanford for Project Presentation.

http://www.project-presentation.com/blog/2010/06/storytelling-to-make-your-presentations-memorable-overcoming-the-monster/

Friday, 18 June 2010 14:23 Written by Byron Stanford 4 Comments

Can Coco Chanel teach you how to make better slides?

If you still view your slides as a support for bulleted rivers of information, I recommend you start reading this blog from the beginning. On the other hand, if you have followed and now see your slides as something else, something you design, then this lesson can help you.

Now that we know that presentations have a lot to do with design, we can look for what designers have been saying for very long, but we never thought to apply to our businesses. I came across this quote the other day:

“Before you leave the house, take 1 thing off.”

-Coco Chanel

Think about it this way, before you settle on one slide, eliminate one element. We tend to overcrowd our slides with too much information, too many elements of decoration. When you are making your presentation, design your slides, don’t decorate them.

I’m sure you can think of other examples of quotes that can be applied to presentations.

Until next time,

Byron Stanford for Project Presentation.