Posts Tagged ‘force’

Use the force when you present (not technology)

I’m going to tie two things together in this post, Murphy’s Presentation Law and the Star Wars posts. There’s a very memorable scene in the first Star Wars movie (in production order): Luke is going to shoot at the tiny gap that will destroy the Death Star, and he’s aiming with his little augmented reality targeting thingy on the ship. It’s then when he hears his old master’s voice, the wise Obi Wan, saying to use the force.

I say the same to you. If you’ve read Murphy’s Presentation Law post, you know you can’t trust technology. The same way Luke couldn’t trust the targeting computer, don’t put all your hopes on Power Point. Giving a presentation is a time for you to shine, not your slides. If your equipment fails, don’t despair, trust the force and go ahead on your own. What you can accomplish on your own is much more valuable than depending on your slides to communicate your message.

Until next time,

Byron Stanford for Project Presentation.

Tuesday, 22 February 2011 17:25 Written by Byron Stanford 3 Comments

May the Force be with your Presentations (Make better presentations with Garr Reynolds and George Lucas)

Garr Reynolds is a diehard Star Wars fan, when I was studying with him in Japan he talked a lot about lessons for presentations that could be taken from Lucas’ films. Far from seeming like a geek, I think almost everyone has watched Star Wars, and whether you like them or not, they have influenced 3 different generations. The first lesson I’ll leave you with is one that Garr talks about in his presentations:

Here’s a caption from the movie, where they are briefing the pilots on the attack plan on the Death Star; Garr draws a lot of attention to how visual this briefing is. There’s no text, just a graphic representation of what is being explained.

Compare, however, what this scene would look like if the presentation had been given using a typical PowerPoint template.

It’s not that PowerPoint is bad, it’s just that the way we use it isn’t the most effective. We should try to be more visual, like this leader of the rebel alliance, and like Garr Reynolds, who is also the leader of a rebel alliance, The Alliance against Death by PowerPoint.

May the force be with your presentations.

Byron Stanford for Project Presentation.

Source: http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2010/08/a-long-time-ago-before-death-by-powerpoint.html