Early bird pricing is still available until Sept. 8th, register online here.

Read the full brochure on the BBP 1-Day Courses here.

We hope you can join us Nov. 11 and 12th in Los Angeles for our first BBP 1-Day Courses!

Click here to download the PDF brochure with course descriptions and pricing:
http://www.beyondbulletpoints.com/public/BBP%20LIVE%202010%20Los%20Angeles.pdf

If you sign up by Aug. 11, 2010, you can take advantage of our special early bird pricing: $200 off the standard price for a single 1-day course or $300 off both 1-day courses.

Click here to register for one or both courses:
http://www.regonline.com/checkin.asp?eventID=880322&trackingcode=BBPFB

When your company or organization enrolls 5 or more people in the BBP 1-Day Courses, you’ll automatically get a 15% group discount – you can add group members once the first member of your group registers.

You can also earn a Complimentary Registration as an Affiliate!

If you would like to let your blog readers, friends or colleagues know about the BBP 1-Day Courses, we’ll be glad to give you a complimentary registration based on the paid registrations that you generate.

If you get 5 people to register for any combination of courses, we’ll give you a complimentary 1-Day registration; if you get 10 registrations, you’ll get a complimentary 2-day registration.

To get an affiliate link you can easily include in your blog post or emails so we can give you credit for registrations that come through your efforts, contact Stacey at stacey@bbpmedia.com.

We’ll notify you when we have tracked enough paid registrations for your complimentary registration; if you have already purchased your registration and you later earn a complimentary registration, we will refund the amount you paid.

We hope you can join us, and look forward to seeing you live in Los Angeles! ]]> http://www.beyondbulletpoints.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=400 0 http://www.beyondbulletpoints.com/blog/?p=388 http://www.beyondbulletpoints.com/blog/?p=388#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 23:36:53 +0000 stacey http://www.beyondbulletpoints.com/blog/?p=388 Since the Beyond Bullet Points book was first published 5 years ago, the world of presentations has seen amazing changes.

We’d love to find out: What has BBP meant to you?

Submit your stories by 5pm Pacific Standard Time on May 14  2010 (now extended to May 21), and we’ll enter you in a drawing for a Flip UltraHD Camcorder (winner will be chosen at random and announced May 25).

Share your story in one of 3 ways:

• Post it to the comments at the end of this blog post
• Email it to stacey(at)bbpmedia.com
• Post it on the BBP LinkedIn group here

We’re looking forward to hearing your story!

What makes an effective presentation?  I recently interviewed Nancy Duarte, CEO and principal of Duarte Design and author of slide:ology,  to find out what she thinks. You don’t have to go far to figure out Duarte is passionate about story-telling and using effective visuals to tell the story.

Meryl Evans: A person is trying to create a presentation that tells a story, but struggles to make it flow. What’s a good way to turn your topic into a story that flows?

Nancy Duarte: Seems to me, if you don’t have a flow, the story isn’t really quite there yet. There are many definitions of what a “story” is, but to me, the purpose of a story is to show how the protagonist transforms.

Coincidentally, the purpose of a presentation is to transform an audience. So defining the transformation around how you want people to feel or believe and what you want them to do are the key components of the story and the flow.

Presentations are a bit like a documentary. There are seemingly unrelated pieces of information that need to be glued together. Story is a powerful way of gluing together disparate pieces of information that have to be conveyed. Presentations can have an over-arching macro story or small micro-stories that create rhythm and interest. Developing the structure that accommodates a story can be as much of an analytical task as creative.

The intro should acknowledge where the audience is currently at. It’s important that they feel like they’ve been on your mind and you understand their current position or condition. By using emotional connections of shared values, shared history or shared goals, convey that you know what’s on their mind and show transparency and empathy while you do so. This can be done with stories or facts.

The middle of your presentation needs to make your key points but should also address any resistance or roadblocks the audience might have on their mind. Come across like you’ve done your homework and have thought through more perspectives than just your own.

The ending needs to paint a clear picture of the new world or context you want the audience to operate from. Use story to compel them to believe something new or do something new. The role the audience plays in bringing a happy ending to your story needs to be made clear. In business we call that a Call to Action but we like to call it a Call to Adventure. They want to play a role in helping you solve the puzzle you’ve presented.

Meryl: Once you have your topic and story, how do you create impactful slides even if you already know to include few words? Some people just can’t get their minds around drawing as you often suggest or putting something together from scratch.

Nancy: My plea for folks to sketch and draw is so they can prototype ideas quickly. It isn’t so much that they have to work in an analogue environment but to create more than one idea around how to solve something digitally. So often we sit at our computers and just go with the very first idea that comes to mind instead of pushing our creative boundaries a bit further. It’s usually the third or fourth expression of an idea that’s clever and memorable.

Meryl: What three tips would you give to anyone who needs to work on a presentation?

Nancy:

1. Think through what the audience needs first and yourself second.
2. Work hard at being human and transparent. Stories and images help but it takes work because it’s a skill not readily cultivated in organizations.
3. Invest the right amount of time for the presentation based on the stakes involved.

Meryl: What are three of your favorite presentations we can view online? What makes them effective?

Nancy:

• Mike Rowe: He’s a master storyteller. He told a jaw-dropping story with a strong moral around being happy at work.
• Jill Bolte Taylor: Has strong stage presence and told her story with few slides. She also created what we call a S.T.A.R. (Something They’ll Always Remember) moment by using a real human brain as a prop.
• Garr Reynolds: Spoke at a corporate event and mapped his Zen simplicity into a talk that applied not just to presentation-making but to vales in life.

Meryl: What inspires you to be creative?

Nancy: I am most inspired by nostalgia. Anything that triggers a pleasant memory is very meaningful to me. I migrate towards children’s books and activity books that I remember from my childhood. Illustrations generated pre-computer seems more alive and sincere to me.

Meryl: Thanks, Nancy!

The session description is below – I hope you can join me!

Register now at this link.

The Backchannel: A Presenter’s Nightmare or a Dream Come True? with Cliff Atkinson

Ready or not, the backchannel has arrived! Armed with laptops and smartphones, audiences are no longer sitting quietly while speakers are talking – instead they’re using Twitter and other tools to create a backchannel where they chat with one another, make comments about your presentation and broadcast their thoughts to people all over the world.

If audiences are happy, the backchannel can spread your ideas far and wide, create buzz about your ideas and keep a conversation going long after you left the podium. But if audiences are unhappy, the backchannel can criticize your ideas and delivery, disrupt your talk and even derail your presentation completely.

So is the backchannel yet another thing to fear when you give your next presentation? Or a great opportunity to really know what your audience is thinking? Join Cliff Atkinson, author of The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever and find out about the major changes coming to a presentation near you.

Attendees of this presentation have the chance to win one of three copies of Cliff’s latest book.

Register now at this link

I’ve spent the last part of the year writing my new book The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever, which is now available at online retailers and soon in a bookstore near you. 

The Backchannel explores the dramatic changes that are coming soon in the field of presentations.

The idea of the book was conceived at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference in March 2009, where I witnessed how audiences there were using Twitter to communicate with one another and to influence live presentations.

A week later, I had a proposal to my publisher; a week after they sent an offer; within two weeks we had a signed contract; and 7 months later the book was done – my acquisitions editor Michael Nolan tells me it was the quickest book turnaround he knows about.

We wanted to get this book out quickly because the topic is so current, and there is such strong interest in material that will help presenters engage the backchannel.

The Backchannel rests on the foundation of BBP – namely that you need to get to the point quickly and tell a clear and compelling story using words and images. 

Though your story may be the same, today audiences it is audiences who are fundamentally changing.  Instead of sitting quietly and listening to you, they have laptops and smartphones at hand when they walk into a presentation room, and they’re using  Twitter and other services to make realtime commentary about how good of a job you’re doing.

For those who use BBP, it’s more important than ever to:

1. Use old and new tools to research and connect with your audience so you tailor your material to them.
2. Define your three key points, and to make them concise enough for your audience to tweet them.
3. Take Twitter breaks after each of your key points, to let your important ideas sink in and to take the temperature of the audience.

Veteran BBP’ers will find some familiar themes in The Backchannel (the importance of hierarchy and visuals), along with some of the cutting-edge tools and techniques you need to keep your presentations fresh.

I hope you enjoy the new book, and its companion website, and look forward to hearing what you think!

I recently created a presentation on the value of Twitter to businesses, and worked through the sequence of Act I: the Setting, Role, Point A, Point B and Call to Action slides.

Act I sets up your story with key elements to identify the setting, main character and conflict. Sound familiar? We all learned this in grade school English. The easiest one: main character. That would be your audience.

Setting

Setting doesn’t point to the location of the presentation. Instead, it answers the audience’s questions of “Where am I, and when is it?” Where can be a profession, industry or topic of discussion.

I asked myself, “If a business is thinking about using Twitter, what would bring it to this point?” Several answers came up:

• Many businesses are using Twitter.
• Business needs to grow market with online marketing.
• Traditional marketing tools don’t work well anymore.
• Business wants to connect with prospects and customers.

I picked, “You’re currently losing touch with your market [where] and customers.” That’s a big pain point that social media can solve because of its ability to bring people together. “Currently” identifies the when and “market” is the where. The rest indicates a problem that everyone will agree on.

Role

This one answers, “Who am I here?” Since the audience is losing touch with customers using traditional means of marketing, it now wants to know how to reconnect with its customers, prospects and market. Thus, the role is “You want know how to reconnect with the market and customers.” “Know how” is where Twitter comes in. If I leave it off, it leaves the door open too wide.

Point A

This one answers, “What challenge do I face?” Using the Setting and Role as helpers, Point A for my presentation is, “Your business will slow down if you don’t connect with the market.”

Point B

Next is “Point B” not the “Call to Action.” You determine what the main character wants to be once its problem is solved before you figure out what the audience can do about it. So where does the audience want to be in this story?

“Reconnect with clients, market, industry and prospects by joining and tracking conversations.”

Call to Action

So how do I help the audience go from the current problem of the business slowing down due to lack of a connection with the market to the solution of reconnecting with the market through conversations? What’s the gap between Point A and Point B? This is the time to build up drama and tension.

The way to solve the lack of connection problem is to add Twitter to the business. The official Call to Action is, “Follow the three parts of the presentation to add Twitter to your business.”

That closes Act I to set up the story and answer the old “What’s in it for me?” Now the presentation has five headlines. When you arrive at this point, you might ask others to review and improve the headlines.

So here’s your chance — how can these five headlines improve?

1. Setting: You’re currently losing touch with your market and customers.
2. Role: You want know how to reconnect with the market and customers.
3. Point A: Your business will slow down if you don’t connect with the market.
4. Point B: Reconnect with clients, market, industry and prospects by joining and tracking conversations.
5. Call to Action: Follow the three parts of the presentation to add Twitter to your business.

Sharing them on the Internet establishes your expertise, shows how you think, spreads your brand and provides yummy link juice. Here are eight ways you can squeeze more out of your hard work in creating your beautiful bullet-free presentation.

1. Record your presentation. With so many digital cameras and technologies readily available for low prices today, it’s easier to record your presentation. Having a video or audio of your presentation will show people what you’re like as a presenter. It could lead to more speaking opportunities or landing a gig.
2. Post the presentation online. Put it in on presentation sharing sites like Slideboom.com and Slideshare.net. For YouTube, you will need to convert your PowerPoint into a video before uploading it. Search the Internet on how to convert PowerPoint to video to get plenty of advice and software suggestions.
3. Blog about the presentation. Not the presentation itself, but the topic. Then you can link to your online presentation slides, video and audio files (if you have them).
4. Provide a script or captions. Go the extra mile to include general notes of what you said or caption your video. It’ll help you reach more people.
5. Tweet your presentation. Include a brief description that applies “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) thinking. If your presentation talks about how to give better presentations, then tweet something like “Here are 5 tips to ensure your next presentation produces results [add link].” (Just don’t Tweet about your own material too often otherwise people will stop following you.)
6. Write an article. You already have all the content from the work you put into your presentation. Use it to write an article or even a series of articles. Many web sites accept guest writers or bloggers. Make sure you look for the one targeting the audience that would benefit most from your content.
7. Mention your presentation in your profiles. Post a link to the presentation or a short summary on your About page, your LinkedIn profile and everywhere your bio shows up. Again, it represents you and your brand. It may be worth mentioning the event in which you gave your presentation.
8. Turn the presentation into a freebie. A great way to build relationships and your mailing list is to offer the presentation as a download or turn it into a free course. You can break up the presentation into bite-sized emails as a free course. This keeps your name out there in the customers’ minds.

How have you made the most of your presentations?

The book’s approach fits BBP like two well-crafted puzzle pieces meant for each other. Asher’s formula for creating a pitch contains three acts, just like in the BBP approach. Asher introduces and explains five fundamentals to produce an outstanding presentation using a flowy and easy-going writing style.

This is not another book focusing on body language. Instead, he addresses the things so many businesses forget to do when trying to win a contract. For one, they don’t tell clients what’s in it for them, or at least, clearly present a problem-solution. What keeps your clients up at night? If you can answer that in your presentation, you’ll have fulfilled the first fundamental. Plus, Asher gives real-life examples how companies have achieved this.

The next fundamental states that you should focus on three key points. Some presentations make so many points that the audience doesn’t remember one thing. BBP and Asher believe people best remember three points and that’s what businesses need to focus on when creating a presentation.

Asher has never heard one client admit they selected a contractor because he had nice slides. Nonetheless, he offers plenty of good advice in working with PowerPoint the right way.

Passion is the third fundamental. Think of a favorite phrase. Imagine one person delivering it in a monotone and the other with energy. It’s obvious which one will win you over. This part delves a little into the body language and vocal part of presentation giving. At least, it’s only one fundamental and not taking up a quarter of the book. He goes so far to suggest how you should present yourself when seated.

The fourth fundamental is interactivity. If your prospect never asks questions or waits to speak up until the end, then it’s likely you haven’t done the best job possible in pitching. Do you really want to pay someone $100,000 without having in-depth conversations? Asher’s tips help you ensure and encourage interactivity during your presentation.

Finally, the fifth fundamental is to practice, practice, practice even though you may not be trying to get to Carnegie Hall. You may know your business, product, service or whatever very well that you don’t think you need to rehearse. Think again.

Structured presentations work differently than informal conversations with clients and colleagues. Again, Asher comes through with shining ideas and examples on how to make rehearsals work. It’s not about memorizing the material, but about telling your story in a smooth, friendly way. Some businesses give presentations in teams and he has that nicely covered, too.

Blend BBP with How to Win a Pitch and you’re on your way to winning more business than you can handle. That is, if you follow the advice and apply Joey’s ideas as suggested. Presenters, sales and anyone who wants to sell an idea will benefit from How to Win a Pitch.

What Comes in the Package

The Papershow package consists of a dongle (like a USB stick), pen and pad. The pen uses the readily available AAA battery. These don’t add much weight to a briefcase or laptop bag. The set up, however, takes a bit of work on one computer and breezes on another. In plugging the dongle, nothing happens on the computer. It recognizes new hardware, but the built-in application never pops up. Just open Papershow’s dongle files through Windows Explorer like you would a CD or DVD as the next photo shows.

The pen is about the size of a whiteboard marker that’s a little longer. The pad has several pen thickness and color options so you can change them to suit your needs. The pen can transmit from six meters, almost 20 feet, away from the dongle. Papershow saves all work on the 256MB USB, so you can borrow someone’s computer and not worry about leaving any files behind.

Starting Papershow

The other computer knows exactly what to do as the application pops up asking to open the pen so the dongle can find it. Once done, the software is ready to go to work as a white board or a presentation. When Papershow starts up correctly, it’s an easy set up. The next image shows the start up window.

Playing with Papershow

In opening a presentation that I had already converted to Papershow, the application tells me I am not using the right paper (the A4 paper that comes in the kit), but I am. It turns out that I selected the wrong paper in using Paper Show for the first time. I picked A4 paper because that’s the size of the included big tablet. U.S. customers need to pick letterhead despite using the A4 tablet (it works with both). Papershow needs to have these instructions in its Quick Start package otherwise it’s hard to fix the problem.

The kit comes with printer paper for printing your slides before the presentation. You can change ink color, draw perfect squares and circles, move forward and back a slide, change the pen thickness and undo the last move. This part works beautifully and I feel like a kid playing in a sandbox — fun!

A presenter can create an interactive presentation using Papershow. For instance, post a blank slide and use it as an opportunity to ask the audience a question. Pass around the pen and pad for the audience to fill in their answers or walk around the room capturing the answers or creating drawings to emphasize a point. While PowerPoint has a feature that lets you add notes, it keeps you tied to your computer or keyboard. Papershow adds portability fiddling with anything.

The next two images show the notes and how they look on the screen. Ignore the extra notes about brainstorms — that was more experimenting.

You can print an imported PowerPoint presentation on Papershow paper (one or four slides per page) and the slides correspond with their presentation counterpart. If you tap on slide two with the pen, slide two also appears on the computer screen. The following image shows the previous presentation printed and with added notes.

Papershow can export files into PowerPoint, send as an email and create an Adobe PDF formatted file. These features work fine and give you a way to share your work with others.

Final Thoughts

Despite the application’s inconsistent cooperation (I did check the web site for troubleshooting and found no answers); it works great when it plays nice. Canson, the company behind the product, might want to consider adding features to the software that allow users to use the mouse and keyboard to interact with the Papershow document.

Papershow retails for $199.99 and you can find it at Staples. Additional notepads sell for $14.99 and 200 pages of printer paper for $19.99.

Good: Many features on special paper including shapes and lines. No installing software on computer. Bluetooth dongle works well. Printed slides’ interaction with imported PowerPoint slides. Works with most color printers.

Bad: Requires buying paper refills. Can’t use mouse or keyboard. Can’t change paper size on dongle.