I'm sitting in what feels like the 1000th presentation at Media 360 where someone apologises for the business or density of their data chart. Like bad data design is somehow inevitable, like a force of nature, like all you can do is put the numbers in to excel or powerpoint and tweak it a bit and that's all you can do.
There are other options. The point is to communicate.
Don't apologise for it, make it better.
Look at gapminder, or presentation zen, or information aesthetics or even that old curmudgeon Mr Tufte. Data can be communicative and beautiful, if you only think about it.
(Above is a nice, simple-looking chart from gapminder, which is even better because it's part of a useful, explanatory animation)
Could I make a suggestion and say people should read the book 'HIGH CONCEPT' by Don Simpson [the [dead] bloke behind movies like Top Gun etc]
No, not because it's full of sex, drugs and movies [but that helps] but because he mastered the concept of pitching $100million movies in 10 exciting, action-packed seconds [or 2 paragraphs] ... something most people in business could learn from.
We live in a World where people believe the more they write, the most 'intelligent' or 'factual' they look - which is absolute bullshit, infact, it tends to show quite the opposite.
My favourite story is the US Air Force were putting out to pitch a plane contract. For days, all the generals sat and listened to pitch after pitch, going into the smallest of detail ... when on day 5, in walked a guy from a rival firm and pulled out a marble.
He rolled it down the middle of the table and as it slowly made its way down the long table, said, "Who'd like a plane that registers the size of a marble on the enemies radar?
All the generals immediately put their hands up and basically the contract was his because he understood his audience and what they really wanted to know.
Of course he had to show HOW he could do it, but that was for the techinical people, not the generals.
Engage, Entertain, Be Relevant, Be Resonant - Be Remembered.
Posted by: Robert Campbell | May 13, 2006 at 02:53 AM
Exactly.
I remember my dad telling me a story (whether its true I dont know) about an agency pitching for Woolworths in the 70s.
They started talking in really dull way, with boring grey suits on. Then after a minute they said "this is how your customers see you, this is how we want them to see you..." and they pulled off the grey suits to reveal flared white suits (it was the 70s!).
Simple, maybe a bit cheesy now... but it got them the job.
Besides, a key part of selling is understanding that people want benefits not features. If you cant do that in a presentation it doesnt matter how many words you use.
Posted by: Rob Mortimer | May 13, 2006 at 12:27 PM