Communication is More Than Pretty Screens

Jim thought he had a winning presentation, but he was in for a surprise. Jim spent days putting together a presentation for a prospective customer. He worked with the multimedia group in his company and added some video clips. He was very proud of his colorful screens and fancy pie charts. As he was giving the talk he began to notice the prospect's lack of enthusiasm and interest. He wanted them to be impressed by the statistics and the pictures of the product. Plus, one of the audience members began asking these aggressive, in-depth questions about his statistics. What was happening?

On first glance the presentation screens looked fine: clear, lots of space on the screens, numbers big enough to read. But, the screens mostly conveyed information of raw data. Too many presentations only communicate at the convey level of the communication staircase. You need to look at your screens and ask yourself, "At what level is this data on the communication staircase?"

You may start at the convey level of the staircase, but don't stop at that level. Using the communication staircase, here's an example of what frequently happens in project update meetings to upper management.

CHART #1: The Communication Staircase

Convey: At the convey level some raw data is shown. The screen shows that the machine is down 30% of the time. That may be an interesting fact, but doesn't tell the audience if they should be pleased or very worried about this fact. The statistic needs to be interpreted.

Interpret: You add that the machines have been down because your group is installing new machines. Your audience is starting to be more informed, but they still don't know how to react to the information. Will this help or hinder the production schedule?

Add to: You must add some meaningful information to your interpretation. When you state that the new machine will improve production 10% it lets your audience know whether to be relieved or anxious about the machine downtime statistic. Valuable information is added.

Share vision: Finally, if appropriate, you share a vision of what this statistic means for the future and how this fact will affect the company, especially customer satisfaction as that is one of the company values. You, as the designer and/or the presenter, have the challenge of using powerful presentation tools not merely to regurgitate raw data in fancy visuals, but to convert data into higher-level communication that will stir your audience and trigger a response. Your task is to interpret facts, explain them with meaningful information and share a vision of how those facts will affect the department or company.

What are some ways to take your audience up the communication staircase?

• Talking up the staircase: Show the statistic, then talk about it. Spend your time interpreting the information, adding to it and sharing some vision. All your audience sees is the statistic and you talk them up the staircase. This works if you believe you can remember all that you want to say.
• Show the staircase: You design your presentation to show screens that take the audience up the communication staircase. This is especially easy with the builds and transitions that can be put in electronic presentations.

How do you know what level of information your screens are now showing?

Take a presentation that you have created. Make a hard copy of the screens. Lay those pages out on a table. Look at them. Write on each screen the level of communication it addresses. If you have 30 screens and most of them are at the convey level of communication you may choose to adjust them. If you have 50 screens for a presentation to a prospect, you want at least 10 of them at the share vision level. Why? You want that prospect to leave the meeting having a very clear vision of how your product or service will help the company. You want that prospect to be able to articulate that vision, at least to some degree, to others who have not attended the meeting.

Here is a simple example of how you may choose to build a screen in order to use all levels of the communication staircase.

Chart#2: This chart conveys information that the earnings are up.

Chart#3: The build with the $.80 projected let you tell your audience that the company did better than the projections. You are interpreting how the audience can feel about the $1.12 earnings per share.

Chart#4: Now you add "New Strategic Alliances" which gives the audience information about why the earnings are up.You are adding to the statistic. You can say a couple of sentences about the alliances.

Chart#5: To share a vision for the future, you now talk about how the alliances will double the custome base and what that may mean for the earnings per share in the future.

This very simple build has given your audience more than just a statistic to consider. You started with the statistic and then told a story.

Let's go back to Jim who lost his prospect's interest. That would have been bearable except for the hostile audience member. Some audience members start to question because they are bored. They don't want to be read every word on the screen with nothing of value added by the speaker. In order to keep themselves somewhat engaged, they start to ask questions. In one way that is a good sign as the person has not given up attempting to stay engaged with the presentation. If Jim had made screens with high impact data, he might have found the questions asked quite different and friendlier.

In order to start making screens that have high impact on your audience, reflect on this question What does the audience want to know and not want to know? As you share higher levels of communication you will discover that your audience's are more willing to listen, to make commitments and to relax and enjoy your talk. They hear and see that you have covered what is truly important for them to know. Remember raw data can be boring and even offensive. Move up the staircase and create a higher level of communication with your audience.

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