Variety Is the Spice of Presentations

By most standards, the presentation was well designed. It had video clips. There was some sound. The screens had the right colors. There weren't too many words on each screen. The animation was cleverly done. All in all, the presentation looked good. Why, then, didn't the audience respond as favorably as everyone had hoped?

Think about the last movie you saw. Remember the places where the plot changed pace; the moments that evoked an emotional response? Why do people like sports events in which the teams are neck to neck until the final five minutes? Why are certain dance productions so successful? What do these events and productions have in common? In nearly all of them, there is some change in the dynamic. A dancer may make a certain movement that is beautiful the first, second and even the third time you see it. After that, though the movement will become old unless other, very different movements are interspersed in the dance.

Successful movies also show this change in dynamic. In any film script there are two pivotal moments, called the plot pints. The first plot always occurs 20 to 30 minutes into the movie, starting the major action. In other words, something unexpected happens that pushes the hero toward a goal. The second plot point always occurs about 70 minutes into the film-the moment in which the hero appears to be beaten but something happens to turn the situation around. The hero's goal becomes reachable. The plot points keep the audience awake, with eyes trained on the screens.

Some features of presentations could be called plot points, but they are often overused. For example, one presenter decided to have a sound play each time and arrow came to the screen. Had he used the sound only a few times, it might have been effective. This presenter, however, used the sound on every screen, causing one audience member to say, "If I hear one more swish sound as I see the arrow coming on the screen, I may scream." Another presenter chose to use a beautiful enlarged pie charts-not one or twice in the presentation but 10 times. Video clips are very useful to show products in action, testimonials from customers and employees, or company sites around the world. But one or two suffice. And the shorter the segments, the better.

Here are a few ways to use the plot-point technique in your presentations. Use animation, sound ad video clips to change the presentation's dynamic. Design varied screens so the presenter can modulate his or her voice, giving the presentation with excellent style. Put cues in the presentation that suggests ways that the presenter can interact with the audience.

Creating Plot Points

The first thing to remember is that you shouldn't use every bell and whistle in the first five minutes of a presentation. Although you certainly want to capture the audience's attention, part of that job should be up to the presenter. So build some slides, but not all of them to create plot point one. You might even add some animation at this stage. If the first part of the presentation lends itself to having the bullets come up as a build, try to make the bullets come up all at once in part two.

You might then decide to use your video clips later in the talk. At plot point two, you could change the background color of the screens, if that made sense. Presentations need a consistent look and feel, but they shouldn't be boring. Save your best-the video clips, exciting build or whatever-for the last few minutes. End the talk with a bang.

You can also create a plot point with planned repetition. Movies have given us the tag line-the single line that is repeated in a variety of ways. If the talk has a theme, you can use a visual or audio "tag line" at each plot point. Show a slightly different image or use a sound at each change, or building on a visual that isn't complete until the end of the talk, or creating an animated scene that changes as the presentation is given. These are always to signal to the audience that there is forward movement in the presentation.

Designing Screens

Also, if you're designing a sophisticated multimedia presentation to be given by the company president (or anyone who is not entirely comfortable with public speaking), be careful. Put the cues on the screens rather than relying on a script. Even the best-designed presentation will quickly become deadly if the president is reading from a script in a monotonous deadpan voice. The contrast is more striking when the screens are lively. Work with the presenter and be sure that you've create screens that he or she can interact with during the talk

There is nothing wrong with a few healthy pauses during a presentation. They're another way to add variety. So it is important for the presenter to learn when to pause.

Audience Interaction

The developer's job is to walk the line between so much variety that the presentation doesn't have any consistency and so little variety that the presentation doesn't have any life. Don't do the whole dance in the first 10 minutes. Save some steps to surprise the audience. By creating a talk this way, you'll be helping the presenter to be more effective, lively and engaging. In the end, that's what presentations are all about.

AV Video & Multimedia Producer, June 1997

Copyright © 2000, Wilder Presentations