Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 40 of 58

Garr Reynolds at KLA-Tencor Japan

Tuesday, February 16th

Learning Moment: Yokohama, Japan

We had a big day today.

I conducted the slide:ology workshop at our Japan office, where I was joined by Garr Reynolds - the author of Presentation Zen and Presentation Zen Design. Garr was, as expected, brilliant.

He spoke about Simplicity, Restraint, and Naturalness - three design criteria that are too often absent in the high-technology world. Garr models all three, making it easy for anyone to understand and identify with him and his message. He's also, by the way, a lot of fun. We had some good laughs throughout the day.

If you're ever fortunate enough to have the opportunity to hear Garr speak, take advantage. If you can't hear him speak live - order his DVD. It's the next best thing.

Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 38 of 58

Streets of Yokohama

February 14th, 2010

Learning Moment: Yokohama, Japan

Spent the day catching up on music (I bought the latest cds by Cocoo, Anna Tsuchiya, Mizrock, and Chara), picking up some stationary supplies, and soaking in all that is Yokohama.

Angie and I then had a traditional kaiseki dinner at Minokichi in Landmark Tower. Along with three carafes of sake, it made for an excellent Valentines Day dinner.

Finally, I spoke with Garr Reynolds tonight. I'm beyond excited that Garr - author of the amazing Presentation Zen books and website - is joining me on Tuesday for a slide:ology workshop. It's pretty intimidating to be leading a workshop when Garr, a truly great presenter, is both watching and speaking. The good news is, he's on my team!

Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 29 of 58

A Toast to the Halfway Point (Long Island Ice Tea at Clarke Quay)

February 05, 2010

Learning Moment: Singapore

Today, we reached the halfway point of our two-month journey through Asia. As great as the past four weeks have been (and they have been...), some of the best is yet to come.

• We'll be vacationing in Bali for the next seven days
• We'll get to see the first of on Hong Bao (the riverside Chinese New Year festival) in Singapore
• We'll eat a kaiseki dinner for Valentine's Day in Japan
• I'll hook up with Garr Reynolds for a presentation workshop in Yokohama - slide:ology + Presentation Zen
• And then, two weeks in Seoul, Korea

Today, I led another slide:ology session. There are two 'best known methods' that we've developed over the past 6 months of teaching slide:ology. They are not 'rules', but I practice them religiously. I'll share them with you, but - as always - your mileage may vary.

1. Never (ever) share slides with someone who isn't going to present them.
   If you're asked to share your slide deck, email it, or store it on a server - say no. What you should do is convert it to a pdf file and then send it.
   This method has three advantages. First, it shrinks the file size dramatically. Second, viewers cannot 'click' into your embedded files and read the data behind the data. Third, they cannot easily present your deck. Finally, they cannot cannibalize your slides to create a 'Frankendeck'.
2. Never (ever) use sub-bullets.
   A single layer of bullets is fine for creating a list. The next level of bullets, however, indicates one of two things. One - you're typing in words that you're going to say anyway. These can be pushed into notes view and you can just say them. Two - if you really have important text in the sub-bullets, I would argue that the bullet and sub-bullets have enough meaning for one new slide. The bullet becomes the title and the sub-bullets become the text (or are changed to an image).

The use of sub-bullets is mostly laziness. Since I imposed this rule on myself, I have not found a case where I needed to keep them. There is almost always a better way.

Give it a try!

The Modern Art of Presenting: Presentation Reboot

Nancy Duarte shows the power of design grids

Last week, I attended "Presentation Reboot" - an event that featured Nancy Duarte (author of Slideology) and Garr Reynolds (author of Presentation Zen). Nancy and Garr are the two leading proponents of a new and quickly growing school of presentation design.

If you don't own their books, you should buy both immediately.

Nancy discussed her passion for story before having us do an audience analysis and then determining our story arc. Story is the root for most design decisions, in Nancy's view, and I agree.

Cognitive science show us that the brain loves story. In fact, the brain loves story so much that it will make one up if it doesn't exist. 

Think about that - if you don't determine your story, your audience will... and it might not be the story you want!

Garr Reynolds models Presentation Zen

One look at Garr Reynolds' slide set tells you that he isn't your usual business presenter. Garr lives and works in Japan and has clearly embraced the aesthetics of the culture.
Having spent 8 years in Japan myself, Garr's work resonates with me. I've read his blog for a few years and loved his book. Seeing him model the principles he preaches energized me and the rest of the audience.

While Garr isn't an ideologue, he definitely comes from the "Tee-shirt" school of presentation.

The "Tee-shirt" school says that a slide should look like a tee-shirt - one sentence, one picture.

My table mates practice the art of contrast

The folks at the workshop were buzzing from the start and kept buzzing to the end.

We did a number of exercises that allowed us to practice some of the principles that Nancy and Garr covered.

My key takeaways:

• Any presenter can connect with any audience, if they try (as our exercise showed - yes, even Richard Simmons with Mafia hit men).
• That slides, like billboards, should be a 'glance' media.
• Slides are slides - not 'slideuments'.
• A grid system will add power and coherence to a presentation.
• The importance of 'naked' presenting - both Garr and Nancy share themselves on the stage, and their presentations are much stronger for that.
• See more at presentationzen and duarte design.