Tell Stories

I have been working this week on a presentation I will be giving at a conference in a couple of weeks.  I found myself getting tired of putting together the PowerPoint presentation.

As I was discussing the presentation with the colleague I am giving the presentation with, I realized that our conversation focused mostly on the stories we were planning to tell, not the slides that would be flashing up on the screen.  The stories are what gave both of us energy.  What interested us most as presenters.

I know the same is true for me when I am in the audience.  Give me a pithy story or real life situation to make your point, and I am with you.  Tell a tale, perform a role play, spin a yarn and I am more likely to remember your point, or at least pay attention!

But if you toss up a bunch of overly wordy, hard to read slides...or even beautifully designed, pithy slides and just read from them...pretty soon I will be wondering what I am going to do for lunch and whether I remembered to turn off the coffee pot.  Use PowerPoint (if you must) to accent or highlight your stories, not to tell them.  People want to hear you tell them the stories and lessons, not read about it on a screen.

After all, there is a reason they call it a speech, and not a show.