No pictures needed

In contrast to what I wrote yesterday, sometimes it's effective to leave the slide presentation at home and present without a presentation aid.

A few years back I attended a series of lectures related to the autoimmune condition known as scleroderma and the need for medical treatment, support systems and fundraising.  I had the pleasure of hearing from a scleroderma patient, advocates, medical professionals and...a professional make up artist.

I didn't know what to expect when the make up artist took the podium.  She was soft spoken and unassuming but she delivered a powerful and carefully prepared speech.  She started out by talking about her experiences working with celebrities on movie sets and in glamorous locales.  It was certainly interesting to hear about a line of work that was new to me, but what really grabbed my attention was when she segued into a touching story about applying makeup to someone who suffered from an autoimmune condition that led to excessive growths all over her face and neck.  The speaker took the time to describe the woman's fragile demeanor and lowered self esteem and how that changed as she took the time to carefully apply make up to her face.   It was the first time this woman had bothered to have makeup applied and the process of someone doing so had a therapeutic and empowering effect on the woman.

There were no before and after pictures.  We had to rely on the presenter's words to convey to us the transformation that had taken place.  The power of her carefully chosen words were felt by everyone in the room.  The presenter read slowly and dramatically from a prepared manuscript, not something I typically recommend.  But in this case, it worked beautifully in conveying the deeply personal process of making over someone physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Even though I have never seen a picture of this woman, the story was told with such detail and insight that I have never forgotten it.

Bringing Your Topic Right to the Audience

I had this great idea a few years back.  I wanted my home schooled children and their friends to talk with working artists about their art, the creative process, and the business of making art.  The students were located in Birmingham, MI and most of the artists had their studios in Detroit but that didn't stop us from bringing the artists right to us.

It worked out even better than I anticipated.  The artists were able to show us slides of their art and we could see the transitions they made as artists over the years.  We could see images of their earliest works, when they were still in high school.  One artist even showed us photos of the art that hung in her childhood home so that we could see what her earliest influences were.

Showing slides on a screen can allow a presenter to focus on particular details.  Sometimes this can allow for a deeper discussion and easier viewing than had we visited the art pieces in person.  A couple of months later, we did take the students on a field trip to one of the Wayne State University student art galleries, but our earlier session with the slides really helped set the stage to appreciate the gallery visit all the more.

A public speaker should always be on the look out for ways to incorporate images in her presentation.  Once I had a student give an informative speech about coffee and it was frustrating, for me at least, to be in the audience and watch her pantomime the process of making coffee as a Starbucks barista.  It would have been much more effective had she showed us an up-close image of the actual equipment or maybe even a short (20 second) clip of the process itself.

Go to the trouble of preparing good quality images to show your audience.  It can really make the topic come alive and help the audience to understand your message.

Not Suitable for Viewing

Sometimes I think I have seen it all.  And that's not always good.

Creating an engaging presentation aid can be a challenge.  A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself:  What can I show my audience that will convey my point more easily than if I just use words?

It's much more compelling to show actual images of the places you've visited, the abnormalities you discovered, the renovations you made possible, or even a graph or chart that illustrates a dramatic downturn.  Images are powerful.  Sometimes too powerful.   I'll never forget when an undergraduate student finished up his speech about the need for diagnostic heart testing by putting one of his cell phone pictures up on the screen:  it was a picture he had taken of his recently deceased brother on a hospital gurney in an ER.  It felt unfair and sensationalized that he closed with that picture, without giving us any warning.  He had gone too far.

We all know that a picture can be worth a thousand words, but what if I told you that one of the most memorable images I saw on a PowerPoint was of nothing at all?

One of my Wayne State University undergraduate students was doing a persuasive speech about the deplorable conditions in puppy mills.   This is a popular topic among college students and I think I have seen just about every sad puppy, mangy dog and dirty cage out there.  But this student, when describing the conditions, went to a slide with a CENSORED logo on the screen.  He told us that the images were just too disturbing to show in class.  By doing so, he very effectively left it all to our imagination and made a powerful impact.

Sometimes less is more.  Be sure to give your visuals a second and even third thought before subjecting your audience to something they may never forget.