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Category Archives: Imagery
The Power of Presentation Metaphors
Here at Edelman, we just held our annual all-staff meeting for our 650 New York employees.
Because I was out of the office in the weeks immediately preceding the event when much of the presentation content was written, I had a fairly fresh experience as a viewer the day of. And what struck me was how many presenters made use of metaphor to incredible effect.
Metaphoric vs Literal Imagery
Presentation imagery can either be metaphoric or literal. The style these past few years has been for heavy metaphoric imagery such as an artistic photo of a lightbulb in a field of grass to discuss “energy innovation.” A literal version of the same slide might be a picture of an actual concept solar car or a new type of wind turbine. In general, I think literal imagery is strongest and stickier, but it is often harder to come by.
Lots of metaphoric imagery in a presentation can tend to blend together and distance a viewer from what’s actually being communicated: “Wait, are we talking about funny cats, kids with lemonade stands and high jumpers or are we talking about our firm’s 3rd quarter sales strategy?”
However, if metaphors (visual and otherwise) are deeply ingrained in a presentation’s story, they can be incredibly powerful…and they were on excellent display at our recent meeting.
Comic Book Hero
Visual Storytelling is a significant and developing focus for Edelman’s PR approach (video, infographics, etc.), so most of our presenters this year were already well ahead of the PowerPoint game in shunning bullet points and extensive on-screen text.
But one presenter used a comic book metaphor (with an actual custom-drawn series of comic book scenes) to explain some of the challenges the industry has faced of late with regard to pharma clients. Instead of endless charts and numbers explaining the details, what our employees were given was a metaphor: this financial trend anthropomorphized into “Pharmageddon,” a comic book villian. Simplistic? Yes. Sticky? Absolutely.
Olympic Hero
Edelman’s New York Health practice has two open secrets. The first is the above mentioned industry “Pharmagedon” challenge. The other is that the practice’s awesome General Manager, Bruce Hayes, is a former Olympic gold medalist in swimming.
Bruce doesn’t talk much about his Olympic history, but decided that the story of his relay team’s come from behind win at the 1984 Los Angeles games was a perfect metaphor for the resiliance and adaptation his division is currently showing. Again, no charts, no numbers, no cute pics of kittens “hanging in there.” In this case, literal imagery and video of his famous win was used along with an instrinsic overall metaphor for his message.
Add the fact that the London Olympics were a few days away, and Bruce’s presentation simply brought the house down.
Captain Morgie
Perhaps Edelman’s current metaphor trend was kicked off by our own Richard Edelman who last year created an unofficial mascot for us he calls a “Morgie” or “Captain Morgie.” This is short for Morganucodon, a small prehistoric rodent and the first mammal.
Morgie makes his appearance in Richard’s planning presentations not because he is the cutest of extinct creatures, but because his story of adaptation and survival in the land of dinosaurs serves as a perfect metaphor for how Richard sees our company’s past, present and future. I’m asked all the time if I think Richard’s presentations in which this prehistoric rat often plays a starring role are effective. And I always say, “Compared to endless slides of bullet points and charts? Compared to a 100 slide PPT deck filled with business jargon? Compared to a presentation you wouldn’t even be talking about now four weeks later?” Yes, I think they’re very effective. Consider me a fan of Morgie.
And consider me a fan of metaphors in presentation.
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Presentation Summit Discount Code
On an unrelated note, if anyone is considering attending this year’s Presentation Summit 2012 in Scottsdale, AZ at which I’ll be speaking, the organizers are offering my readers a discount. Just use the code “NH75” when registering here.
Sweating over a stock image? Your ideas might be in trouble…
There is something to be said for perfectionism. And sometimes the 56th round of a logo design truly does result in a better logo. But if you find yourself spending hours searching for just the right stock image for a slide or asking your designer to keep trying different shades of blue, “Because the feeling just isn’t right…,” this could be a sign that your content and message are in serious trouble.
I have no scientific data to make this case, simply years of experience working on countless presentations with every type of client. And when a story is clear and content is strong, a designer is able to do his or her best work, generally resulting in design that accurately messages the message. But when a story is muddy, a designer must do a lot of guessing. In this case, the odds of hitting a bulls-eye are slim, and the client falls into an “I don’t know what I like, but I don’t like that” posture. It is times like these that a client turns to design to solve their content problem. And here’s the unfortunate truth:
Design will never fix a weak story.
Let me give you two hypothetical corporate stories for a sales pitch:
Example 1: Our company designs, manufactures and sells quality golf equipment that any player would be happy and satisfied to carry with them on the golf course.
Example 2: We handcraft the Prada of golf drivers for the most discriminating players.
The first story is weak, vague and far too general. Should the design be populist or elitist? Pro or amateur? Conservative or edgy? Example 1 might result in slides like these below—and lots talk like this: “It’s not quite right; we’re trying to appeal to every golfer and make them all happy!”
But the second story hits that bulls-eye with its messaging. “Handcraft,” “Prada” “discriminating” and the slightly suggestive “players” all indicate who this story is for and who the product should appeal to. This story might lead to slides like these…
Now, of course, client and designer can still argue endlessly over this or that detail, but there won’t be disagreement over the appeal to a very wealthy, fashion-conscious clientele.
The Decoration Danger Zone
There’s a cousin to this perfectionist danger zone, and that’s the decoration danger zone.
If you find yourself always trying to embellish your message visually, you may not have a strong enough message to stand on its own. Remember, few people want to pay for simplicity, but it generally is the best approach.
I once directed the first production of a fun, campy musical that included, among other wacky things, a trio of singing alligators. The script was fairly solid, so we didn’t do much rewriting, but I did repeatedly attempt to cut one song that, while catchy, had absolutely no reason for being in the show. I begged the writers to take it out, but ultimately lost the fight. Since the song made no sense in the overall story of the show, my only solution was to treat the number in such a way that the audience immediately forgot it ever happened.
I instructed my choreographer to move people around the stage as much as possible and to distract the audience with as many dance embellishments (decorations) as she could to avoid focus on the song’s lyrics and story. Manipulative? Of course. But I thought a 3-minute visual distraction would help the audience focus on the other much clearer 90 minutes.
To be clear, there is generally a very real need for visual design of message—just be sure you’re not distracting your audience from the story itself.
And avoid singing alligators.
The Stickiness Litmus Test of Presentation
We know that stories are THE most sticky type of information you can present, but rarely do we think about specifically engineering a story to communicate a point. It’s generally only after the fact that we realize a story has had an impact and has stuck with an audience long after it was presented.
Look to Last Year
I was reminded of this in the run up to Edelman’s recent annual all-staff meeting, an event I was intimately involved in producing. When planning an annual event, you have no choice but to recall and reference years past. And in meeting after meeting with different people, many mentioned a small one-minute story told by an executive at last year’s event.
It was a simple story, but it had the effect of perfectly explaining one of the reasons our company was continuing to grow. To be honest, until I heard this story myself, I didn’t really know why certain companies might feel the need to expand absent Wall Street pressures. (Edelman is a privately held company.)
The two slides the executive used are at the top of this post. Here’s the story he told:
I was on a flight back from Europe, and this woman next to me struck up a conversation. She owned a very successful spice exporting company, but felt that she needed to expand her business—something which she wanted to do, but which was causing her a lot of stress and difficulty. I didn’t understand: she seemed well-off and comfortable. “So don’t expand,” I said. “Why grow if you’re happy and doing well now?” She explained that it wasn’t for her sake, but for her very devoted and talented employees. “I need to give them opportunities to grow and advance or else I’ll lose them.” I suddenly got it…
The story took 40 seconds (I know this because each slide was timed to advance after 20 seconds in a Pecha Kucha style), and yet it perfectly encapsulated the reasoning behind the growth of so many non-public companies, large and small. This executive got it. I got it. And apparently many of our employees got it. They still remember it a year later, and are still getting it.
That’s stickiness.
So, if you find yourself repeating an event or presentation, ask what people remembered from last time. Chances are, it will be a story—not your colorful pie chart.
Is Clip Art Ever Okay?
To paraphrase my friend Scott Schwertly from his book How to Be a Presentation God…
If you’re comfortable walking into a
client meeting with a clip-on tie,
then by all means go ahead and use clip art.
While the umbrella of “clip art” can include tasteful and professional images or graphics, in general it defines cheesy, stereotypical and juvenile artwork. Of course, no one wants to be perceived by an audience or client as cheesy, but with clip art there’s a greater danger lurking than simply being tagged as a goofball:
Clip art can undermine your entire credibility and legitimacy of message, because it screams: “Don’t take what I have to say seriously.”
Example? A recent (non-classified) US Army presentation entitled, “Strategic Choices — Adapt to Win.” This one deck may actually break every single rule of good presentation design (bad fonts, colors, low resolution imagery, lack of balance, death by bullet points, little white space, nonsensical charts, and the list goes on and on…) Truly, I think someone could write a PhD dissertation on ineffective communication in this document, but for me the most disturbing part of it was the very serious subject matter at the heart of this that was being treated with cutesy cartoons and tons of clip art.
The above is far from the worst slide, but I think it’s emblematic of the whole deck, with its cartoons, lightning bolts (?) and heavily beveled arrows. Does the graphic treatment match the importance and gravity of supporting and supplying our military? I’m not saying the design should be austere or solemn—just not comical.
And speaking of comical, here are a few more slides in all their comic sans glory. Download the whole deck here.
Visual Simplicity in the Wake of the New York Marriage Equality Bill
I love when even the most complex of issues can be translated into visual simplicity.
For me, the passage of New York’s same-sex marriage bill was a moral no-brainer with little complexity. But the issue’s opponents certainly have provided no shortage of arguments, protests and warnings over the years—turning same-sex marriage into a “complicated issue.”
Therefore, it was so nice to see a number of images and graphics on the bill around the web that defined so simply what was at stake for so many.
I like the two above, but this has to be my favorite…
Apologies for not posting the original source. Linked from here.
Categories: Imagery, Simplicity.
My Guest Post on Content’s Relationship to Design
Head over to PresentationExpressions to check out my guest post on content’s relationship to design.
Reverse Image Searches
I’ve discussed where to find stock imagery, but there are times you’ll already have an image and need to find the source in order to credit, license, purchase or find a higher resolution version. I am often given presentation files filled with photos pulled from the web and other random places. Generally I can’t use imagery if I don’t know where it came from and if I suspect it might not be legal to use. In instances like this, I turn to TinEye.com.
TinEye is my favorite of the reverse image search sites. It allows you to upload an image from your computer (if it is within a PPT file, right-click and save the image to your desktop first) or even to type in a URL if you’ve found an image on someone’s blog, for example, and would like to find its origin.
TinEye doesn’t always work, of course, but I would say I have success 80-90% of the time, which is pretty good.
Another type of reverse search is Google’s “Similar Images” search. After a Google Image Search, many of the results will offer a “Similar” link that will serve to further refine your search if you’re after something very specific. Unfortunately, Google does not currently allow you to upload your own imagery like TinEye.
If you have questions about legal usage of stock imagery, someone recently turned me on to stockphotorights.com that explains a lot.
What’s That Font?
Another type of reverse searching I do all the time is a reverse font search. If you have a graphic with an interesting font you’d like to use yourself, head to WhatTheFont. Just like TinEye, you can upload an image or specify a URL. WhatTheFont will then quickly walk you through a manual identification of the various letters in the graphic and then return it’s best guesses as to the typeface (in descending order of confidence) along with info on where to purchase the font. WhatTheFont isn’t perfect and is more likely to return correct search results for more popular fonts. If it doesn’t ID the exact font, it will still suggest something close which sometimes is just as good.
If you need more expert font help, you can head to typophile.com, a site by and for those that love typography. The site’s members are often more than willing to help identify an obscure font for the mere challenge of it.
Categories: Imagery.
VizThink NYC
Last week I finally had the opportunity to attend a VizThink workshop. VizThink is an organization that advocates and teaches visual thinking.
This event, “The Power of Visual Communication” was hosted and run by Todd Cherches and Steve Cherches of BigBlueGumball, and it was a fun evening involving VizBiz Pictionary, VizProvisation and visual notetaking. Here are my visual notes taken while listening to MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. (A presentation, by the way, that has a GREAT bumper sticker.)
Here are some more pics from the event courtesy of MJ Broadbent, Managing Director at VizThink.
And Amanda Lyons took live graphic notes from the event and has posted her work here. Thanks, Amanda!
“It is better to be quotable…”
I love quotes. Bartlett’s Quotes used to be one of my favorite books in high school. And after all, “It’s better to be quotable than it is to be honest.” (Tom Stoppard.)
Quotes in a presentation, used judiciously, are a powerful technique as they ideally force the presenter to expound upon the point being made and not present a “see-say” slide. Additionally, the point you are trying to make has probably been made before far more succinctly and poetically and by someone far more famous than than you anyway. And finally, a quote if far more likely to stick in your audience’s mind as a summation of your point or even your whole talk.
I’ve got three rules for quotes:
Short
Memorable
Appropriate imagery
1. SHORT
You want your quote to get to the point, to be quickly readable and to be memorable. Those things aren’t going to be possible with anything longer than a few sentences at most. When it comes to quotes, the shorter the better, so find a way to trim. Use ellipses if you have to trim the fat.
Instead of this…
Try one of these…
2. MEMORABLE
If it’s not memorable, maybe you should just paraphrase the thought in your own words. If you’re trying to make the point that customers have been asking for more color choices for your widgets, you might be best served by using a slide that says “68% of customers expressed interest in additional color options” instead of putting up the text of a random customer email request. But if your company’s biggest customer, Mary Jones, just called screaming…that could be a good quote slide…
3. APPROPRIATE IMAGERY
Think about the image (or lack of image) that will best communicate the story and message of your quote. Often, I like to use a full screen image of the quoted as I think it helps make the quote more sticky, but usually only if the person is known to begin with. In these back to back slides, I told the story of one of the most famous campaign refrains in recent memory and how it came to be, so I wanted the known players shown to make the story as concrete as possible. Note that I felt only one of these required textual attribution…
But sometimes appropriate imagery is no imagery. With this quote from the same presentation, I felt that a photo would actually distract from the point being made…
There could very well be a picture of Einstein or something else that could work well here, but I don’t think it’s one of these below. See how the essence of the quote gets diminished by the introduction of photos? You might disagree, but I thought so…
And sometimes the best way to put a quote on the screen is not to put it on the screen. Consider using a black screen and forcing your audience to listen to and watch you.
Last month I heard a speaker who finished his talk (that had used just a single image on screen) with a quote from Isadora Duncan. Though he had written the whole speech, he paraphrased his words when he spoke. But when he arrived at the end, he took out a piece of paper and read the quote verbatim with nothing behind him. Since it was a longer quote, it was very effective not to have the words on the screen. However, if he did request a visual, I might have suggested keeping the words off the screen, but showing something like this or this…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuant63/3152875867/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what’s next or how.
The moment you know how, you begin to die a little.
The artist never entirely knows. We guess.
We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.”
Categories: Imagery, Reducing Text.
