Garr Reynolds's Blog, page 20

A long time ago, before death by PowerPoint

A long time ago — before PowerPoint was invented — in a galaxy far, far away, leaders gave presentations backed by large electronic wall displays. Below, for example, is a photo of General Dodonna (from Star Wars IV) briefing a packed room full of starpilots, navigators, and droids. Notice how he uses the entire wide screen to display only visual information, a digital vector animation of the inner workings of the death star. Notice too how he has gathered the troops close to the front, how...

Lessons from the Japanese bath

Looking back twenty years, I had only been living in Japan a couple of months when I found myself sitting in a large Japanese bath surrounded by my naked coworkers. I was at an onsen (温泉), or Japanese hot springs, along with everyone else from my office, as part of our company weekend retreat. The purpose of the trip was not work, but simply relaxation, dining, drinking, and a little fun with colleagues. By getting away from the formality of the office setting, my boss told me, staff and...

The visual transformation of Bill Gates the presenter

Many years ago I began pointing to the presentation style of Steve Jobs as a good example of how to present with visuals on a large stage. Often I would contrast Jobs' presentation techniques with those of Bill Gates. Bill Gates is a man with a big heart and a big brain. I'm a fan. Yet, in spite of all his talents and contributions, delivering effective presentations — especially if slides were involved — was not one of his strong points. Things, however, started to change in early 2009...

Tips for creative success from Pixar

Randy Nelson is Dean of Pixar University and gives a really nice 9-min talk below with important content for all professionals and students. The talk is called Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age. Pixar is the kind of company that focuses hard on the development of its people, and Nelson is someone who has a lot of experience helping very creative people communicate and collaborate better. I like the way Nelson expresses his ideas on stage and connects with his audience at...

Lawrence Lessig on remix (redux)

I've been a fan of Lawrence Lessig and his unique style of presenting for a very long time. His own method is not for everyone. Yet, he is engaging and for the most part he is able to make his case in a logical fashion and make a connection with the audience even though he does not move from behind his lectern. His rapid pace and quick slide transitions include a mix of short bursts of text, images, and video clips. In this clip below he is using a different font, which at least on a...

The passionate scientist: Doing Q&A like Neil deGrasse Tyson

Communication experts such as Jerry Weissman and Granville Toogood suggest that presentations should be delivered less like performances or speeches and much more like conversations. "Stop thinking that every time you stand up to say something you are making a speech—because you're not," says Toogood in The Articulate Executive. "What you are really doing is having an enlarged conversation." One of the keys to a natural, conversational approach includes removing all barriers to natural...

Wisdom from the principles of Budō: Lessons for work & life

I have great respect for those who dedicate themselves to the study of the martial arts in Japan. Budō, or "the martial way," is a term which encompasses the martial arts here in Japan. Bu (武) conveys the meaning "to stop clashing weapons." Dō (道) is "the way" or "the path" to truth and liberation. There is much we can learn by examining the principles found in traditional disciplines, even though they may seemed quite removed from the daily experience of most people. At the risk of...

Be like the bamboo: 7 lessons from the Japanese forest

The forests that surround our village here in Nara, Japan are filled with beautiful bamboo trees. In Japan, the symbolism of the bamboo plant runs deep and wide and offers practical lessons for life and for work. I summarized the lessons below with presentation and learning in mind, but as you read these seven lessons from bamboo, try think of practical implications for your own work.

(1) Bend but don't break. Be flexible yet firmly rooted
 

One of the most impressive things about...

Inspiring, contagious presentation: Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge

In my search for presentations with a strong message and delivered in the naked style (honest, transparent, engaging, inspiring, simple visuals and approach, etc.), I stumbled upon two TED talks from TEDIndia held last November. Both deal with transformations in education, a hot topic of great interest to all of us. The first one is by educator (and designer) Kiran Bir Sethi below. She is fabulous. She starts her talk by saying that contagious is a good word and reminds the audience that...

Giving a 10-minute presentation with a single slide: Steven Johnson on the Ghost Map

Having just returned from a trip to London, my interest in the story of Dr. John Snow and the terrible 1854 cholera outbreak in London was rekindled. It's an amazing story. (While in London I kicked around the same streets where the outbreak occurred some 156 years ago in Soho.) The presentation below is a good short talk by Steven Johnston who wrote an entire book on the case called Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the...