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Power Presentations for Berkeley-Columbia MBAs (2007)

Andy Randall
October 12, 2007

Power Presentations for Berkeley-Columbia MBAs (2007)

Best practices for creating impactful presentations. I gave this talk to several years of Berkeley-Columbia executive MBA students in the mid-2000s.

Andy Randall

October 12, 2007
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  1. Confession: I Was a PowerPoint Junkie §  My PowerPoints used

    to be full of §  Text §  14 point font, to squeeze in as much information as possible onto each slide. §  I would frequently use full sentences so I wouldn’t forget what I wanted to say. §  Detailed diagrams §  Cheesy clip-art §  Cool animations §  I was not alone: they were just like those of §  My colleagues §  Almost everyone else in the entire world §  Then I saw a presentation by Steve Jobs and started to read a bit more about the theory behind good (and bad) presentations §  Apparently, this might not be the only way to do things “PowerPoint has allowed an endless expanse of dimwit ideas to be dressed up with graphical respectability” – Wall Street Journal, 6/20/07
  2. “PowerPoint is like an outdoor light that attracts moths, and

    then destroys them…” – Paul LeRoux & Peg Corwin, Visual Selling
  3. PowerPoint: Killer App? T U E S D A Y

    , A U G U S T 3 0 , 2 0 0 5 By Ruth Marcus Did PowerPoint make the space shuttle crash? Could it doom another mission? Preposterous as this may sound, the ubiquitous Microsoft "presentation software" has twice been singled out for special criticism by task forces reviewing the space shuttle disaster. Perhaps I've sat through too many PowerPoint presentations lately, but I think the trouble with these critics is that they don't go far enough: The software may be as much of a mind-numbing menace to those of us who intend to remain earthbound as it is to astronauts. A17
  4. “The Columbia Accident Investigation Board found that the distinctive cognitive

    style of PowerPoint reinforced the hierarchical filtering and biases of the NASA bureaucracy”
  5. Track Record of Successful Transitions §  680x0 to PowerPC (1994

    – 1996) §  Radical new RISC architecture §  Team did a great job (even though I wasn’t here!) §  Successfully migrated entire product line in less than 3 years §  Mac OS 9 to Max OS X (2001 – 2003) §  “Brain transplant” §  Classic mode emulation for back-compatibility enabled smooth transition §  Combined Mac simplicity with rock-solid UNIX operating system – the most advanced operating system on the planet §  World’s most successful new operating system introduction – 10 million users by 2004 §  Now we’re migrating to Intel processor architecture §  Great performance and power consumption §  Will enable us to deliver more insanely great products §  Set for success – proven we can do this before §  In fact, we’ve been running OS X on Intel internally for some time!
  6. Readers: 230 – 800 words per minute • This is my

    first text bullet and it’s very interesting • It’s even got a sub-bullet • This is my second bullet and it adds a new thought • This is the last bullet on this slide (phew, I kept it short!) • This is my first text bullet and it’s very interesting • It’s even got a sub-bullet • This is my second bullet and it adds a new thought • This is the last bullet on this slide (phew, I kept it short!) Speakers: 160 words per minute Your Audience Can Read Faster Than You Can Talk
  7. Bad Reasons for Verbose Slides “ I’m giving them as

    handouts to refer to later” “ I won’t remember what to say” “ My audience needs all the details on the slide” “ My company always does PowerPoint this way”
  8. Picture Superiority Effect 8.6 11.2 12.4 Words Pictures Words +

    Pictures K. Mills & H. McMullan, A Study Of Short-term Memory Recall Of Pictures, Words, And Pictures And Words Presented Together, 2006
  9. “When emotions are considered above everything else, don't be afraid

    to add more ornament.” – John Maeda (MIT Media Lab)
  10. Tip #1 – “Smoked Glass” Overlay Rectangle shape Format "

    AutoShape §  50% black fill §  No border White text
  11. Overall Impressions • Generally positive • Building design connects audience with modern

    art • Facility poorly maintained • Staff does not appear to understand mission
  12. Tip #2 – Image Fade Overlay rectangle shape Format "

    AutoShape §  Fill Effects §  Background color §  From 0% to 100% transparency Adjust size to image
  13. Tip #3 – Photo “Objects” Can purchase online (e.g. photoobjects.net)

    “Set transparent color” on picture toolbar May need to edit/crop first in Photoshop
  14. Tip #4 – Formatting Charts 0 10 20 30 40

    50 60 70 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
  15. Tip #4 – Formatting Charts 0 10 20 30 40

    50 60 70 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
  16. Tip #4 – Formatting Charts 3D vs. subtle 2D shading

    Explore options Minimize ink (Tufte)
  17. Do You Even Need Axes? 20 27 40 64 1st

    Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
  18. Copyright © 2007 MetaSwitch, a division of Data Connection •

    Proprietary and Confidential • All Rights Reserved. 61 MG3510: Industry-Leading Hardware Design "  Compact form factor "  Low power (1500W), high capacity cooling "  2 x 6:1 redundant universal card slots 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 17” 12U 17.2”
  19. Copyright © 2007 MetaSwitch, a division of Data Connection •

    Proprietary and Confidential • All Rights Reserved. 62 MG2510: Same Power, Even More Compact "  Same carrier class design in more compact chassis "  Lower power (800W) "  5:1 card slots 17” 7U 17.2” “The MG2510 establishes a new benchmark for rack-space efficiency” – Current Analysis
  20. Copyright © 2007 MetaSwitch, a division of Data Connection •

    Proprietary and Confidential • All Rights Reserved. 63 Universal Gateway Architecture The industry’s only single blade universal gateway Integrated digital signal processors for media server functions on every channel Reduces spares, increases flexibility and scalability
  21. Other Mini Tips Keyboard shortcuts, e.g. §  Ctrl-Shift-P §  Ctrl-Shift-F

    §  Underlined menu letters Draw " Align or Distribute Format " Line Spacing