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Think Stories, Not Slides

Amit Kapoor
February 21, 2017
450

Think Stories, Not Slides

Crafting a talk that engages, inspires and connects with the audience requires time and effort. Plan for it. Here is a short guide to do so, in four sections ― See the Idea, Show the Visual, Tell the Story, and Engage the Audience. Read this guide and then start working on your talk. See the web version at http://amitkaps.com/stories and you can buy a pdf version, if you want from there.

Amit Kapoor

February 21, 2017
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Transcript

  1. Think Stories, Not Slides.
    A compact guide to speaking with stories and presenting
    with impact at your next talk.
    Amit Kapoor
    stories.amitkaps.com
    See the
    Idea
    Show the
    Visual
    Tell the
    Story
    Engage the
    Audience

    View Slide

  2. Introduction
    “If I am to speak ten minutes, I
    need a week for preparation; if
    fifteen minutes, three days; if half
    an hour, two days; if an hour, I am
    ready now”
    ― Woodrow Wilson
    Crafting a talk that engages, inspires and
    connects with the audience requires time
    and effort. Plan for it. Here is a short guide
    to do so, in four sections ― See the Idea,
    Show the Visual, Tell the Story, and
    Engage the Audience. Read this guide and
    then start working on your talk.
    See the
    Idea
    Show the
    Visual
    Tell the
    Story
    Engage the
    Audience

    View Slide

  3. Idea &
    Meaning
    Gardener &
    Sculptor
    Viewpoints &
    Perspectives
    Patterns &
    Structure
    Contrast &
    Amplify
    Subtract &
    Simplify
    Observe &
    Learn
    Talking &
    Writing
    See the Idea

    View Slide

  4. Idea &
    Meaning
    Define the one big idea that holds your
    talk. The big idea is probably not the latest
    tool or technique, but how and why of
    what you did. Use it as an anchor to build
    your talk. The idea should hold meaning
    for the audience. Answer why they should
    care about it? Show them what’s at stake
    and then they may engage with your talk.
    A mind that is stretched to a new
    idea never returns to its original
    dimensions.
    ― Oliver Wendell Holmes

    View Slide

  5. Gardener &
    Sculptor
    Start by being a gardner. Sow a hundred
    idea seeds out there. Help them take roots.
    Some may sprout but others will die. Then
    be a sculptor. Look at all these ideas as a
    lump of clay. Start to sculpt it. Remove
    what is not making sense. Add back what
    does. Then you will have a sculpture. Start
    divergent & playful, and then be
    convergent & focussed.
    I never came upon any of my
    discoveries through the process of
    rational thinking.
    ― Albert Einstein

    View Slide

  6. Viewpoints &
    Perspectives
    Have a viewpoint. Don’t be rigid about it,
    but it needs to exist. Use the talk as way of
    build the connection and logic towards it.
    Most ideas are second hand. What makes
    them original is when you add your unique
    perspective to it. A viewpoint allows the
    audience to engage with it. They may agree
    or disagree, but it will definitely make
    them think.
    The right attitude for learning and
    creativity is to argue as if you are
    right and listen as if you are
    wrong, which strikes me as the
    right path for developing “strong
    opinions, weakly held”.
    ― Adapted from Karl Weick

    View Slide

  7. Patterns &
    Structure
    Scaffold a structure that you can hang your
    ideas on. The audience needs a way to
    understand how these ideas connect. Make
    it easy for them to follow. Repeat the
    structure through the talk and guide their
    attention. If you don’t provide an explicit
    pattern for them to follow, they will form
    their own implicit one and probably a
    different one.
    Humans are pattern-seeking
    storytelling animals, and we are
    quite adept at telling stories about
    patterns, whether they exist or not.
    ― Michael Shermer

    View Slide

  8. Contrast &
    Amplify
    We are attracted to contrasts - day and
    night, past and future, speed and
    endurance, or value and quality. Create
    tension by using two contrasting ideas and
    then resolve the tension to help amplify
    the message. The audience can engage on
    either sides and then go forward with an
    understanding of both sides
    The test of a first-rate intelligence
    is the ability to hold two opposing
    ideas in mind at the same time and
    still retain the ability to function.
    ― F. Scott Fitzgerald

    View Slide

  9. Subtract &
    Simplify
    Try to simplify the idea and focus on the
    main message. Remove the unnecessary
    details and detours that happened in your
    journey. Edit and see if there is a simple
    perspective to share. Addition is mostly
    mindless, but subtraction can be mindful.
    When there is nothing more to subtract,
    you may have something good to talk.
    It seems that perfection is attained
    not when there is nothing more to
    add, but when there is nothing
    more to remove.
    ― Antoine de Saint Exupéry

    View Slide

  10. Observe &
    Learn
    Start to look at the talks and presentations
    around you. Recognise the patterns in the
    ones that work. The stories, the
    metaphors, the tools, the style - just
    observe and be aware of them. Don’t copy
    them, but internalize them. Soon they will
    emerge out in your own unique way in
    your talks.
    To develop a complete mind, study
    the science of art, the art of science.
    Learn how to see. Realize that
    everything connects to everything
    else.
    ― Leonardo da Vinci

    View Slide

  11. Talking &
    Writing
    Talk, don’t only think. Talking helps you
    see the rough edges in your ideas. There is
    no better mirror for your thoughts than
    your voice. Then write it down. Writing
    adds distance between the ideal in your
    head and what may actually work. Put the
    first draft on paper as soon as possible, as
    rough as needed. Then you can start fixing
    it.
    The time to begin writing an
    article is when you have finished it
    to your satisfaction. By that time
    you begin to clearly and logically
    perceive what it is you really want
    to say.
    ― Mark Twain

    View Slide

  12. Coherence &
    Space
    Metaphors &
    Models
    Words &
    Pictures
    Graphics &
    Diagrams
    Simple & Focus
    Framing &
    Transitions
    Colors &
    Motions
    Substance &
    Style
    Show the Visual

    View Slide

  13. Coherence
    & Space
    Choose a coherent and simple visual style
    throughout your slides. Think like a
    designer. Understand the basic principles
    of subtraction, contrast, repetition,
    alignment, proximity, and enclosure. Use
    the visual space wisely. Don’t be afraid of
    white space. Start to love it. Less is more
    and big is better for showing slides in a
    large auditorium.
    Every [pixel] on a graphic requires
    a reason. And nearly always that
    reason should be that the [pixel]
    presents new information.
    ― Adapted from Edward Tufte

    View Slide

  14. Metaphors
    & Models
    A visual metaphor describes the idea by
    providing a point of comparison. Use
    metaphors as a lens through which you
    can get the audience to resonate with your
    ideas and experiences. Models are evolved
    and codified metaphors which can help
    provide graphical structure to your ideas.
    Use them to show different views of the
    idea.
    Metaphors have a way of holding
    the most truth in the least space.
    ― Orson Scott Card

    View Slide

  15. Words &
    Pictures
    Don’t use dense text and endless bullet
    points on your slides. Slides are not notes
    for you to speak from, but cues for the
    audience to follow your talk. Remember,
    they can read faster than you can talk.
    Make every word count. Think if you can
    use a picture to support your idea instead.
    The right picture can convey the idea
    easily and compactly.
    Use a picture. It's worth a
    thousand words.
    ― Arthur Brisbane
    ● abcdefg...
    ● hijklmno...
    ● pqrstuvw...
    ● xy012345...
    ● 67891011...

    View Slide

  16. Graphics &
    Diagrams
    Ensure the graphics tells a visual story.
    The graphics engages the visual sense, and
    compliments the story, which hits the
    aural senses. Nearly all bullet lists can be
    converted to diagrams. Diagrams are
    visual representation that can help clarify
    hierarchy and relationships and make it
    easy to understand process and concepts.
    Makes some diagrams.
    Never invest in any idea you can’t
    illustrate with a crayon.
    ― Peter Lynch

    View Slide

  17. Simple &
    Focus
    Sketch your ideas before you start making
    slides. Ensure you have only one idea per
    slide. Choose the slides wisely. Design a
    focussed template for each type of slide:
    walk-in, title, section, quote, big-word,
    diagram. data-chart, image, video,
    walk-out. Think of hierarchy, flow,
    contrast, and unity of design within the
    slide. Make it simple and easy to follow.
    That's been one of my mantras -
    focus and simplicity. Simple can be
    harder than complex: You have to
    work hard to get your thinking
    clean to make it simple. But it's
    worth it in the end because once
    you get there, you can move
    mountains.
    ― Steve Jobs

    View Slide

  18. Framing &
    Transition
    Everything you put on the slide is what you
    are biasing attention towards. Think like a
    cinematographer. What do you put in each
    frame and what do you leave out. Choose
    what you focus in the frame carefully.
    Then as you transition between frames, see
    that you are able to hold the cognitive
    thread together. Don’t lose the audience in
    the transition.
    The main task for the author of
    visual narrative is to capture and
    control what the audience is
    looking at, and hence attending to,
    from moment to moment.
    ― Colin Ware

    View Slide

  19. Colours &
    Motion
    Use colour to label, to measure, to
    represent or imitate reality and to enliven
    & decorate. Choose a colour palette, not
    random colors. Select colours found in
    nature, as they are familiar and coherent.
    Play with saturation & lightness. Add
    motion and animation to your slides, but
    with care. We are sensitive to motion,
    especially at the periphery of our vision.
    … even putting a good color in a
    good place is a complex manner.
    Indeed so difficult and subtle that
    avoiding catastrophe becomes the
    first principle in bringing color to
    information: Above all, do no
    harm.
    ― Edward Tufte

    View Slide

  20. Substance
    & Style
    Use readable large text. Simple and
    pleasing graphics. Easy to understand
    diagrams. No flying animation or fancy 3D
    effects. No jazzy transitions. Use
    multimedia, but ensures it integrates well.
    It is not paramount that the visual style is
    memorable. What is important is that the
    substance of the message is memorable for
    the audience.
    Form follows function - that has
    been misunderstood. Form and
    function should be one, joined in a
    spiritual union.
    ― Frank Lloyd Wright
    ...

    ...
    ...

    View Slide

  21. Stories &
    Journeys
    Teller &
    Listener
    Structure &
    Narrative
    Context &
    Messaging
    Rhythm &
    Flow
    Imagery &
    Emotions
    Silence &
    Pause
    Finish &
    Rehearse
    Tell the Story

    View Slide

  22. Stories &
    Journeys
    Think stories, not slides. Try to think in
    prose, not in bullet points. Stories have
    characters, arcs, and emotions. Add them
    to your story. Think about your whole
    journey, and not only the final outcomes,
    and you will probably have a good story to
    tell. Try to get the audience to experience
    and participate in that journey.
    Stories are powerful because they
    transport us into other people's
    worlds and in doing that the
    change the way our brains work
    and potentially change our brain
    chemistry - And that's what it
    means to be a social creature.
    ― Paul J. Zak

    View Slide

  23. Teller &
    Listener
    Understand the storytelling triangle
    between the teller, the listener and the
    story. The key link is what the listener will
    eventually have with the story. You can
    only prepare, offer, suggest, guide this
    relationship in all humility. If the listener
    eventually can Retain, Recall and Retell,
    even a part of the story - you would have
    built this bond successfully.
    Storytelling reveals meaning
    without committing the error of
    defining it.
    ― Hannah Arendt

    View Slide

  24. Structure &
    Narrative
    Effective stories have a broad three-part
    narrative structure. A beginning, where
    you establish the problem (setup). A
    middle, where you elaborate the problem
    (conflict, struggle). And an end, where you
    resolve the problem (resolution). Build the
    spine of your story in these three parts.
    Once you have this structure, you can start
    to extend it.
    We experience life as a series of
    ongoing narratives. As conflicts,
    characters, beginnings, middles
    and ends.
    ― Dr. Walter Fischer

    View Slide

  25. Context &
    Messaging
    Set up the context that the audience can
    relate to it. Provide them with a way to
    understand and get familiar with the story.
    Ensure there is a balance between the
    verbal and the visual messaging. Don’t
    repeat by your telling, what the audience
    can read. Instead create something they
    will remember like a shocking stats or an
    evocative anecdote.
    Writers use narratives to select
    from everything there is, and make
    contexts by putting the pieces into
    relation; that’s what writers do,
    they make contexts.
    ― Paul Shepheard

    View Slide

  26. Imagery &
    Emotions
    Persuading the audience to a new
    perspective requires appealing not only to
    the logic (logos) but also to the emotion
    (pathos). Try to balance the analytical and
    the emotional part of your message.
    Personal stories can help enhance the
    emotional texture of your talk and help in
    this transfer of imagery from you to the
    audience.
    Stories teach, model, unite and
    motivate by transporting
    audiences emotionally.
    ― Peter Gruber
    `

    View Slide

  27. Rhythm &
    Flow
    Oral language allows you to use varying
    emphasis, speed, repetition to enliven the
    story. Repetition especially can help to
    reinforce information and can contribute
    to the rhythm and the tempo. Practice
    story improv and tell the whole or part of
    the story in 3 - 6 sentences. It will help you
    to understand the flow and find your
    rhythm.
    Rhythm. Life is full of it; words
    should have it, too. But you have to
    train your ear. Listen to the waves
    on a quiet night; you’ll pick up the
    cadence. Look at the patterns the
    wind makes in dry sand and you’ll
    see how syllables in a sentence
    should fall.
    ― Arthur Gordon

    View Slide

  28. Silence &
    Pause
    Silence is to story, what white-space is to
    visuals. Don’t run through your story at
    hundred miles per hour. Build in pauses
    and breaks within your telling. It allows
    the story to breathe and lets the audience
    catch up to where you are. Their
    imagination and imagery will work better,
    if they have the time in between to use it.
    Dare to pause! The courage to stop
    the flow of words is an act of trust
    in the power of your presence,
    your non verbal communication
    and your relationship to your
    listener.
    ― Doug Lipman

    View Slide

  29. Finish &
    Rehearse
    Finish the story. It will not be perfect, but
    stories only get better as you keep telling
    them. But do rehearse. Don’t let making
    the perfect story come in the way of the
    rehearsal. Speak it aloud, get feedback,
    practice in person, on stage or on camera.
    The story will take its own life after that.
    And it will flow out with ease on the dais
    eventually.
    What it boils down to is one
    percent inspiration and
    ninety-nine percent perspiration.
    ― Thomas Edison

    View Slide

  30. Passion &
    Emotion
    Being &
    Becoming
    Audience &
    Focus
    Voice &
    Body
    Preparation &
    Technology
    Interactivity &
    Dialogue
    Questions &
    Answers
    Social &
    Relationships
    Engage the Audience

    View Slide

  31. Passion &
    Emotion
    Believe in your story. Nothing bores the
    audience more than an half interested
    speaker. Bring your passion and emotion
    to play in the story. Use the stage. Look at
    the audience, not the slides. Make eye
    contact with them. Show them that you
    belong there and you have something
    interesting to tell.
    Your intellect may be confused, but
    your emotions will never lie to you.
    ― Roger Ebert

    View Slide

  32. Being &
    Becoming
    Don’t aim to come across as only smart
    and articulate, but as open and sincere.
    People are then more likely to trust you
    and your ideas. Remember, the more
    human the action, the more human the
    response. Don’t try to be the next Hans
    Rosling or Ken Robinson. You are not
    them. The audience wants to get to know
    you. Be yourself. Be real. Be authentic.
    Always be a first-rate version of
    yourself, instead of a second-rate
    version of somebody else.
    ― Judy Garland

    View Slide

  33. Audience &
    Focus
    Put the audience first. Never believe that
    your are the audience. And what is
    interesting to you, may not be that
    interesting to everyone else. Focus on what
    will engage the audience. Surprise them
    and show them something intriguing.
    Engage them in a way that they will take
    away something from the talk.
    To make our communications
    more effective, we need to shift our
    thinking from "What information
    do I need to convey?" to "What
    questions do I want my audience
    to ask?”
    ― Chip Heath

    View Slide

  34. Preparation &
    Technology
    Technology is liable to fail at the last
    possible hurdle. Prepare for it. Test that
    your slides work on the conference
    projector. Bring any connectors you need.
    Bring backups on a usb drive. Test the
    audio and play the videos ahead of time.
    Ensure you can continue without wifi or
    3G connection. Record your demos, just in
    case.
    We are stuck with technology
    when what we really want is just
    stuff that works.
    ― Douglas Adam
    `

    View Slide

  35. Voice &
    Body
    Understand your voice ― pitch, tone,
    volume, rhythm and use variations of them
    appropriately. Try to keep the uh’s and
    um’s in check. Speak naturally as you
    would in a conversation. Make eye contact
    with the audience. Project emotion with
    your face. Have an open body posture. Use
    gestures appropriately and connect them
    with the content.
    There are four ways, and only four
    ways, in which we have contact
    with the world. We are evaluated
    and classified by these four
    contacts: what we do, how we
    look, what we say, and how we say
    it.
    ― Dale Carnegie

    View Slide

  36. Interactivity
    & Dialogue
    Make the talk interactive, if you can. Find
    ways to engage the audience through the
    talk. It could be questions, instant polls or
    reactions, simple activities that the
    audience can do or just options on an
    interactive charts. Prepare for them well. If
    the talk is not a lecture but a dialogue,
    then the audience is more engaged and
    you are likely to learn from it.
    A speaker should approach his
    preparation not by what he wants
    to say, but by what he wants to
    learn.
    ― Todd Stocker

    View Slide

  37. Question &
    Answer
    Plan for audience Q&A and reduce your
    own talk time as needed. Keep it at the end
    or manage it between sections of your talk.
    Anticipate questions and prepare for them.
    Listen carefully and empathetically and
    then answer. Admit when you don’t know
    the answer. Don’t just walk off the stage.
    End the Q&A with a short recap of your
    main message.
    So once you do know what the
    question actually is, you'll know
    what the answer means.
    ― Douglas Adams
    ? i

    View Slide

  38. Social &
    Relationships
    Be social. Be accessible and engage with
    the audience even after your talk is
    finished. Take questions. Share slide deck
    and additional material with the audience.
    Engage on social media after the session.
    Get honest reaction and feedback. The talk
    is the first step in persuading the audience
    and building a long-term relationships
    with them.
    Saying hello doesn’t have an ROI.
    It is about building relationships.
    ― Gary Vaynerchuk

    View Slide

  39. Stories
    Talk
    Interactive
    Talk
    Demo
    Talk
    Process
    Talk
    Narrative
    Talk
    Conceptual
    Talk
    Visual
    Talk
    Perfomance
    Talk
    Talk Types

    View Slide

  40. Stories
    Talk
    "On the Building of A
    PostgreSQL Cluster"
    by Srihari Sriraman
    Talk link: YouTube video,
    slides
    Watch out for how Srihari weaves together
    four long stories and four short stories
    through his talk. He takes a complicated
    technical topic and makes it relatable
    through the stories. Each story in itself is a
    narrative journey through the problem,
    the quickfix, the root cause, the correct fix
    and the lesson learnt. A great example of
    how stories can help connect.

    View Slide

  41. Interactive
    Talk
    “Exponential Growth Model”
    by Ashok Banerjee
    Talk link: YouTube video
    Watch out for how Ashok integrates the
    Q&A with his session. He uses the lens of
    exponential growth as the narrative tool to
    anchor the entire session. And his style
    was very professorial but in a good way.
    He carries the audience through with his
    Q&A approach baked into the talk,
    ensuring a high level of engagement and
    conversation.

    View Slide

  42. Demo
    Talk
    “Visualising Text”
    by S Anand
    Talk link: YouTube video
    Watch out for the nice narrative arc –
    starting with Anand’s personal journey
    into text visualization to beginners viz to
    advanced viz. The content is engaging and
    the contexts are setup nicely. Also
    presented in a personal style with humour.
    There is a bit too much switching between
    screens but for a demo style talk it can
    work, if paced well.

    View Slide

  43. Process
    Talk
    "A Billion Snapshots -
    Principles and Processes in the
    Census of India"
    by Varsha Joshi
    Talk link: YouTube video
    Watch out for how Varsha unpacks the
    entire principles and process of census
    using a simple narrative. The slides are
    kept basic and limited to one idea per
    slide. The text size is large and highlighted
    with font size. Large graphics are used to
    illustrate key issues and challenges in the
    process. The overall tone is very
    conversational and pleasing.

    View Slide

  44. Narrative
    Talk
    “What happens with Firefox
    Crashes”
    by Erik Rose
    Talk link: Vimeo video
    Watch out for how Erik builds a three part
    narrative. Starts with the big picture to
    answer why this is important. Then uses a
    singular anchor visual - the process
    diagram (with zooming and focus) to guide
    us through a complex system stack that is
    used. And then ends the talk with big
    patterns - teasing out the generic learnings
    for big data users.

    View Slide

  45. Conceptual
    Talk
    "Co-occurrence Analytics: A
    versatile framework for
    finding interesting needles in
    crazy haystacks!"
    by Shailesh Kumar
    Talk link: Vimeo video
    Watch out for how Shailesh takes one
    conceptual approach and applies it across
    multiple domains to give different
    perspectives. The use of the metaphors like
    needles, haystack and common
    terminology across examples anchors the
    audience understanding. The verbal
    rhythm is strong in carrying the message
    across along with humor and wit

    View Slide

  46. Visual
    Talk
    "Visualising
    Multi-Dimensional Data"
    by Amit Kapoor
    Talk link: Youtube video,
    slides
    Watch out for how Amit gives a talk which
    is focussed on ‘show, not tell’. He builds up
    the concepts gradually from small to wide
    data and then uses a singular anchor
    dataset to illustrate all the concepts. It
    definitely helps that the talk is about
    visualisation, but the consistent design
    helps in communicating the message
    visually and vibrantly.

    View Slide

  47. Performance
    Talk
    "Learning Djembe Visually
    with p5.js"
    by Amit Kapoor and Ashok
    Kumar
    Talk link: YouTube video,
    website
    Watch out for how Amit and Ashok
    coordinate to give a talk with live music
    and live visualisation. With this many
    moving parts technologically, it is
    important to prepare well and use a tool
    that provides a seamless presentation.
    Also, it is critical to have good timing and
    communication between the two people on
    stage. Listening for cues is important.

    View Slide

  48. On Speaking by Brad
    Frost
    No need to Kill it by
    Christian Heilmann
    Speaking Tips by
    Mark Boulton
    Public Speaking by
    Zach Holman
    Killer Presentation by
    Chris Anderson
    Public Speaking by
    Robin Hawkes
    Invited to speak by
    Lea Verou
    Conference Speaking
    Tips by Dave Addey
    Thoughts on the Web

    View Slide

  49. Think Stories, Not Slides.
    A compact guide to speaking with stories and presenting
    with impact at your next talk.
    Amit Kapoor
    stories.amitkaps.com
    This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0
    International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

    View Slide