Effective presentations through storytelling

Engaging your audience with a presentation is a challenge indeed.  You have to be empathetic to your audience, who is inundated with information and figures every day.  So a presentation that assaults with factoids – slides saturated with figures and data – is not likely to be successful. 

To create an engaging presentation, consider employing the art of storytelling.  And what is a better place to turn for the art of storytelling than movies. 

A story is made up of acts, which in turn are made up of scenes.  This structure resembles a presentation that is made up of sections, in turn made up of slides.

A scene provides a change in the beat of a storyline.  A scene is only effective if it changes the “charge” of the story, either providing a positive or a negative development for the protagonist.  A scene that has no charge is ineffective and lends nothing to advancing the story.

In a presentation a slide that does not provide a positive or negative charge should be delegated to back-up materials (the “deleted scenes”, to continue the analogy).  A slide that carries facts but no meaning is as engaging as reading an encyclopedia.  Write the slide header to capture the essence of the charge, similar to a newspaper headline.

An act is a series of scenes that results in an irreversible state, which may be either ultimately positive or negative but have none the less advanced the story’s protagonist to this unalterable condition. 

In your presentation a section should accomplish the same, providing a series of slides that leads to a conclusion that for the audience is irrefutable, thus irreversible in their minds. 

Finally, story is the accumulation of acts, which when combined provide an arc that traces the story from its beginning state through development, a climax and ending in an altered state.   The underlying theme is evident upon experiencing the journey. 

A presentation strives to accomplish the same, leading the audience to a realization – the message – through a series of acts. 

In your next presentation try applying these principles to engage your audience in a way they are only accustomed to in the theatre.

(NOTE: I recommend “Story” by Robert McKee to learn more about the skill of storytelling.)