Have you ever been thanked for a great presentation? I certainly have. Some might think that I’m a good speaker and that the content is interesting, but I don’t think I’m that good, if I compare my style with some of my own gurus. I believe that some of my results often have to do with the style on how I use my slides. I’m confident that even uninteresting content can be presented in an interesting way and language barriers or poor speaking skills can be complemented with great presentation design.

When I say presentation design, I’m talking about the approach on how you create your slides to complement (rather than overload) your story, how simplicity is applied and how metaphors or visuals are used to support your message. You might also consider the flow of your presentation, when you throw jokes, when you go into details, when you ask the audience a question, how you develop the story, when you add some audio or video and how to apply some cross-media feats.

This sounds quite simple but it requires a lot of practice, time and patience. Anyone can be a great presenter, even if you believe you don’t have any sensibility for visual communication. By applying some simple steps of advice you can get so much better results. Here is what I would suggest in order to improve an existing slide full of bullet points and corporate branding:

• Drop the bullet points to the notes section. If you know your stuff, you don’t need them. If you really must, split the slide so that you have a slide for each bullet point
• Think of a metaphor that could illustrate your point to draw the picture in the mind of your audience just as it is (think Jesus, much of his success is based on inspiring metaphors)
• If you cannot come up with a metaphor, use a simple photo to illustrate your point (see istockphoto.com for examples)
• If you need to add words, use a 2-5 words or use a short quote, if possible
• Never position text over a detailed part of your image, because it interferes with the background and reduces readability. If you need, edit the photo by reducing detail on certain parts with fades or blur, or cut it into pieces
• Use high quality photos. If the photo is a bit dull, use the built-in features to cheer it up by adding contrast or fiddling with gamma and brightness settings
• Remove all slide numbers, corporate branding, visually unnecessary elements and links. You can have those on their individual slides (e.g. on the beginning and end), but not on every slide
• If you really need motion, add slide animation that makes sense and supports the image (say, if you have a picture of a book, use a page flip transition)
• Make sure all elements are lined up symmetrically to slide borders or other considerable boundaries
• If your presentation has some identifiable major sections, you might want to use some slides to identify change of phase. Use similar style on each that stands out of the rest
• Use the largest font size you can afford with a readable font (arial, verdana, gill sans…)
• Use font color that sticks out of the background. With dark backgrounds use white or a very light color, with white backgrounds use slightly gray black or any almost black color
• If you have a Mac, use Apple Keynote to get really professional results with less work
• Be proud to do things differently than anyone else in the conference

With this approach you will get slides that do not interfere with your speech (avoid all situations where people start to read your slides or need binoculars to make sense of it). When using images and less words, the photos as metaphors give you much more freedom to modify your presentation on the fly if you need to.

The next step is to forget slides altogether, maybe even making your presentation completely non-linear and spontaneous.

For more advice, see the following excellent presentation by Garr Reynolds worth every minute of your time:

I’ve been traveling quite a lot and looking back after the last one in K.U.Leuven, Belgium, I’ve given over 100 presentations this year. That averages about two per week and considering that my real job is running a company and I don’t actively sell any of these appearances, it’s quite an honor to be invited by so many different people to interesting places to expand my own thinking. Thanks to all who have been perspective devices and centrally involved in getting my atoms transported from place to place.

Some think that giving presentations is about broadcasting your message, but for me presentations are really about growing new connections: inside and outside. If I have the opportunity to speak, I also have the opportunity to get really deep into certain developments in our society to gain new perspectives. I don’t want to run the same speech every time, but remix my consciousness with new points of view.

The stress and preparation required for a presentation is always an opportunity for re-evaluating your arguments. Once the speech is done and the resulting adrenaline is getting you high, it’s time for reflection in a social setting how it went. I feel disconnected from myself if I don’t have a recording or other means to tear the presentation into pieces. In a sense, presentations are a gesamtkunstwerk (Richard Wagner) for me, a massive work of art shaking all senses. I feel sorry for those who repeat their rap to boredom and perfection, rather than progression.

Looking back, the quantum leaps that have emerged in my thinking have happened in my three trips to Italy: twice to Bolzano (Bolzano Conversation and ILIAS Conference) through Rome and once to Naples (EDEN Conference) through Rome. I’ve also had some great presentations in Netherlands (SURF Education Days) and Belgium (Dag van de Docent). I haven’t yet had the opportunity to upload all the presentations I’ve done this year but will do so eventually.

Why is Rome so important? Well it’s because of the reflecting conversations with Sepp, Susan, Robin and Roberto. Not to mention the transitory state that it has served for my trips. Thanks to Robin for getting us all in touch. Here is one of the more informal conversations we have shared, as transcribed by Robin:

• Robin answers Marshall McLuhan’s Tetrad questions

Who knows what will happen in year 2008? Maybe I’m forgotted or in greater demand than ever. I’m very excited – and I have some great news in January.

Btw. If someone knows how to get rid of Google PageRank 0 for this blog, I would be very happy. I’m not a spammer, although my nerve waste can be a burden sometimes.