I think "presentation" is too limiting a term.  "Communication" is better.  While a presentation involves a one-sided conversation, communication implies a bi-directional dialogue. 

I think it takes the same (or even more) skill to convey concepts in written form.  When you're writing you don't have access to those handy animations that we know and love and you can't convey ideas using your physical demeanor.  You are forced to be more precise with your choice of words. 

Whether you are making a presentation in front of a live audience or writing an article in your local newspaper, you face the same issues:

  1.  Getting their attention
  2.  Keeping their attention
  3.  Conveying your message

In an effort to prove my point, or actually  52 of them, I am writing a book that will be self-published shortly.  If you would like to take a sneak peak, you can download the attached file which has the cover and content from Chapter 2. 

sneak_peak_ean_chapter2.pdf
File Size: 546 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
 
 

This is one of my pet peeves. Some numbers are so large as to not be intelligible to my brain.  I mean once you have gotten above about 700 calories, who cares what that piece of chocolate cake is going to do to your hips?  I just can't put that in perspective.

Well, presenters of all things numeric, take heed.  This is my favorite cool website of the day - its called Sensible Units.  Just go to this site, type in your number and associated units of measure and it will convert it to some meaningful and interesting data.  AKA - presentation fodder!

I entered 1,000,000 inches (wishful thinking) and here is what it produced as equivalents to help me put that in perspective:

23 Table Mountains. (The one in Capetown, I think.)
5.3 Mont Blancs. (I'm guessing they're talking about the mountains, not the pens.)
31 Burj Dubais (after completion).
46 CN Towers.

Now I need to put in "31 Burj Dubais" and figure out what that means - but you see how cool this can be.

It needs to have a similar conversion utility for dollars and then I could translate my next financial statement into 4 pairs of Manolo Blahniks, 6 Coach Handbags, 47 Eileen Fisher Blouses, and 474 Grande Lattes.  Now we are getting somewhere.  

 
 

Even though it is unseasonably cold here in Northern California, it finally feels like summer.  That's because today I watched a team of young athletes practicing baseball in a nearby park.  I had to walk in fairly close proximity to the practice field so I was keeping a watchful eye out for any stray balls, but it was the sound that brought back a rush of good memories for me. 

Being one of four children born to a big baseball fan, I spent a number of weekends playing baseball on our family team with Dad as the pitcher.  Since there were four of us children, two girls and two boys, we didn’t quite make a full team but we had most of the key positions covered. Gender didn’t matter and we were all drafted for the game.  We each got equal time batting and fielding and although we wouldn’t tell Dad, we looked forward to those outings. 

But back to that sound.  If you have ever played baseball you know that sound.  It’s the sound of the ball hitting the bat.  It could be the rewarding thunk of the ball hitting the middle of a wooden bat or the equally rewarding clang of ball on aluminum.  Either way, that sound is proof positive that you have connected bat to ball and there is no greater feeling in the world.  You can feel that connection in the core of your bones and in most cases you can tell if it’s a decent hit or a crummy pop fly by the way the bat vibrates after a hit.  But you can tell a lot by that magical sound.  

Good presentations are a lot like batting.  You can tell immediately if you are connecting or not.  And when you make a connection there is no better feeling. 

Thanks, Dad.  

 
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