This year’s Presentation Summit was held in San Diego – which is a whopping 12,000km from Sydney (as the crow flies). What keeps drawing me back each year is to have an opportunity to spend 4 days with others who, like me, advocate change in the presentation industry.
I wanted to share with you the #trending topics and highlights from speakers I was lucky enough to meet and listen to.
#Simplicity
The opening Keynote was from rising star Nolan Haims. With complex information a major culprit of bad presentations Nolan discussed how simple stands out and intention of message is more important than ever.
My favourite example was his comparison of two successful food chains Panera Bread [+200% sales] & Chipotle [+600% sales]. Both popular eateries however, the queue for Chipotle moves faster because of their simple easy to understand menu. This helps in two ways _?_ less wastage from the kitchen and easier choices for customers = faster lines. Chipotle attribute much of their success to the simplicity of their menus.
Nolan Haims @NolanHaims
#PowerPointZen
A highlight of the summit is always the late night guru sessions with Ric Bretschneider. Joined this year from Japan by Garr Reynolds (a communication specialist & best selling author of Presentation Zen
The duo entertained us with stories of presentation experiences and current trends. My favourite take out from the night were these quotes: “If your presentation is good, nobody will care what software you used to make it” and “I think it’ll be a better world if people learn what a story is and how to use it”. Garr is currently writing his 5th book on the elements of story.
Ric Bretschneider @ricbret. Garr Reynolds @presentationzen
#PowerPointTeam
After a couple of beers (for Dutch courage) these brave men from Microsoft took the hot seat at the guru session.
Watching them _??cop’ the heat reminded me how easy it is to blame software for general presentation failings. As Ric pointed out they understand the challenges as much as we do. What I respected the most was seeing the passion these guys held for the software. It’s easy for us to talk about our wish list of improvements _?_ but equally important to acknowledge some of the great new features in 2013 – like lockable coloured guides & improved video output.
A key takeout from the night for me was hearing about the upcoming PowerPoint Mac release_?_ No date yet but fingers crossed its a closer version to PC than before.