Those are the words that best describe Dr. Daniel Lowenstein’s “The Last Lecture” presentation, delivered to a packed house in Cole Hall on April 25th. The Last Lecture is an annual lecture series hosted by the UCSF Graduate Division (and inspired by the original last lecture), in which the presenter is hand-picked by students and asked to respond to the question, ”If you had but one lecture to give, what would you say?” Dr. Daniel Lowenstein, epilepsy specialist and director of the UCSF Epilepsy Center, did not disappoint. In fact, I can say with confidence that he delivered one of the best presentations that I have attended.

Rather than attempt to paraphrase his words, or provide a Cliff Notes version that doesn’t do his presentation justice, I will instead encourage you to watch the video recording of his presentation. The video is an hour in length, and if you have any interest in becoming a better presenter yourself, it is a must-watch. After the jump, we’ll explore my top “top 5 lessons learned” from Dr. Lowenstein’s presentation.

Click the image above to view the video. If you have trouble viewing this video, you may need to install the Silverlight plugin.

Last Lecture – Top 5 Lessons Learned:

1. “PowerPoint” is still boring. Dr. Lowenstein’s projected slide show was not typical PowerPoint. It did not consist of any bullet points, familiar and boring templates, or images “borrowed” from a last minute Google image search. Instead, used images from his own collection, and Prezi to build a canvas of images that moved in all directions, expanding, contracting and rotating to craft his message. The resulting slide show was personal, meaningful and most importantly, relatable.
2. Story telling is the secret to success. When I first began studying the art of presenting, the idea of incorporating storytelling into a presentation was an elusive one. I am now convinced that storytelling is the secret to transforming a good presentation, into a great presentation. It is the glue that holds all of the elements of your presentation together, as well as the glitter that makes it shine. Dr. Lowenstein’s entire presentation was crafted into a story, the setting of which was established right from the beginning and illustrated by his first content slide. There were also chapters within the story, the most memorable of which for me was the Justice segment of his presentation, and his depiction of The Basement People. He didn’t begin by pointing out the original members of the UCSF Black Caucus that were in the audience, as most presenters would have done. Instead, he gradually painted a picture for us, so we could imagine what it was like to be a minority at UCSF over 50 years ago. He described their struggles in detail, and gave us time to relate, and even pointed out the fact that they had met in that very hall where we all sat. He didn’t reveal their presence until the end of the chapter, creating a crescendo of emotion, and the moment brought tears to the eyes of many audience members.
3. Vulnerability equals trust. If you want your audience to believe in your message, you must first give them a reason to believe in you. And one of the most effective ways to make that happen is to share your vulnerabilities. In the eyes of the audience, this makes the presenter human, and it creates a bond between both parties. No one wants to listen to a sales-pitch presentation. Instead, they want the whole story with the ups and downs, so they can decide how we feel about it on their own terms. Just be sure to share vulnerabilities that relate to the subject of the presentation, because you’re going for empathy, not sympathy (which could have a negative effect). Dr. Lowenstein, when talking about Joy and Sorrow, shared one of his deepest personal sorrows, which was the unexpected passing of his son. In contrast, he shared a touching moment with his wife, expressing his love for her, right in front of the whole audience. These moments worked perfectly in the presentation because they were genuine, and they gave the audience a deeper understanding of Dr. Lowenstein.
4. Don’t forget humor. No matter how serious, no matter how technical, there is a place in your presentation for a little humor. It can be used to lighten a heavy moment, open closed minds, and bring everyone in a room together (even if your audience members have very different backgrounds). Amidst Dr. Lowenstein’s presentation were timely moments of humor that seemed to come naturally from his personality. And hey, who doesn’t like a good male-patterened-baldness joke, anyway?! But seriously, if you can laugh at yourself, the audience has no excuse to not laugh along with you. There are two keys to using humor in your presentation; (1) it should be relevant to the current topic or story, and (2) it can’t be forced. If you’re not good at telling jokes, then try another form of humor!
5. Present on your passions. As a presenter, your goal is simple – to instill in the audience an understanding of your message, and a belief in you. If you give them the impression, even for a moment, that you don’t believe in yourself or the message you’re presenting, you’re a dead man walking (or presenting) in the audience’s eyes. If you choose topics that you are passionate about, however, you will never have this problem. You may think it was easy for Dr. Lowenstein’s to be passionate about his presentation, because his task was, in essence, to present about his life’s passions… but I can assure you, it’s not easy to talk about your own life in front of an audience. In contrast, imagine that you have to give a presentation on, say, your department’s new accounting policies. To make matters worse, imagine that your audience is being forced to attend. What do you do? Surely, there is no passion to be found in accounting policy, is there?! Well, actually, there is, if you take the right angle. For example, does this new accounting policy save the department time, or money? And then, can that saved time and money be applied towards more constructive, or creative tasks that your coworkers actually want to do? If so, and you frame the presentation in a positive light, the audience will listen.

To top it all off, Dr. Lowenstein spent the last few minutes of his presentation reviewing each of the 4 segments of his talk, and then related it all back to a single, clear message. That, my friends, is an example of storytelling 101, so I hope you were talking notes!

If you also found inspiration in Dr. Lowenstein’s presentation, please share your thoughts below, and I’ll see you at next year’s “Last Lecturer” event.

(Click here to cheat, and access the abridged version.)

Garry Reynolds did a great job of breaking it down, so rather than reinvent the wheel, I’m going to direct you over to his post for that. Instead, I thought I’d share the following:

Top 10 Moments from “Confessions of a Converted Lecturer”

10.  All along, there were signs that something was wrong.
Referring to various forms of feedback that he received from students throughout the semester about his teaching performance.

9.  How do you come up with plausible wrong answers?!
Referring to the all-too-common process of developing a multiple choice test.

8.  If I have the book, and they have the book, what am I going to do in class?!
Referring to early in his teaching career, as he was developing his teaching methods.

7.  Shift focus from teaching, to helping students learn. 
Identifying one of the most important messages from his “confessions” lecture.

6.  The plural of anecdotes is not data. 
Pointing out the fact that educators tend to throw out the scientific method when it comes to assessing their performance and teaching methods.

5.  You don’t benefit from watching someone else solve a problem. YOU have to do it.
This one is self-explanatory.

4.  Teaching is more than just the transfer of information. Assimilating information is the hard part of learning, but we put all of our efforts [as teachers] into the easy part, which is the transfer of information.

3. To quote Socrates, 2000yrs ago- we should teach by questioning, not by telling.
That ancient Greek dude was smart!

2. The better you know something, the more difficult it becomes to teach.
This one really hits home for me, because I talk about “the curse of knowledge” in all of my workshops. It’s so true, especially in health sciences!

1.  The lecture method is a process whereby the lectures notes of the instructor get transferred to the notebooks of the students… without passing through the brains of either!

Are traditional indicators of success, end of semester evaluations and standardized test results accurate, or misleading? I’ll give you one guess as to what his feeling on that matter is (and I agree completely).

In the most basic form, his current teaching method consists of two parts. (1) Students are assigned pre-class reading. (2) Class time is used to delve deeper into the areas that are difficult.

He goes on to say that it’s impossible to sleep in his class because every 2 minutes a classmate is talking to you, and there is a continuous information flow happening between everyone in the room! Sounds pretty great to me, and this also gives me flashbacks to the  physics class I took in college, which was NOTHING like that.

And finally, here is a great example his teaching style in action:

What do you think? Is he completely out in left field, or is he so right that it’s scary?!

“Creativity is not a talent, it’s a way of operating.”

I often ask attendees of The Better Presenter workshop to raise their hands if they consider themselves to be creative. I normally see a few hands go up, reluctantly. I think it is because we have forgotten how to be creative, and also because we think you either have it, or you don’t! As Cleese clearly explains, we are all creative, but we have to work at it. We need to “quiten our mind down” and get into the right state of mind. When I’m planning and designing a presentation, this is exactly what I attempt to do. I try to find that creative state of mind, and it definitely takes time and discipline to get there.

As he goes on to explain, you need a few things to achieve this creative, or “open” state of mind. Here is a quick summary:

1. Space – seal yourself off so you cannot be disturbed, create an oasis of quiet.
2. Time – designate a specific period of time for this creativity to take place, with clear lines for normal life to stop, and then start up again.
3. Time (again) - you must allow yourself to be comfortable with taking the extra time to find the best creative solution, instead of taking the first thing that comes to you, because “maximum pondering time leads to the most creative solution.”
4. Confidence – you must not fear making a mistake, you have to be free to play, and take risks.
5. Humor – nothing gets us from the closed mode to the open mode faster than humor!

If these techniques are new to you, I recommend trying them out during the brainstorming phase of your next presentation. This will set you off on the right foot, and you might be surprised at what you come up with. I find that I need to do this somewhere other than my office or home, because there are far too many distractions and opportunities for disruption in those two environments. Empty classrooms, the library and coffee shops are my go-to places for creative work.

And just remember, after you are satisfied with your creative output, to return to the “closed” state of mind, to get the project done!

Do you agree with Cleese’s process? Do you have one of your own? Or, maybe a better question is… what is your favorite scene from Holy Grail?! (Mine is definitely, “She’s a witch!“)

Image originally posted on PHDcomics.com, here: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=847

March 6, 2063 ~ Textbooks are officially dead, and word on the street is that they were killed off systematically and without mercy by well-placed PowerPoint bullet points and stylish clip art. Student are building bonfires Ray Bradbury style. White board markers are outlawed in universities across the nation, and instructors are required to use government-issued PowerPoint templates and laser pointers when lecturing. I have been hiding out with a small contingent of outcasts who call themselves Citizens Against PowerPoint Abuse (CAPPA for short). They organize regular demonstrations against PowerPoint and advocate for a return to the good ‘ol days of group projects and learning games. In their eyes, the world is coming to end, and on the day of reckoning, it will look like this:

But seriously folks [insert laugh track], it is 2013 and PowerPoint is already changing the way instructors teach and students learn. Some of these trends are good, but many are not. In this post, I’d like to highlight a few of the more prominent trends, and then pose a few ideas for reversing them… before it’s too late!

Trend #1 – PowerPoint slides are the primary source of study.

• Description: Before or after class, instructors provide students with copies of the PowerPoint slides that are used during class. In the weeks that follow, students pour over those slides meticulously, searching for clues to solve the classic mystery, “what’s going to be on the next exam?” In some cases, an instructor’s entire curriculum is provided to students via PowerPoint.
• Issues: A PowerPoint slide deck can either function as the backdrop for a well-executed presentation (synchronous), or as a useful study tool that is consumed in solitary study (asynchronous), but not both. Presentations that contain too much detail can overwhelm and confuse an audience, and handouts that don’t contain enough detail are not very useful for study.
• Ideas: The strategy that I recommend is a two-step process. First, create detailed handouts that contain prose (paragraphs and sentences), data, and complex images that can be studied methodically. When the handout is complete, transfer only the most important elements to PowerPoint, and represent those elements with direct, bold, and simple imagery.
• Question: If we can all agree that scanning an entire page out of a textbook and pasting it into PowerPoint is bad practice, then why isn’t the same true for replacing textbook pages with PowerPoint slides?
• Additional Resources: Standardized testing is our educational system’s primary method for assessing student progress, and those tests rely heavily on multiple-choice questions. We are finally beginning to realize that this method is, at best, flawed. PowerPoint is the perfect compliment to this flawed strategy because it allows instructors to quickly and easily create a series of giant flash cards that explain the “what” but not the “how” or “why” of a topic. For more on the subject, check out this interesting article from The CaliforniaReport: The end of d) all of the above?”

Trend #2 – Lectures are information dumps.

• Description: Classroom lectures provide the instructor with an open-ended opportunity to share everything they know about a topic. The only limiting factors are the clock and the rate at which they press the forward button on the presenter remote. Slides are filled wall-to-wall with text and data. The instructor operates under the assumption that more slides are better than less. Some students may even doubt an instructor’s abilities if the PowerPoint presentations are not lengthy and complex.
• Issues: When an instructor chooses quantity over quality, they are setting everyone up for failure. Presentations that aren’t targeted at the audience, don’t provide context, and lack insight are not memorable. This issue is even more common in scientific talks given by researchers. We all want to impress and win the approval of our peers (and even our subordinates), so we may compensate by over-explaining things. Rather than spoon-feed our audience with tasty, memorable morsels of information that leave them begging for more, we cram the entire plate down their throats all at once! PowerPoint encourages this tendency by making it all-too-easy to just plop down slide after cookie-cutter slide with the click of a button.
• Ideas: There are many ways to combat this trend, and one way is with another trend! Have you heard of “flipping” a classroom?” The buzz-word is new but the concept is not. Essentially, a flipped classroom is one that requires students to complete passive learning activities before class (viewing recorded lectures, reading assigned material), and then uses class time for active learning activities that reinforce important concepts (group work, discussions, game-based learning, role playing, practice). If you are interested in flipping your classroom, we can help you choose a strategy for recording lectures. And let’s not forget that the key to delivering a truly insightful presentation is to simply spend more time on development. Yeah I said it! Begin by taking a step back from the details of your presentation to identify the message you’re trying to convey. Purify that message until its easily stated in one sentence, and in plain English. Now you can put your PowerPoint presentation on a diet until it’s lean and mean. Extra details that don’t directly support your message get trimmed off, important points are highlighted, and then end result is a presentation that is targeted, highly visual, and easy for the audience to digest. (What’s with all the food metaphors?!)
• Question: What makes a presentation truly memorable?
• Additional Resources: This is a great article from a faculty member in Stanford University’s School of Medicine, calling attention to this issue as it affects research presentations: Opinion: Communication Crisis in Research. And for some more info on the idea of Flipping, you can start here.

Trend #3 – Class time is scripted.

• Description: Most higher-ed classes follow the same pattern. The students walk in, grab their usual seat, pull out a notepad/iPad, and gaze up at the projector screen just in time for the instructor to begin unleashing a full-frontal assault of PowerPoint slides chocked full of bullet points, tables, charts and images. The information keeps coming, too, only slowing on occasion to allow for questions, until the scheduled end of the class period. Rinse and repeat.
• Issues: PowerPoint, by design, practically forces linear movement through a topic. Slides are created and presented one-by-one, and in order. This structure of predictability can easily suck the life out of a room, and places too much emphasis on the need to “get through all the slides” (I actually die a little inside every time I hear an instructor say those words), instead of placing the emphasis on ensuring the audience’s comprehension of the subject, by whatever means necessary.
• Ideas: I challenge all instructors to conduct at least one class per semester without PowerPoint or a laptop. This forces you and the students to get creative, and the change of pace can be refreshing. You can also mix things up and continue to use PowerPoint. For example, you can simulate branching in your presentation through the use of hyperlinked text or buttons, allowing you to move on a non-linear path that is dictated by the student’s needs. If you want to get a little crazy, skip PowerPoint and use Prezi, which completely debunks the idea of linearity by allowing you to create one, giant canvas of objects that can be freely explored in any direction. Another interesting idea is to completely replace informational slides with slides that pose questions to the audience, encouraging a discussion and discovery of the answer. This technique also serves to creating a pause in the action to allow for thought, and absorption. And don’t be afraid to abandon your PowerPoint completely to attack a question head-on with a white board and marker (“B” key to black-out the screen, “W” to white it out, these keyboard shortcuts works in PowerPoint and Keynote).
• Question: Learning doesn’t occur in a straight line. Instead, learning happens on a series of simultaneously-occurring tangents (say that three times fast) that include questions, answers, experimentation and in the end discovery. If this is true, then why do we discourage these tangents in the classroom?
• Additional Resources: In the 21st century, is the “factory model of teaching” really the best we can do? Check out this interesting article from Ken Carroll: Linear and Non-Linear Learning

So, now that I’ve thrown down the gauntlet and systematically blamed everyone and everything for ruining the fragile minds of our youth (sorry about that), I want to know what you think! Are you an instructor, or a student? How do you feel about these trends? Are there other trends that you’ve seen? Do agree or disagree with the points presented in this article? How do YOU think PowerPoint should be used in higher education?

Is Prezi worth all the hype? In my opinion, yes, it is, and here are the top 5 reasons why:

1.  Escape from linearity. How long have we been creating linear presentations? 20 years or more? Is that the right way to present? Do we think and comprehend in a straight line? We are creatures of habit, and I believe “PowerPoints” have become a convention that we follow without question. Normally, all of our slides are the same size, one fades into the next, and we present them in the same order… every time. Prezi allows you to group objects together with “frames” and then build a “path” that moves the viewer fluidly through the content (on one, big canvas), but those paths are rarely a straight line, and the presenter or viewer can step off that path at any time and create their own!

Example: Check out my first Prezi. To create your own viewing path, click-and-drag to move the canvas, click on objects to focus on them, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to zoom in/out, and click the home button to reset the canvas.

2.  Creativity rediscovered. If PowerPoint is lined paper and a pen, then Prezi is a canvas and finger paint. Text, images and multimedia are freely placed on the canvas, and easily sized, rotated or formatted with a few clicks. Add to that the ability to build presentation paths that move in any direction, zoom and rotate… and you can’t help but feel creative again. For those of us that insist on lining everything up on a nice, neat grid… well, you can do that too because Prezi provides a grid overlay and alignment tools. The open-ended freedom you have while building a presentation in Prezi is intimidating at first, but that quickly fades after you add a few pieces of content.

Example: An interesting way to present an intro MRI technology., and a popular Prezi that chronicles the Curiosity rover landing on Mars.

3.  Visual context is king. In PowerPoint or Keynote, your individual slides exist as independent objects, only linked only by a common background template. With Prezi, your frames are part of a whole canvas, and you can control when/how that “whole” is revealed to the audience. This allows you to build presentations into meaningful shapes and visual metaphors. You can also create your content inside a large image that isn’t revealed until the end of the presentation. Visual context helps to improve audience retention.

Examples: The Tree of Life, and 60 Apps in 60 seconds.

4.  Prezi is mobile. At the heart of Prezi’s development environment is the web interface. You just need a web browser and an Internet connection, and you’re off and running. They also offer a desktop version, which allows you to work offline (though you will need to pay and upgrade your account for this feature). And now, they have added support for the iPhone and iPad. The Prezi app is free from the Apple App Store. You can view and present right from your iPhone or iPad! The iPad app also provides editing capabilities. Click here for more info on Prezi’s mobile options.

5.  Free account upgrade. Educators get a free Enjoy account. This is an upgrade over the standard/free account and offers more storage, better support, and allows you to make your presentations private. As long as you are a member of an educational institution, and you have a “dot edu” email account, you’re in!

If you read this post and can’t wait to try it out for yourself, simply head over to Prezi.com to create your free Enjoy account. Also be sure to check out their Learn and Explore pages for instruction and inspiration.

Before I completely turn you lose, though, I’d like to leave you with a few closing thoughts. First of all, rest-assured that Prezi is not difficult to use. Yes, there is an initial learning curve, but if you watch their instructional videos, you’ll get over the how-do-I-do-that hump quickly. With great power comes great responsibility, though, so go easy on the rotation, panning and zooming until you get the hang of it. I’ve seen a LOT of Prezi’s that should come with a free Dramamine tablet! Subtle movements are better, and much less likely to annoy the audience.

Also understand that Prezi is not necessarily meant to replace PowerPoint, it’s simply a new tool for your tool shed (and a shiny one at that). There are a number of advanced functions that you simply cannot do in Prezi, like embedding charts or building dynamic tables. There are often work-arounds, though, and simpler is usually better, so try to keep an open mind.

And finally, if you STILL aren’t picking up what I’m laying down, check out the presentation below for a great overview of the product. 10 million users is a LOT!

Before we begin, however, let’s chat for minute… off the record, because I know what you’re thinking. Your presentations are very serious business, and no one will take you seriously if stop to tell a story in the middle of it all. Am I right?! The truth is, there are many kinds of storytelling, and as tempting as it may be to convert your important scientific presentation into a Dr. Seuss book, that is not what I am suggesting you do. What I saying, is that no matter how complex the topic, how limited the time to prepare, or how strict the expectations, you can successfully incorporate elements of storytelling into your presentation. In fact, I would argue that it’s even more important to include elements of storytelling in technically complex presentations. Without a human element for the audience to relate to, your presentation can quickly become a collection of facts and figures that are easily forgotten.

Top 5 ways to become a storytelling presenter:

1. Establish the setting first. How many successful stories begin in the middle? Hardly any. So why do we think it’s OK to begin a presentation in the middle?! Always begin your presentation with the who/what/why/where of your topic. Even if you are presenting to your peers, you should provide context, and background, and a starting point for the audience.
2. Create suspense. Most scientific presentations reveal the solution first, and then spend the rest of the presentation detailing the steps that were taken to reach that solution. This is bad storytelling, and leaves nothing to the imagination. A better strategy is to begin the presentation by defining the problem, with a tease of what you hoped to achieve, followed by a description of the journey and the challenges that had to be overcome. The solution (success or failure) can be revealed at the story’s climax, followed by an explanation of where you’re headed next.
3. Make it personal. You care about your topic, or else you wouldn’t be presenting it to an audience. Share your reasons for caring with the audience. Did you become a pediatrician because you battled illness as a child? Are you involved in global health sciences because you want to visit remote areas of the world? Are your parents both health science professionals, and they inspired you to follow in their footsteps? Sharing this kind of personal information with an audience may seem “too touchy feely” to the inexperienced or hardened presenter (and those inflicted with the curse of knowledge). On the contrary, personal stories are important because they provide opportunities for the audience to relate to the presenter. This emotional connection leads to trust, respect, and ultimately, belief in your message by the audience.
4. Give character to your data. Behind every scatter-graph, data set, flowchart and protein synthesis animation is something more than numbers. That scientific data represents amazing things like cures for diseases, healthier children, and prolonged life for our loved ones. That is what it’s all about, right? So, why not remind the audience of that connection? And you can do this in a number of ways. For example, you can create a fictional person (unless you have permission to use a real person) and tell the story from his/her perspective, as his/her cancer is treated using the new drug that you helped to create. Give that character a name and a background, and make it realistic.
5. Be yourself. Ira Glass, the long time host of This American Life, knows a thing or two about storytelling. In his own words: “Everything is more compelling when you talk like a human being, when you talk like yourself.” Take his advice and remember it throughout your entire presentation, not just when you are incorporating elements of storytelling. With this in mind, you will seem credible, as opposed to a presenter who tries to act like something they are not and comes off like a cheap salesman. Humility works hand-in-hand with confidence!

As you incorporate these new techniques into your presentations, remember that everything must relate back to your message.

For more on storytelling in presentations:

• Crafting outstanding presentations – storytelling techniques
• 5 Essential elements for every good story
• Ira Glass (from This American Life): Tips on storytelling

Share your stories below in the comments section!

I apologize for the late notice, but I have some exciting news to share. With the help of UCSF’s Global Health Sciences division, TEDx is coming to UCSF’s Mission Bay campus this Saturday, November 10th!

This event’s title is “7 Billion Well: Re-imagining Global Health,” and its focus is on the most pressing health issues in the world today.

TEDx events are smaller, regionally-accessible and independently organized off-shoots of the big conference. But don’t be fooled, the speakers are no less inspiring. TEDx San Francisco was the first of its kind, and is rolling along with over 4,000 members and 60 volunteers. And the best part about TEDx, is that normal people can actually afford tickets!

For details and tickets, visit the TEDx San Francisco home page: http://tedxsf.org/

If you want to meet innovative people with great ideas who want to make a difference, Mission Bay is the place to be on Saturday. We hope to see you there!

But what does it mean to be a storyteller, and how does this skill apply to a PowerPoint presentation? Let’s ask the experts!

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Nancy Duarte: What is the shape of a great presentation? Nancy Duarte is a successful author and the CEO of Duarte Design, a cutting-edge presentation design firm in Mountain View, California. Her 2011 talk at Tedx East is one of my favorite resources for illustrating the power of storytelling, and the power of eliciting an emotional response from an audience. She uncovers the hidden structure that can be found in great presentations, using MLK’s “I have a dream” speech and Steve Job’s unveiling of the iPhone presentation as examples. Do your presentations flow? Do you present the “what is” followed by the “what could be?” Are you motivated enough to change the world?

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Ken Burns: 1+1=3. If you are a photographer, or if you have ever made an animated slide show with images, you are already familiar with the “Ken Burns Affect.” Ken Burns popularized the effect in his award winning documentary films, and he knows how to develop a story. His documentaries bring history to life, rather than simply presenting the facts in chronological order, and he “manipulates” the audience’s emotions. In his Baseball documentary, he doesn’t just present the facts about Jackie Robinson and the racial issues that he faced as the first black MLB player. Burns accesses the audience’s emotions by presenting another side of the story, the dilemma of a racist Brooklyn Dodger’s fan and the decision they were faced with – to turn their back on the team, or learn to change themselves for the better. He finds the human side, and his films become something more. Is the whole of your presentation greater than its parts? Are you presenting new perspectives that touch the emotions of your audience?

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Robert McKee: Is PowerPoint persuasive? Robert McKee is a highly sought-after creative writing instructor and screenwriting lecturer. He has trained many famous people in his time. He also knows a thing or two about presentations, which he (in my mind, accurately) describes as a form of persuasion. His video below focuses on business presentations, but his words are also applicable to health sciences presentations. We are, after all, trying to convince the audience to believe our data and see things from our perspective. The question is, which of the three general methods of persuasion do we use in our presentations? Do we use rhetoric (typical PowerPoint, nothing more than “data” and “authority” to prove the validity of your facts), coercion (bribery, seduction, etc.), or storytelling? Storytelling is the clear winner and is the most effective because it doesn’t hide anything from the audience, including the struggles or negative aspects of your journey, and therefore, the audience is more likely to trust you and believe your message. You can weave stories into your presentation by including anecdotes in-between the pieces of fact and authority. In his words, “PowerPoint presentations rarely persuade anyone.” But he’s talking about normal, boring presentations filled with rhetoric! How about your presentations? Are you persuading the audience with stories? Or, are you just presenting the facts?

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Stay tuned for part 2 of this post, in which I will provide specific ideas for incorporating this technique into your presentations at UCSF!

PS: Garr Reynold’s Presentation Zen blog provided inspiration and links for this post, so head over there and follow his blog, too!

For example, I don’t believe it’s necessary to spend countless hours rehearsing a presentation just so you can memorize every word of your talk. In my opinion, printed presenter notes are just fine to have in your hand while presenting. In fact, they’re more than just fine, they’re recommended. In this post, I’m going to tell you why I recommend having printed notes, and I’m also going to give you some tips on a smarter way to print those notes from PowerPoint!

Why you should print your notes:

1. If you are giving a new presentation, even if you have rehearsed, you’re going to encounter some unexpected moments of – how shall we say – momentary forgetfulness? I would rather pause to glance quickly at my notes, than leave something important out of my presentation. Pauses are a good thing, anyway, because it gives the audience a chance to relax and absorb new ideas.
2. Technical difficulties happen when you least expect it, and having a printed version of your notes can bail you out of a number of sticky situations. Laptops go on the fritz, projector bulbs burn out, and files get corrupted. When these things happen, you need to think on your feet, and notes will help to guide you.
3. Notes in your hand free you from the shackles of a podium. Stationary presenters are less active, and less interesting. With notes on-hand (and a presenter remote), you’re free to move about the room and engage the audience.
4. The simple act of writing notes helps you remember the key points that you will be verbalizing. You may not need them during the presentation, but having them will provide peace of mind.
5. TIP: Include a few extra ideas and activities in your notes that aren’t in your slideshow. When you have a sharp audience that needs a challenge, or you simply need to take the presentation in a slightly different direction, you’re covered.

Adding notes in PowerPoint:

1. The notes pane should be visible below each slide. If you don’t see it, click on the View ribbon and make sure “Normal” is selected as your Presentation View. You can adjust the size of the notes pane by clicking and dragging on the horizontal border line.
2. Type your notes in the notes pane. You can use some of the formatting options from the Home ribbon, such as bold, underline, and more. Repeat this for each slide as necessary.

Printing notes in PowerPoint (the yucky way):

1. Click on the File ribbon, then Print.
2. Choose “Notes Pages” from the second drop-down menu in the Settings group.
3. Click the Print button. You’ll get one slide per page, with the notes below (and probably waste a lot of paper).

Printing notes in PowerPoint (the better way):

1. Click on the File ribbon, then Save and Send.
2. Choose Create Handouts from the list, and then click the Create Handouts button. A Send to Microsoft Word dialog box will appear.
3. Choose Notes Next to Slides, and click OK. PowerPoint will then build a Word document for you, and this could take a few minutes so be patient. You can further edit the layout in Word, but keep in mind that you’ll have to repeat this process each time you edit your Presentation (the Word doc and PPT presentation are not dynamically linked).

If you have Adobe Acrobat installed on your workstation, you may have a third option. From the Print window, change your printer to the PDF writer. You may then be able to access advanced options for that printer, and adjust how many notes pages print on a single printed page… producing a similar result to the Microsoft Word option listed above. This process varies depending on the version of Acrobat you have installed, as well as the version of PowerPoint, and your operating system, so attempt at your own risk!

A few closing thoughts… when you are using a laptop and have connected to a projector or external monitor, the dual-monitor “presenter view” will be available. This allows you to see your notes, a timer, and the next slide on your laptop screen, while the audience only sees the current slide on the projector screen (click on Set Up Show from the Slide Show ribbon to adjust these settings). I rarely use this feature, because the dual-monitor setup can be finicky depending on your laptop, your operating system, and your ability to navigate your computer’s display settings dialog box. Also, it requires that I position my laptop between myself and the audience at all times. I would rather be free to walk around the room.

And finally, keep in mind that you don’t HAVE to use PowerPoint’s notes feature to manage your presentation notes. Typed or hand-written notes can serve the same purpose, and may even be more practical!

Do you use presenter notes? How detailed are you notes? Do you have a different strategy? Please share your thoughts below in the comments section!