I’ve been re-reading Edward Tufte’s ‘Seeing With Fresh Eyes. Meaning, Space, Data and Truth’ (2020)
Chapter 8 deals with Smarter Presentations and Shorter Meetings.
In a town that has long meetings and comlex presentations,Tufte’s advice is unknown to many, but it is worth sharing.
“The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place” George Bernard Shaw
1. Document – and study hall
No Powerpoint allowed. It is a poor way to communicate information. Instead use a document.
Why? Because “Documents require coherence, thinking, sentences. But convience in preparing decks harms the content and the audience. Optomising presenter convience is selfish, lazy, and worst of all, replaces thinking”. (p.151)
Instead, provide the people in the room with a document as they walk in, and allow them time to read the document. Most of the answers to the questions people will be in the document. After reading, then discuss the document.
The impact:”meeting will be smarter and more effecient, the audience more active, and meeting 10%-20% shorter. None ever wished them longer”.
The document should be between 2-6 pages.
When the auidence has finished reading, talk about the key parts, flesh out what is important, or where an agreement is needed.
2. Think about the audience
“Your job is to get it right, be honest, and maker everyone smarter”.
Think about where your audience is coming from. Speak to them. Don’t be disdainful because they have not spent 20 years working on an issue that only 5 people in the world understand. Take your audience along with you.
3. Practice your presentation: Rehersal improves perfomance
If you want to improve, rehearse.
Use your phone to record yourself rehearsing. You’ll hate it. It will expose your incoherence, nervous ticks, and filler phrases.
You’ll hate it. Get used to it.
Everyone I know who has followed this is positively transformed.
4. Show up early. Finnish early.
Turn up to anny meeting early. Bring copies of the document.
Have a note displayed asking the audience to leave their mobile phone alone.
Finish early. That’s good. Don’t take up the time. Thank people. End. People don’t mind winning time back to their day.
5. For the Audience
If you are in the meeting, listen.
Close your laptop/phone. You really can survice not scrolling for a short perioid of time. I know it won’t be easy.
As Tufte mentions “If you require perrect agreement with presenetrs. stay home and stare at your immutable self in the damm mirror all day long. Just because someone disagrees with the third paragraph of yoru budget statement doenes’t mean that they are Sataniitc. Their motives are no better or worse than your own. Liste, see, think, learn. Treat presenters as your would like to be treated “(p.154)
6. On writing the document
Tufte provides a useful suggestion.
Make sure that each paragraph explains:
- What the problem is
- Why is it relevant
- Why anyone should care
- What you’re going to do to solve the problem
His advice was taken up by Amazon.
It’s not what you say, its what they hear. Red Auerbach