Bringing Your Story to Life

"Image is everything," "Seeing is believing," "You oughtta be in pictures" ”you've heard it all before. Well, the look and feel of your visuals will certainly make a difference in your business presentations; you just want to make sure the difference is positive.

For instance, I can look at any presentation and within the first three visuals, I can tell how bad or good the presentation will be, just from a media viewpoint. Want the truth? In most cases, the visuals are pretty bad. Is it that people just don't get it? Is it that they are just not concerned ? The trouble with this world is there's too much apathy, but then again, who cares? The point is that some simple techniques can help even a first-time presenter avoid making the most common mistakes.

Face it! A well-conceived script containing a clearly defined objective should be enhanced with good visual support. The features and functions of PowerPoint help bring your outline and storyboard to life, giving you the opportunity to create visuals with impact! This chapter focuses on the effective design of the support elements used to direct your message.

NOTE

Real-world experience is the best teacher. Since 1985, MediaNet has designed over 3,500 business presentations and conducted over 1,000 seminars on effective presentations. As a presentation skills company, we are involved in all stages of a client's event, from concept to delivery.

Many of the principles, guidelines suggestions, and visual concepts discussed in this chapter are also referenced in MediaNet's original publication Purpose, Movement, Color by Tom and Rich Mucciolo ( 1994, 1999, MediaNet, Inc., New York, NY).

A lot of people take for granted the importance of having well-designed visual support for the presentation. The components of the event, especially those that are most visible, can make or break the moment. If you keep following our notion of a visual presenter, then you can begin to see how the support for your message must be highly visual. The issues concerning the design of the images include

• Choosing a medium for your message

• Controlling eye movement

• Using color