Your Presentation Best

"At Nike, we don't sell products, we sell stories."  --Anonymous source Why does Nike focus on the story?  Because it lets them bring their product to life. Connecting street-level drama with their products, whether it's football, basketball, or lifestyle, captures the imagination of Nike's audience.  It also allows them to show the real-world impact their products will have on the user's life (real or imagined). Yes, it's a form of marketing.  But that's exactly what a great presentation is all about. So ask yourself, what am I marketing to my audience, and what kind of real life impact will it have on them and their key stakeholders?  Use that as the basis for creating a story which illustrates  your main message.

Learn from the Master, Part II I can't say enough about how much Steve Jobs can teach us about  the Art and Science of Presenting. But seeing is believing.  As you continue your quest to be an outstanding presenter, make it a point to occasionally watch Jobs in action. Three of my favorites are his iPod Apple Music Event from 2001and iPhone keynote from 2007 presentations, as well as his 2005 graduation speech at Sanford University. But I think you can learn from any of his presentations, especially how he uses his slides and always talks about how his products are going to Change Your World.    

Steve Jobs: The best corporate presenter of all time.  Always learn from the Master. Stay Hungry.  Never Settle. Thanks for showing us the way.

Back to using unconventional visuals.   They can be fun, funky, or anything else, as long as it talks directly to your message.  Take a look at global banking giant J.P Morgan's slide to explain  the European debt crisis: The presenter's job is to tell the story on the slide and connect it to the serious content. Who said finance can't be fun?