Too many bad slides!

I've recently been on a customer seminar tour spanning all of our regions and I (re)discovered a disturbing trend - our presentations are awful and our presenters are frequently ill-prepared or worse treat their presentations as a sermon versus a dialog.

 

The content for two of the most recent events I attended was so incredibly bad that it was all I could do to stop from poking myself in the eye with a nearby chopstick (one of the dangers of doing business in the Asia-Pacific is that sharp objects are too easy to come by). The very worst part of those experiences was that only one person came up to me afterwards and asked me how they could improve, and I suspect that was because they sat next to me while I ranted about the people who went prior.

While each coaching moment is different, there are a few rules I have found that have helped me when driving a presentation session that have always helped, starting with;

kanban boards in LEGO?

Dedicated boundary spanners that are not already subscribing to FastCompany's Co.Design email digest need to get on it right away. Yesterday's issue contained a great article about how GM are using LEGO to track defects on the production line, the visualisation of which reminds me of a kanban board.

 

"Oh no! Another 2.0!"

I happened upon this presentation from the Economist Group on the future of media consumption and sharing (aka Leanback 2.0) while tooling around Slideshare.

While I couldn't help but wince at the fatigue inducing, PR driven "2-dot-oh" suffix, the content itself was not only deeply interesting but beautifully produced with a reserved sophistication in keeping with The Economist brand.

Worth looking at if only to appreciate the well executed design aesthetic.

Pump it up!

There's nothing wrong with standing out

In Silicon Valley, Socks Make the Tech Entrepreneur - NYTimes.com: Claire Cain Miller (gotta love a double barrel surname!) wrote about how sartorial splendour is finally reaching the capital of chinos and neck beards.

What's the relevance to this blog? Two things;