Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story

Chapter 6 Communicating Visually

Company Example:

• Microsoft

The Proper Role of Graphics

Think about a time when you were in the audience at a presentation and the graphics didn't work. What was the problem? These are the most common answers my business clients give:

• "The graphics were cluttered."
• "There was too much on the slide."
• "The slide looked like an eye chart."
• "The slide was a Data Dump."

Now flip the lens and take the point of view of an Audience Advocate. What's the effect on you? It's another case of the dreaded MEGO syndrome: the same cause and effect as when a story is unloaded on you as a Data Dump.

The main reason this happens is that presenters fail to distinguish between a document and a presentation. They treat a presentation ...