This blog is moving

The Extreme Presentation blog is moving to a new home. You can find it at

http://extremepresentation.typepad.com/blog/

Wake Me Up When the Data is Over

Lori Silverman, founder of Partners for Progress, has edited an excellent book about using storytelling to drive business results, called "Wake Me Up When the Data is Over."

The book has chapters on using storytelling in strategy, leadership, project management, and marketing and market research, among others, all based on 70 case studies from large and small organizations.

The chapter on using storytelling in Marketing and Market Research, by Steven Silverman, makes extensive reference to Microsoft and Kimberly Clark, two of my biggest clients. Jeff Drake of Kimberly Clark features prominently in the chapter, discussing the great impact they've had from day long training sessions (run by yours truly).

I highly recommend this book.

One more time - why I don't like Guy Kawaski's 10-20-30 presentation method

I mentioned some time ago why I don't like Guy Kawasaki's 10-20-30 approach to presentation. To follow Guy's approach is to admit that your material is boring and unimpressive, so let's get through it with the minimum of pain. I suggested instead that you let your message dictate the number and sequence of slides - that you tell a story with it. Apparently Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital agrees with me, according to Jerry Weissman, in the post I link to above.

Choosing the right chart v. 1.1

I redesigned the Chart Choosing page to make it more userfriendly. Rob Headrick, my trusty designer, did a great job executing both versions.

Chesterfield County workshop

While I usually run the Extreme Presentation workshop with corporate clients, occasionally I also have the pleasure of serving other organizations. This was the case on July 25, when I ran the workshop for members of the administrative staff of Chesterfield County, Virginia. Situated on the shores of the James River, Chesterfield is one of the oldest counties in the United States. Present at the workshop were, among others, James Stegmaier, Deputy County Administrator, and former Fire Chief Robert Eanes, who returned from retirement to set up the new Office of Environmental & Security Management for the County. The workshop took place at the Eanes-Pittman Public Safety Training Center, a state-of-the art training facility primarily for Chesterfield County Police and Fire Department training (but also on that day for presentation design training also!). The Center was named in honor of Chief Eanes upon his (first) retirement, and Joseph Pittman, retired Police Chief for the county.

The picture shows Chief Eanes and I standing beside the plaque dedicating the building to him.

Contest - $500 Prize

Announcing the Extreme Presentation(tm) 1-Page Presentation contest!

A $500 cash prize will be awarded to the best 1-page presentation. Winner and runners up will be featured on the cover of Dr. Abela's forthcoming book.

Anyone who has participated in an Extreme Presentation workshop is eligible to apply. Entries should be emailed to Dr. Abela at abela(at)cua(dot)edu, and will be judged on persuasiveness, originality, and how well they follow the Extreme Presentation principles. Entries may be accompanied by a (max) 500-word script (your "voiceover").

The deadline is October 1, 2006. Early entries - and multiple submissions - are encouraged.

Forward any questions to Dr. Abela at the above email address.

Choosing the right chart

Here's a first draft of something I've been working on for a while. I've always wanted a (relatively) simple taxonomy of charts, organized by purpose. The way to read this page is to start in the center: what are you trying to show? If you want to show a comparison, then follow the tree in the upper left, if distribution of data, then upper right, and so on.



I used this for the first time this week, in two workshops, and it was well received. That said, it's only a first draft and I welcome any comments.