communication. community. cognition.
Posts tagged presentation
The Sweet (and Sticky) Science of Editing
Aug 6th
In television news, you have little time to waste. There’s a set limit budgeted for your story, and anything more than five seconds over your allotment calls for penance, or at least a quest to seek special dispensations. When every second counts, you try not to waste any of the time you have – yet you don’t want to leave anything out.
Listen to The Sweet (and Sticky) Science of EditingScarcity breeds process. More >
Everybody Has A Story
Jul 28th
…even if they aren’t already aware of it.
Everybody Has A Story
I was conducting a presentation skills seminar for a group of engineers, and I was using one of my favorite exercises. Tell me a story in a sentence. Now tell it again in 30 seconds. Now tell it in 90 seconds. (It also works with children, sometimes to disastrous effect.)
In this case, we were preparing these engineers to go into high schools and middle schools, to get children fired up about math, science and engineering careers. Before you can get others fired up, you have to figure out what lights your fire. There was one young man in the back who didn’t know he had a spark… More >
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Own Your Mistakes to be Re-Markable
Jul 7th
I was doing a storytelling presentation recently at a local elementary school, for its “Communication Celebration.” Instead of bringing in a PowerPoint, or showing them a bunch of web work, I decided to do a 30-minute workshop on what makes stories “work.”
The workshop is based on the idea that you start with a core – the essence of the story – and flesh it out from there.
- Tell a story in one sentence.
- Tell the same story in 30 seconds.
- Tell the same story in 90 seconds.
When I have done this workshop with other audiences where there’s been more time, a peculiar thing happens. People get the one-sentence and 30-second versions right, but they’re so fearful of not filling 90-seconds that they fail to come in under three minutes!
On this day, there wouldn’t be time to go with the full 90-seconds, but the principle was the same. More >
Bend it, don’t Break it
Jul 2nd
Let me start with something I wrote here almost three-and-a-half years ago about “Avatar, the Last Airbender:”
Suffice it to say, there is a very rich universe here to explore, and the internal mythology of this place is detailed, consistent, and engaging. It is truly epic in scope, and I don’t use that word lightly. (And the live-action motion picture has already been optioned by M. Night Shyamalan, I hope he doesn’t screw it up.)
The bad news is that my concern was valid. M. Night Shyamalan botched this movie horrible. I remain a huge fan of the series which aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon, and would rank in the top five TV shows of the last decade (alongside Lost and Battlestar Galactica.) I hoped the movie would be good enough to draw new viewers to the show. Now the opposite appears likely – people will avoid the show because the movie is just that bad.
The irony is that a show about “benders,” those who can shape the very elements through imagination and flexibility, gets horribly crammed into a movie format. More >
When Should You Aim?
Jun 25th
Fire. Ready. Aim.
It’s a common enough phrase, and it describes the manner in which people or organizations jump before knowing where they will land. It describes those instances where there was no strategy or thought into a goal before one starts an activity.
We make fun of those people, and the silly mistakes they make. But consider this story: More >
Content Is King! Long Live the King!
Feb 3rd
Content is king.
It started with a Tweet by Jeremy Meyers, that said the following:
“Ironically, content about how “Content is King” is not an example of good content.”
“If Content were King, then Pink would have stayed dry.”
I was referring, of course, to Pink’s performance at the Grammy Awards, where she sang partially suspended and spinning in the air, then was dipped in a pool of water, where she came up spinning dripping and still singing pitch-perfect.
It was stunning.
It is also a clear example, to me, of where you can draw a significant line between Content and Presentation.
Her song is the same, whether she sings it in a studio, on stage, or in an S&M harness. What differs is the Presentation.
If there were no difference between Content and Presentation, then Iron Chef would not have points for “plating.” It’s a different experience, one that is separate from the content.
My blog engine – WordPress – makes a significant distinction between Content and Presentation. I’ve changed themes a few times in the last three years – but the content remains the same.
That’s why this post seems a little naked – I’ve taken much of the Presentation away.
It’s a very different experience. Yet my words are the same. My argument stands just as valid on its face – exactly the way it would appear in most RSS readers.
Yet here – through the Presentation of this one post – I have communicated more about the difference between Content and Presentation.
Content is King – but Presentation can make it more palatable. Style without Substance will leave you lacking. Substance with no Style will send the readers packing.
Long live the King!
