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Apr 28th, 2010 by Dona Wong

Getting to the point about PowerPoint

Yesterday The New York Times article, “We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint” spurred hundreds of comments in a matter of hours on NYTimes.com. It was the most emailed article all day.

I couldn’t help myself and posted this comment:

I am by no means a PowerPoint fan. In fact, I think PowerPoint really lacks the basic presentation toolkit. However, a comment, such as “PowerPoint makes us stupid”—mentioned in this article—is an irresponsible statement. It is the same excuse as “My dog ate my homework.”

The key to a successful presentation is to tell a good story. Yes, PowerPoint definitely ranks the lowest in my toolbox. However, I have seen great presentations using PowerPoint. We don’t expect a word processor to choose our vocabulary or organize our thoughts. Why should we depend on a presentation software program to do the graphic thinking for us?

People who have read my new book, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics, always want to know the software I used. Again, it’s not about the software. It’s about the analytical thinking and storytelling. It’s about optimizing each tool to bring out the essence of the information and illuminate the story.

Killing PowerPoint won’t give you a better presentation. Telling a good story will.

The real issue is that while everyone has to take writing courses, people aren’t even offered a Presentation 101 course—either in school or on the job. It’s easy to blame the software when things don’t come off well.

The biggest presentation mistake people make is to treat their slides, speaker’s notes and handouts as the same document. The slides should be an engaging visual journey for your audience. The speaker’s notes are at the podium to jog your memory in case you go blank during the talk—NOT to read from. The handouts should be highlights and takeaways, or additional reading materials.

Instead, in 99 percent of today’s presentations the speakers read from their own slides, set at 20 point size type or smaller (similar to a book set at 8 point type). The audience feels like they are taking an eye exam.

To illustrate what I’m talking about, I’ll use my comments on The New York Times article to show how to build a memorable slide from bulleted text. To prove my point I am going to use PowerPoint to do it.

A typical slide with bulleted text

Improved: one point per slide

High visual, high impact

Speaker’s notes and voice over with this last slide would be: I am by no means a PowerPoint fan. In fact, I think PowerPoint really lacks the basic presentation toolkit. However, a comment, such as “PowerPoint makes us stupid” mentioned in this article is an irresponsible statement. It is the same excuse as “My dog ate my homework.”

Don’t get me wrong, PowerPoint can be a clumsy and ineffective tool. But at the end of the day, it is your visual and storytelling skills that make for a winning presentation.

Dona Wong is a Strategy Director of Information Design for Siegel+Gale’s New York office.

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Jan 26th, 2010 by Dona Wong

Learning the ABCs of graphics

Remember how we learned to write, starting with A, B, C?

We were taught to form words and sentences before writing papers and essays. Yet with graphics, professionals in every industry received little or no training, which has left them scrambling to effectively express themselves in the language of graphics.

Most people try to use charts and graphics to enliven a critical presentation or a high profile report. The irony is that we often let the software do the thinking for us. We don’t expect a word processor to choose our vocabulary or prose style. But we expect a graphics program to choose our chart style, color and practically every element of the graphic.

And we blame the software when it falls short.

Following a few basic rules will make the difference between an effective chart that engages your audience and an inadequate chart that masks your intended message.

Take the pictogram below for example.

ABC's of Graphics

People take in charts in their totality, not vertically or horizontally. Therefore graphics must engage first and inform second. If a chart is not clear and direct, your audience has to make a lot of effort to understand the information presented. They become distracted, don’t hear your intended message and move on.

Every graphic is an opportunity to communicate and influence your decision maker. Why leave such an important task to the software default settings?

To view more of the Dos and Don’ts of presenting data, facts and figures, click here.

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Dec 15th, 2009 by Dona Wong

“Great presentation. You are a rock star!”

That’s what you want to hear after you step down from the podium.

Getting to that point can be painful for many professionals though. Most people create presentations by trial and error, often co-mingling clear and concise copy with complex graphics that yield no benefit to the audience. As in creating any communications piece, attention to clear mechanics, simple style and artistry is key to designing good information graphics. Yet 99 percent of presenters make charts and graphics on the fly, right before show time.

As a result, many presenters lose their audiences in slide after slide of complex charts and graphs that muddy the message they’re trying to deliver.

Working at Siegel+Gale, a brand consultancy and pioneer in simplified communications, I’ve combined my training in information design with simplified communications techniques to help an array of audiences communicate their messages clearly. Whether it’s reporting financial information, creating a client presentation, interactive communication, or customer document, understanding how to design information graphics that complement the message is key to business success.

In my new book, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics, I begin with the basics – the data content – that drives all graphics. You will learn to make the right choices about filtering and displaying your data. For example, plotting a stock index in actual values versus plotting the percentage change will yield two different pictures. By charting the same data in a different framework, you provide a new reference point for your audience. When you supply the reference point, you control the message.

The book goes on to cover how to use colors to your advantage, how to manage costs and resources through the use of graphics, and many other practical applications through numerous dos and don’ts.

The great feedback that I’ve gotten from reviewers shows that graphics sensibility is an essential ingredient of effective business communications today. After reading the examples from the book, you will never look at any communications piece the same way.

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Oct 29th, 2009 by Dona Wong

Computer technology has helped well-meaning professionals produce reams of bad charts

By Dona Wong
Strategy Director, Simplification

In today’s data-driven world, we are constantly bombarded by graphics—charts, maps, stock indexes, and PowerPoint presentations—that try to convey valuable information. Whether we are in business, marketing, medicine, or law, we need to know how to read and interpret this onslaught of graphics, as well as how to express ourselves in the language of graphics eloquently and effectively.

Today, project plans, budget illustrations, and progress reports are vital tools we use to communicate across the board and persuade decision makers. And with computer technology, anyone can create graphics. However, technology doesn’t stop us from making bad graphics. It can’t answer such essential questions as:

+ What material is worth putting into a chart?
+ What kind of chart should we use to present the data?
+ How can we organize the data and optimize the medium to convey our message best?

Examples of confusing, misleading, and ineffective graphics are everywhere, which doesn’t surprise me. Unlike, say, grammar, the subject of information graphics isn’t taught in schools, nor is it the focus of on-the-job-training, leaving professionals in every industry scrambling to express themselves graphically. It is painfully obvious. I have made it my business to note good and bad graphics in publications, annual reports, presentations and even street signage.

Generally bad charts fall into two categories. This first category consists of charts that don’t even have the basics down, and for example use the wrong scale, an invalid data set, or a bad color scheme. This is somewhat expected since the majority of charts in presentations are done by professionals who are not information designers. The other category of bad charts is the elaborate, highly designed graphics that turn out incomprehensible and esoteric. These are the worst offenders because these graphics are just a self-indulgent exercise by “professional” information designers. They have no value to the reader. They completely miss the main objective of graphics, which is to communicate a message.

Content is what ultimately makes graphics interesting. When a graphical piece of information is done right, you can’t tell that there is “design” behind it. When you strike an equilibrium between substance and design in a graphic, information just flows to the viewer in the clearest and most efficient way.

At the Center for Plain Language Symposium in Washington D.C. on October 30, I’ll be introducing these concepts to a group of business and government professionals with an interest in simplified communications.

The bottom line is, once you connect with your audience, you can start to have influence!

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