HowardWright.com

TED 2009

Only a few days now to TED 2009. I fly into Palm Springs on Tuesday the 3rd of February and have booked a 'Nature Trail' excursion in the afternoon. The TED conference officially starts on the Wednesday morning bright and early and I am hoping they have a Bloggers Lounge as they did in Aspen last year. My intention is to Live Blog form the event as well as posting a few photos as the days go on. I fly back to Greenwich on the Sunday morning and back at work on the 9th of February!

When something truly amazes

I watched with my US colleagues yesterday the inauguration of President Obama and was duly impressed with his delivery of his speech - this guy is truly a great orator - whether he can deliver on his promises only time will tell. I came across this morning however something that really impressed me. We have heard about Microsoft's Photosynth technology for some time, I first saw it at TED in Aspen last year, but to see it in action yesterday at the inauguration is something else. The concept is that thousands of people take images of somewhere and the software assembles them into a 360 degree panorama. OK this sounds very simple and easy to talk about but it isn't until you see the output that you realize what a powerful technology this is. Check out www.photosynth.net Note: One problem I have just found is that if you are creating your own photosynth it doesn't work very well with Mac computers although they have an experimental Silverlight system to play with.

iPhone - is it art?

Reading the news and blogs it is fascinating how the iPhone has become almost part of our language over the last couple of years. What started out as a mobile phone has become a metaphor and or a symbol for all things innovative and customer centric. 
So what is it about this piece of hardware that has grabbed the attention of so many people in so many countries and with such passion? An interesting question and I think it goes much deeper than the simple operation or design of the device itself. When Apple launched the Ipod way back when they hit on a design that played to the emotions of the consumer - there was something tactile and it had an emotional connection - playing to our right brain. As the designs have evolved at Apple this connection to the softer side of our psyche has grown stronger and stronger and to me, even though I don't have an iPhone, there is a something about the shape, feel, texture etc. that is almost sensual.  So is the iPhone art? I was watching Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear on Monday night (we get Sunday's episode on iTunes on Monday in the US) and he was talking about a new Alfa Romeo 8c sports car which he 
considered art. He had been talking to some art guru who had said the '..to be art something has to have no purpose other than itself - no function' and of course Jeremy decided that the Alfa 8C was therefore art as it was beautiful but not a practical or even good car. Could the same be said of the iPhone? I don't think so; from everything I read, hear and see. The iPhone is one of the most usable an useful devices currently available - everyone seems to have an opinion about the device and to be honest most seem to be either very positive or passionate and I quote from a 'senior' friend of mine “isn’t this just the coolest tech device ever!”. OK there are there die hard Blackberry fans and I can see where they are coming from as they like the qwerty keyboard and the iPhone isn't the easiest device to type on - although it does get easier over time. So if we take Jeremy Clarkson's view of Art then it isn't as it is beautiful but useful. (just on another point I thought has someone made the iPhone into an art exhibit? I type in iPhone art and came out with the picture above! - I have yet to not find a picture to illustrate some point or other on the web it is amazing) So Apple seem to have tapped into some subliminal or even primeval part of our emotional brain in their design department and created a line that is not only art but also incredibly effective as a communications device - well done Apple for cvreating useful art!

What makes a great Presentation?

Over the last few weeks I have been contemplating what makes a great presentation. This was triggered by a couple of books - On the back of a napkin by Dan Roam, Presentation Zen by Garr Renolds and Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte - which although very different approaches come to pretty much the same conclusion - Simple is better and stories bring things alive. Back in Royal Mail when I headed up the Innovation Team we had come to pretty much the same conclusion and I went back to a 2004 presentation on storytelling in business to see how if the ideas and conclusions differed. The key principles are pretty similar and I thought it may be useful to re-iterate  of the thoughts and findings from that original work. A good presentation is simple. One of key problems with packages such as Powerpoint and Keynote is that it allows you complete freedom and I have seen so many presentations that are so complex and detailed that they are guaranteed to put any audience to sleep. I worked with one senior manager in Royal Mail who use to present what was effectively a report rather than a presentation and had slides so full of text that you needed a magnifying glass to read them even when they were presented. OK all the material was on the slide but it was incomprehensible! I am not sure I go for the 'No slide should have more than 6 words on it' but certainly simplicity is key to a good presentation. A presentation should tell a story. This is one of my passions and therefore excuse the sermon! One of the things we learnt back in 2003 was the power of a story and its impact on the audience. We 
conducted some experiements with groups at the companies Innovation Lab where we had a set presentation to give. We constructed a Powerpoint, we told a story, we wrote a paper and we had a conversation about the key messsages. We then went back over the next weeks and asked people who had been exposed to the different methods of communication what the key messages were. The Powerpoint message lasted around 3 - 6 days, the paper a little longer although people were confused about what the key messages were. the conversation could be recalled up to month later but the story was still memorable up to 3 months later! A presentation should lead the audience to a conclusion. OK so this isn't rocket science but I have seen so many presentations that leave the audience thinking so-what! They are usually structured to show what a wonderful person the presenter is rather than informing the audience about whatever they are supposed to be gaining an understanding of. Make it easy of for the Audience. Presentations aren't usually about complexity and if they are they should aim to make the complex as simple as possible. The easier it is for the audience to understand whatever it is you are talking about the better they will think the presentation went. There are a whole breed of presenters who are also entertainers and a good living can be made from this style, however we dont all need to be TV stars to be a good presenter. 
I like to use the classic storytelling structure when thinking about a presentation - the presentation should have a beginning a middle an end and of course a 'sting' that the audience will walk away with. Put yourself in the shoes of the audience - what do they want to hear? How much do they already know? what do you want them to walk away with - an understanding, a decision or just feeling good?

Finally - Enjoy it! The more you enjoy the presentation the better it will be for the audience. There is nothing worse than watching a nervous presenter who doesn't know the presentation or the subject. OK some people can get away with it but for most people it is the recipe for disaster. One of the other concepts I came out with was on the different types of presentations that could be used and I devised a framework for each type. I am not suggesting that you go into that much detail but it is worth thinking about what type of presentation you are putting together before you start and therefore what structure does that lend itself to. I always storyboard my presentations either on a large sheet of paper or on sheets of paper stuck to a wall or whiteboard - one of r each slide I am going to use - using the rule 3 minutes for each slide! 
Some of this is covered in my book in more detail and I will put some of the templates on the blog over the next few weeks so check back if you are interested.