Learn from films and theatre how to open and close your presentations in a memorable way
The opening and closing of any visual presentation can be seen as analogous to the opening titles or to the final scene and credits of a film or television program. They are not just decorations or formal appendixes to wear for such occasions.
They are much more than that. The opening and closing parts of a presentation carry out some critical and important tasks. Let me show which one they are and why they are so important.
In a presentation the "opening" can serve the following purposes:
a) Inform on presentation topic
b) Inform on presenter's name, qualification, organization
c) Set institutional identity look and feel
d) Set the mood and setting for the presentation to start
e) Provide complimentary information on subject topic
f) Display credits for important contributors
g) Visualize sponsors logotypes and brand names
h) Announce where the presentation may be found, accessed, downloaded, or collected
The "closing" of a presentation serves instead the following functions:
a) Signal the end of the presentation
b) Provide reference information about the topic presented
c) Provide credits to contributors and resources
d) Re-state the key solution, theme or concept showcased
e) Reinforce institutional identity
f) Credit the presenter
Besides these important and well known functions the "opening" of a presentation serves some tacit, critical functions that can significantly influence the positive 'reception' and 'attitude' of your audience.
The opening serves also to:
i) Focus audience attention
j) Impress the audience in order to boost credibility of the presenter
To focus audience attention it is important to have:
a) A visually impacting opening
b) A not too fast transition into actual content
c) Enough visual cues to set the audience automatic "interpreter" for your show
d) Enough information to anticipate the topic, style and approach of your presentation
To impress the audience in order to boost credibility of the presenter it is vital for any presenter to recognize and acknowledge the importance of creating immediate interest and credibility for what s/he is about to present. In this direction the most effective best practice I have learned from my colleagues and mentors is:
Give them your best shot right at the beginning.
Give them the scoop, the visual masterpiece, the key idea or benefit they are about to learn about at the very beginning. Do not go for a strategy of gradually giving your audience more and deeper info to finally uncover your solution/report/idea.
Unveil the meat up front while not keeping the serving plates on your side. That is, give them the key but not the details and the why and how-to of it. That will be the actual "meat" of your presentation.
So grab their attention by giving your key, most powerful message at the beginning possibly supporting it with strong visuals and an appropriate transition or visual effect. Boost your credibility by immediately telling them the importance and relevance of what you are about to show right away.
The best visual solution for the "opening" and "closing" effects of an effective presentation can be obtained by following the great cultural tradition of theater, film, cartoons and television. Almost all world cultures share this imagery and cultural connotation system developed by at least one of these visual media.
Most literate people around the world, from East to West, have seen at least one of the following:
a) A silent black and white movie,
b) a Walt Disney or Hanna-Barbera/Warner Bros cartoon, or
c) a theater play.
This is where we need to draw the language of "opening" and "closing", especially if we want to be effective across many cultures regardless of language.
So what I have seen works really well is the use of those "transitions" or "visual effects" that 'emulate' the opening as we have 'learnt' to 'see' it.
For example, most people would find obvious to note that a theater play starts with the curtains opening up the stage in the dark, while revealing the lit stage with the actors. Well, you can just do the same with your computer presentation.
1) Set up the first slide to be an empty slide.
2) Set its background to black.
3) Set a transition between the black slide and your first slide by using the PowerPoint transition called "Split Vertical Out" or the equivalent in your presentation software.
4) Set its speed to "Slow".
There you have two electronic curtains opening on your first slide. Just like people have seen and recorded many times in their visual memory. This is effective, appropriate, unambiguous.
Why have words fly from the corner, images pop up, and graphic tumble on the screen, just to awaken your audience? By exploiting these "cheap" effects with no communication purpose, you only exhaust the attention thresholds of your audience in the first two-three slides of your show. Your future calls for attention will go unnoticed, as people cannot sustain for many attention alerts that are not supported by equivalent delivery of powerful content.
The PowerPoint "transitions" or visual effects that work best for opening a presentation by following what the visual arts have culturally "taught" us are:
* Box out
* Split vertical out
* Split horizontal out
* Uncover up
* Cover up
* Wipe up
* Fade through black
For closing a presentation the same reasoning applies, and you can simply select the opposite effect to the one utilized in the opening. It is important that the metaphor or visual analogy utilized to open is utilized consistently in the closing transition.
The ideal PowerPoint closing effects following the visual arts traditions are:
* Box in
* Split vertical in
* Split horizontal in
* Uncover down
* Cover down
* Wipe down
* Fade through black
There are obviously many more creative solutions one can adopt, by developing further this basic reference scheme and pushing it further with other effects and visual solutions.
A simple but effective one is the one of gradually building the first slide by turning on, one at a time, in successive steps, all of the page elements in the final design.
I am sure you can come up with many more interesting and relevant ways to open and close an effective presentation.
Please share your best practices and experiences with us at:
Luigi.Canali@ikonosnewmedia.com
Contributed by Luigi Canali De Rossi
MasterView Editor-in-Chief
You can read this article in the original issue of MasterView.
