There is a great scene in the movie Dodgeball where the self obsessed Global Gym owner, White Goodman (played by Ben Stiller) is discussing the benefits of Global Gym membership in a television commercial.

Globo Gym Announcer: Tired of the same old you? Tired of being out of shape and out
of luck with the opposite sex?
White Goodman: [finishing a ride on his skis] Yeah! Oh, hello. I’m White Goodman, Owner, Operator, and Founder of Globo Gym America Corp, and I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to be stuck with what ya got… Globo Gym employs a highly-trained, quasi-cultural staff of personal alterational specialists. And with our competitively-priced on-site cosmetic surgery, we can turn that Frankenstein you see in the mirror every morning into a Franken-fine!

Do you want to turn your next presentation into Franken-fine? In the words of White Goldman, “C’mon down and join the winning team, because here at Globo Gym… We’re better than you and we know it!”

In all seriousness, what are your presentation goals for 2009? 

Olivia Mitchell of the Speaking About Presenting blog recently invited a handful of presentation gurus and experts to take part in a Group Writing Project to share our opinions on the topic: “What I’d like to see in PowerPoint slide design in 2009.” Well, here is our response…

For starters, Ethos3 would like to see a presentation revolution in 2009. We would like to see change. We would like to see innovation. We would like to end death by PowerPoint. So here is our simple solution – add more storytelling to PowerPoint presentations this year.

We figured we could dedicate another post to the simplicity of design or where to gather photos, but the good news is that many people are now beginning to implement these principles into their slide decks – not all, but it is becoming an emerging trend. However, what is lacking is great storytelling so we will share our thoughts from our STORYbored ebook. We have shared these thoughts before, but it’s the New Year and the world probably needs another reminder. Let’s begin.

In John Hughes’ classic, The Breakfast Club, he highlights five high school students, all from different backgrounds, who come together only to discover they have a lot more in common than they imagined. The same holds true with storytelling.

There are many styles, all with a lot in common. In fact, the great Hollywood screenwriter Robert McKee illustrates that there are 25 types of stories. Don’t get overwhelmed. We have narrowed it down to three to help you, the presenter. Below are our recommendations the next time you build a presentation introduction.

The Rockstar
Think about the classic hero story – a man or woman is given a challenge and then often  turns away only to embrace it and save the world. That’s the Rockstar – the hero that  everyone cheers for with tenacious excitement. You can probably think of a few of these  Rockstars with little effort – Rocky Balboa, Louis Skolnick of Lambda Lambda Lambda, and Elle Woods.

Here is an excerpt from a presentation introduction:

The Maverick
Mavericks are those stories of individuals who literally change the world. They are the dreamers who stand up against all odds to impact lives, to make a difference, to change the world. This list of individuals includes names like MLK, JFK, Mother Teresa, and Gandhi. They are the rulebreakers – the men and women who changed this planet.

Here’s what it looks like:

The Sherlock
This is the classic problem/solution approach. Typically containing two characters, this approach is ideal for business presentations. Think Disney. Better yet, how about the Fighting Rancho Carne Toros and the East Compton Clovers from Bring It On. One team competed the right way – hard work and diligence. The other did it the wrong way – hiring a choreographer to learn “Spirit Fingers” and a secondhand routine to the once popular Get Ready for This by 2Unlimited.

Here’s a sample:

Good news!
You have stories. Your parents have stories. Your grandparents have stories. Your company even has a story. You should have plenty to write about, so what are you waiting for? Don’t be a cotton-headed ninnymuggins! Start writing. Maybe one day you’ll have book published about your own story just like Buddy the Elf. We are all storytellers.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 at 7:29 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.