This is a compilation of stories and ideas to help you better your presentations. Includes examples of slide design and others. Also available in multi-touch ibooks version for the iPad. Most information is also available from www.stickyspy.com.

1. Sticky Presentations
ANG TIAN TECK
Stories
to help you better your
presentations

2. Sticky Presentations
Stories
to help you better your
presentations
ANG TIAN TECK

3. Sticky Presentations - Stories to help you better your presentations
by Ang Tian Teck
ISBN: 978-981-07-4919-4
First published in Nov 2012 by Sticky SPY®
Sticky SPY and Sticky Presentations® is a registered trademark of Sticky SPY Pte Ltd.
Copyright 2012 Sticky SPY Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.

5. Presentation is something that we cannot ignore today as it is almost the way of life
for many of us. This is especially true for those who are climbing the corporate
ladder or individuals who engage with clients. To many, presentation is just a series
of PowerPoint slides populated with information. To me, I would like to think of
presentation as an opportunity that needs to be delivered with precision and clarity.
The visual design then becomes important to ensure that information that we are
presenting is clear and that will leave a lasting impression.
It might be difficult to change completely overnight. However, any attempt to better
your presentation design is a move towards the right direction. Taking a step at a
time is important to ensure we are not overwhelmed by ideas that are new to us.
This book presents a collection of stories, tips, and ideas that you can use to help you
in your presentation slides. Take a step at a time in your journey to better your
presentations. A good place to begin is to follow the 10 suggested activities in
Chapter 2.
A step at a time
4

6. Simple
Take a step at a time to ensure simplicity in your presentation. This applies to your
presentation slides, the message that you convey, the story that you tell, and
everything else about your presentation should be simple. Always remember that
people can only remember simple things. Anything that is too complex and
complicated is difficult for people to remember quickly. In a presentation we only
have a short time to deliver our message. The simpler our message the easier to
remember.
Persuasive
Take a step at a time to ensure your presentation is persuasive. People must believe
your message. We would have failed if no one believed in the ideas that we are
presenting. Deliver your message from an angle that your audience is able to relate
to. Use terminologies and examples that your audience is familiar with. Facts and
figures in our presentation must concrete and credible. Most importantly, we must
totally believe in the idea that we are presenting.
SPY to Sticky
5

7. Youthful
Take a step at a time to ensure that your presentation is youthful. People
like fresh ideas. People like to see things that are not common. Youthful
visuals attract more attention and give your audience reasons to want to
listen to what you have to say. Carefully select images and words that
surprise your audience.
Sticky
The above 3 ingredients if applied correctly will make your presentation
Sticky. Sticky is a term used to describe idea that sticks to the minds of your
audience. When we deliver our presentation, we want our audience to
remember what we are presenting. We want our ideas to stick for as long as
possible. Design your presentation with the simplicity, persuasiveness, and
youthfulness (SPY) to achieve Sticky Presentations.
6

8. The next few pages are examples of conventional slides (Before)
redesigned to be sticky (After). Every slide content is different and
there are many exciting ways that we can present and deliver our
content. These examples will give you a general idea on what you
can do to make your presentation slides more exciting.
Before & After
examples
7

9. BEFORE
AFTER

10. BEFORE
AFTER

11. BEFORE
AFTER

12. BEFORE
AFTER

13. BEFORE
AFTER

14. Try These
10 focused activities to get you started to achieving
Amazing Sticky Presentations®

15. Designing great presentations require dedication and a
different approach.
Here I aim to share with you 10 focused activities that will help you get started
in the direction of creating great presentations using the Sticky Presentations
approach. It employs a different and non-conventional approach to presentation
design and delivery.
Effective presentations involve many factors. One of which is your visual design.
Another is the delivery approach. Sticky Presentations® focuses primary in the
area of visual design, giving you ideas to develop presentations that create
lasting impressions.
Try out these activities for your next presentation and see how far it brings you.
Always remember that designing great presentations is a journey.
Take a small step at a time.
Your best presentation is always your next presentation.
14

16. Always start your design on a blank page.
Try not to use templates provided by your presentation software. Starting with a blank
page gives you the freedom to explore beyond the boundaries of the template. Imagine
being able to do anything on a page without constrain. Imagine being able to write,
draw, doodle or simply express your thoughts on the page.
Starting with a blank page gives you endless possibilities in how things should be placed
on your slides. If you decide to use an image, you can place it anywhere in any sizes.
Text can also be in any color that you choose, or any size, even styles and font.
It might not be easy when you think of starting with a blank page, but once you get
started, you will never want to stop. Because starting with a blank page brings out the
creative you. You are forced to think differently and beyond the constrains of templates.
Free yourself from the roadblocks.
A fresh start is always a good start.
Start with a blank page.
15

17. Plan your presentation slides on paper before you create them on your computer. In
other words, go analog when planning your storyboard. Planning on paper allows
you to focus on your presentation content instead of fighting with technology.
Very often we get stuck in technology trying to figure how to use certain features.
Thus not making the correct use of our time. At the end of the day we always
complain that there is not enough time to develop good presentation slides.
Planning on paper also helps us in activity one, that is to start with a blank page. You
are not constrained by any template when you plan on paper. Do not worry about not
being able to draw, write or organise content neatly. You can do that with the help of
technology later.
It is important to note that planing on paper allows us to think out of the box. Think
differently from how you will usually develop your slides when you are using a
computer.
Focus on your content, not the technology. Plan on paper.
16

18. Your presentation slides are useful only if your audience can see the content on your
slides. Regardless of the type of information you are presenting, may it be text, a
chart, a table, a diagram or a photo, always ensure that your audience can see what
you are putting up on the big screen.
A general guide is to show things big. Be sure that the last row can see the smallest
object on your slide. If your intention is to present specific information to your
audience, make those information visible and easy to read. Removing unnecessary
information from your presentation slides will also reduce the clutter and allowing
more space to make your primary information larger and visible.
If you have lots of content to present, try breaking them into multiple slides. Showing
lesser information on each slide will help you move towards making your slide
content larger and more visible.
Remember that if your content is too small to be seen, it’s likely that they are not
important, and should’t not be on your presentation slides at all.
Make it BIG. Be visible.
17

19. Use images whenever possible in your presentation slides. Carefully selected
images can enhance your presentation visuals beyond what text alone can do.
Studies suggest that using images in your communications is 5 times more
effective when compared to using text alone. People remember images better than
text because images are exciting and more expressive when used correctly.
Images you choose to use must have a purpose. Do not throw in an image because
you think it’s nice but does not really convey your message. Again, as a presenter,
you must know how to talk about the image you are presenting on the large screen.
It is also important to use high resolution images. You want your images to look good when
projected on the large screen. Low resolution images will look grainy when enlarged and does
not look professional. There are many affordable image library that you can acquire high
resolution images for presentation at a low cost.
Consider keeping a library of images that you capture on your own with your digital camera.
Keep your camera handy with you to capture interesting things that you see everyday.
Be exciting. Use images.
18

20. When you start drawing your ideas, you start to look at things in a different
perspective. Your presentation slides will become more exciting. Your delivery will
mirror the new perspective you created.
Convert boring textual content into illustrations, charts, diagrams, objects — all of
which you can position anywhere on your slides making them interesting. Use boxes,
use circles, use talk bubbles, use arrows, use big text. Use anything but paragraphs of
text.
Think about how you can represent your wordy content with simple drawings using
tools from your presentation software. You don’t have to be an artist to draw
rectangles, circles, and arrows. Once you start drawing, more ideas will flow in and
you will soon find it easier and easier.
When you draw your ideas, it’s less likely that you will use a given template that
constrains you to the bullet points format. Bullet points are bad because it blocks
your mind from thinking beyond the template.
Make your ideas exciting. Draw your ideas, don’t write.
19

21. How your presentation slides look, should be part of your design. It should not be an
after thought to fill in the blank space. Very often we throw in an image or two
because there are blank spaces in our slides.
It is important that content (images, text, objects) of your presentation slides is
carefully thought through and is there because you intended it to be. By making
content part of your design helps you focus on how you want to convey the message.
Having focus makes your delivery more effective and exciting.
Always ask yourself, “Why am I showing this in my presentation slide? Is it
important? Do my audience need to see this?”.
Decorating makes us loose focus and we end up having slides that are complex and
difficult to understand. Every element on your presentation slides must have a
purpose to convey your intended message.
Have a plan when you create your next presentation.
Design, do not decorate.
20

22. Keep your messages simple when you build your presentation slides. Simple
messages are also very focused and easy to digest. People can only remember
simple messages. Show them simple things, read them a simple message, tell
them a simple story, and they will likely to remember.
Your presentation slide is not a document. Do not use documentation format in
your presentation. Documents contain detail and complex information.
Presentation slides are meant to be simple and easy to understand. Break down
complex information into smaller chunks for the purpose of presentation. You
might increase the number of slides in your presentation deck, but that’s okay.
Showing less information makes your presentation slides simpler, more focused, and easier
for you to bring your ideas across. It also allows your audience to grasp and retain the
information longer.
Make things easy for your audience. Don’t let them think too much about what you are
saying or showing. Tell them exactly what you want them to hear. Show them exactly what
you want them to see.
Pamper your audience.
Keep your presentation slides simple. 21

23. To create a presentation that leave lasting impressions, you have to explore beyond the
things you see everyday. There are many ways to show the same things on your
presentation slides. Explore and experiment with object’s positioning and size.
Make things larger than your screen size. Display objects partially. Hide part of your
image from the visible area of your slide. You can apply these techniques to text and
images—objects that you use to convey your messages.
Exploring beyond what you can imagine. Give your presentation visuals greater impact
by rotating selected objects or adding a shadow. You will be surprise by the results from
these minor adjustments that you have made.
Never stop until you are fully satisfied and like what you see. If you love what you see,
your audience will likely to love them too.
Nothing is impossible. Explore beyond.
Leave a lasting impression.
22

24. Anything is possible if you are inspired to share your ideas with people you meet.
Inspiration gives you the energy to create exciting things. If you want to create and
deliver a presentation that blows your audience minds, find that inspiration.
You might not find your inspiration if you sit in front of your computer to design
your presentation slides. Go for a walk, go to a cafe, do something else. Clear your
mind and you’ll find inspiration.
Unique ideas do not always flow in. You need something to trigger you to give you
the spark of ideas. Sometimes it is just by looking out of the window, watching
television in the middle of the day or indulging in a tub of insanely great tasty ice-
cream. The sweet chocolatey taste will give you the boost of energy you need to
create something exciting.
Weave away from your seat. Be inspired.
23

25. To deliver a great presentation, you need to have full control of your delivery
tool. When possible, it is best to use your own computer during the
presentation delivery.
Using your own computer ensures that your presentation will display the way
you want it. And you can be sure that alignment, layout and custom font that
you use (if any) will display properly.
Putting your presentation in a thumb drive to present using another
computer stands a risk of your great presentation not displaying correctly.
The other computer might not have the custom font that you are
using. The version of the presentation software in the other
computer might not be the same version that you used to create
your presentation.
To ensure your presentation remains insanely great, you
must take control.
Use your own computer.
24

26. Stories

28. hat makes a presentation interesting? Is it the message? Is it
the images? Or is it the way the presenter delivers the
presentation?
To create a lasting impression in our presentations, we need to think
differently. We need to move away from the conventional way of how
we design our presentation slides. If the presentation is important,
27
W
Create

29. then we have to find ways to ensure it creates
lasting impressions. After all, in a sales
presentation, we usually only have one chance to
make it, or loose it.
The Challenge
Many of us struggle with our presentation slides
when we try to think differently beyond bullet
points. When I say bullet points, I meant the
approach that we take to design and develop our
presentation. It seems that most presenters are
very comfortable with the fact that they are able
to put every word they want to say in the slides.
This supposedly acts as notes to the presenter. It
also means that they can read from the slides
during the presentation.
What I am trying to say is that we are all really
taking the easy way out in our approach to
presentation design and expect our audience to
fully understand the content that we are
delivering. Majority of us do not spend
enough quality time preparing for
our presentations. We usually allocate
28

30. very little time for preparation prior to the
actual presentation. This is because we trust the
template that is available in PowerPoint to
“bullet-point” the things we want to say.
Another approach that we see often is
replicating information (including
layout format) from product
brochure onto our presentation
slides. Product brochures format, although they
look pretty, is not an effective format to be used
as presentation slides. Most product brochures
have very detailed information and paragraphs
of text designed for reading. They are not
necessary suitable for presentation slides
In presentations, we need to ensure that
our presentation slides are simple
and that they convey the
appropriate messages effectively.
This would also mean that the things that we put
on our slides, text, images, diagrams, etc., have
to be very focused and easily seen from the back
row.
We also need to be selective on what goes on
our presentation slides. Text or images that
doesn’t help to effectively convey our
messages should be left out. It is not always
easy to throw out things cause every one of
us have too much knowledge and we always
think that everything is important.
The Presentation Tool
A very common presentation tool that is
widely used by many is PowerPoint. It is the
standard presentation software. However,
there other tools available today that we can
choose as an alternative. Some Mac users
might prefer to use Apple’s Keynote, a very
29

31. versatile presentation tool available only on the
Mac. Another new and interesting presentation
tool that recently surfaced is Prezi. Prezi
presents an interesting perspective on slide
design.
The use of PowerPoint has become more than
just a presentation tool. It is being used as a
multipurpose tool—documentation,
outlining, drawing, page layout, charting,
printing of tags/labels, and all things
that we can think of. So much so that this
has become so convenient for us to show just
about anything that we have in PowerPoint as
presentation slides during our presentation. We
need to reconsider. Use the right tool correctly
for the job.
Lasting Impressions
Here comes the difficult question. How do I
even start to develop a presentation
that creates lasting impressions?
There are many schools of thoughts and varied
approaches to presentation design on how to do
this. A common take away from all these
approaches is that our presentation slides must
be simple. Here I will elaborate on the Sticky
SPY concept, the concept behind Amazing Sticky
Presentations.
The Sticky SPY concept introduces simple ideas
that create lasting impressions. The 3
ingredients that make presentations Sticky are
SPY, which are acronyms for Simple, Persuasive,
and Youthful. The general idea is to ensure that
our presentation slides are simple and focused.
They also have to be persuasive in the sense that
30

32. people must be able to relate to
our messages or images that
we use to convey messages.
The third ingredient, Youthful,
suggest that our presentation
slides must be fresh and
exciting.
We should use images that
are different from what
people see everyday. The
combination of the 3 ingredients
gives stickiness to presentation slides.
The degree of stickiness depends on how
effectively we are able to apply this Sticky SPY
concept.
Simplicity is the key to having
our presentations create lasting
impressions. Given the limited time in any
presentation session, our audience can
only remember simple things. So
the simpler our messages are, the
better. Many of us tend to think
that by being simple, we will not be
viewed as experts. So as a result, we
try to clutter our presentation
slides and make them more
complex.
Among other things, our real objective
to present is to ensure we communicate
our ideas effectively and that our audience
achieved understanding at the end of the
session. But of course, unless our objective is to
confuse our audience, then we will design our
presentation slides to confuse.
31

33. The Journey
Moving from conventional approach to the use
of Sticky Presentations approach is not a
destination, but a journey. It is not always
possible to achieve Stickiness overnight. But we
need to take the first step to understand the
concept and apply it to our next presentation.
Different types of presentations to different
kinds of audience require different thinking.
Most of preparation and development time
taken to do a presentation that creates lasting
impressions is thinking and researching time.
Unfortunately there are no
shortcuts to this process. A presenter that is
already familiar with this approach can however
shorten development time by half.
Having read this
article is only the
beginning. There are
more to making your
presentation sticky
and to ultimately
achieve Amazing Sticky
Presentations®. We need
to open up our minds and
look beyond bullet-point
styles of presentation
design if we want to make our presentation
Sticky and create that lasting impression.
32

34. e often hear that using images makes our presentation slides more
exciting. We were told to stay away from bullet points and replace text
with images. And so we go searching for appropriate images for our slides,
only to realised that we are faced with other challenges.
It is easy to just copy-and-paste an image on our presentation slides. But to
make it exciting becomes very subjective and poses a challenge to those who
are not as creative.
Here are 5 simple quick ideas on how you can arrange your selected image
(images) to make your presentation slides interesting.
33
W

35. Make your image the entire screen. A big image that your audience can easily see is
more exciting than a small image that you place in the middle of your screen.
Make your image bigger than your screen. If you have a high-resolution image, you
can create the effect of having your image jump out of the screen by enlarging the image
beyond the size of your presentation slide.
1
2

36. 35
Showing partial image on the left of your screen. If you need space on your slide for
some text, you can show part of the image. Having some parts of an image hidden can be ex-
citing at times.
Floating images. If you have 2-3 images that you want to show at the same time, rotate the
images slightly and adding a frame style to your image, then floating them on the top half of
the slide can be an interesting option.
3
4

37. When you next work on your presentation slides, give the above a try. Explore further and you might
discover new ideas on how to make images exciting on your slides.
36
Two-thirds image with title and text overlay. If you have an image with a large enough
free space where you can overlay text, you can crop the image to about two-thirds of the
screen height. Position the image at the upper side of your slide, and leave the bottom one-
third space for your text title.
5

38. he key objective of any presentation is to communicate our ideas
effectively. We want to ensure that in a single presentation session we get
our ideas across faster, increase retention, harness greater acceptance, and
ultimately improve closing rate.
How can we achieve this? How can we create messages and visuals that are
Sticky to help us communicate our ideas effectively.
37
T

39. Using Power of Three is one of the ways we can
achieve stickiness. We simplify our presentation
into three key stories, sections, or points. We
deliver our content in groups of three. Three
is a number that most of us can
remember. It is easier than four, five and
six.
Remember how a child learn, how we used to
teach little ones? It's always 1-2-3 or A-B-C. We
always stop at three—the magic
number. Applying this to our
presentation design helps
us communicate our
ideas better. It
creates stickiness
in our
presentation
visuals and help us
deliver a Sticky story.
Can you recall famous titles, names, or phrases
that has connection with the number three? Let
me name you a few. The Three Musketeers, The
Three Blind Mice, Charlie's Angles, Ready-Set-
Go, Three wishes.
During the iPhone introduction keynote
presentation, Jobs of Apple said,"Today, we are
introducing 3 revolutionary new products. The
first is a widescreen iPod with touch controls.
The second is a revolutionary mobile phone,
and the third is breakthrough Internet
communicator device."
We can apply the Power of Three in
various areas of our presentation
design. In our presentation
structure, in the
story that we are
38

40. delivering, in the visuals that complement our
story, and in the conclusion of our presentation.
The Power of Three helps us simplify and group
information that we want to deliver in smaller
chunks that is easier to understand.
It is always good to prepare our audience
in advance for the content that we
are going to deliver in the next couple of
minutes. We do this by telling them the three
things that we will be presenting. This can be
done verbally or with visuals.
Instead of just showing one visual with
everything, we use multiple visuals to present
the same content. Again, breaking them down to
smaller chunks, preferably in groups of three.
The example here discuss the factors motivating
the adult learner. Moving away from the bullet
points style, we present a visual showing the
39
Figure 3.1 Before
Slide 3.1 After

41. topic in discussion and later introduce the first
3 factors in the list and adding
appropriate images to complement
the brief text. The images guide our
audience in understanding, and
makes viewing less stressful. As the
presenter starts to focus on
individual factors, we display
appropriate visuals to deliver
content related to the discussion.
This removes other information that might
distract our audience from listening to us.
This technique works very well with almost all
types of presentations. The Power of
Three forces the presenter to
rethink their presentation
approach, simplifying the delivery of content
and breaking information into smaller chunks
to aid understanding.
There are no rules saying that we have to stick
to a defined number of visuals in our
presentations. Use as many visual as required
to deliver the messages. But remember to
always present messages in the simplest form.
It is simplicity that makes our messages stick.
So start using Power of Three to simplify your
presentation design and transform your
presentations to Amazing Sticky Presentations.
40

42. ou came into the meeting room excited, expecting to see a short 20
minutes presentation from a vendor that might have a solution to
an existing problem—a problem that you have been trying to solve for
the longest time. Having spoken to the vendor a week ago, you had
expected a presentation that directly addresses the problem.
The presentation lasted an hour and you came out confused.
Sounds familiar?
41
Y

43. What had happened?
I am sure many have faced similar situations
before. A common approach by most presenters
is to spend the first 10-15 minutes introducing
the company—facts, history, size, organisation
structure, product line, global presence, etc., and
leaving the most important part of the
presentation towards the end.
To make things worse, visuals with complex
technical information follows the company
introduction. Plenty of very busy visuals are
almost illegible with irrelevant images
incorporated to make the slides look pretty.
Put yourself in the presenter's shoes.
How many times have you done the same?
We should ask ourselves if it is necessary to talk
about the company. Is that important?
Are we wasting valuable time and
opportunities to get our message across
faster and to capture our audience
attention early while they are still fresh?
Many of us think that our clients would like to
hear about the company in every presentation
before hearing the solution. The truth is that
company facts are available on the company's
website and in the handout that we would have
handled out before our presentation. It is
therefore, not necessary to repeat this in our
presentation.
In the airtime that we have for the presentation,
we should get straight to the point and do not
waste time presenting information that our
client already know.
42

44. Here are a few pointers that we should note.
1. Present important information first. In
most cases, if you are presenting a
proposal, it's the solution that you want to
present first.
2. Next, present information that supports
the solution. Also remember not to be too
technical. Try to simplify technical
information and make it easy to
understand.
3. Break up complex information and present
it in smaller chunks to allow your audience
to follow you.
4. If you need to talk about your company,
present it at the end. If you feel more
comfortable to present it at the beginning
of your presentation, then keep it short.
Two minutes is about the right amount of
time to spend on company introduction.
5. Explain in nontechnical terms, why your
solution works. Give a short success story if
available. Use images if appropriate.
6. Do not present too many options in your
solution. Two is good, and three is the
most. It's usually confusing and difficult to
make a decision when too many options
are being presented.
Always remember that it's not about you (or your company). It's about your clients. Design your
presentations for the benefit for your clients. Your clients usually do not have much patience.
So get to the point.
43

45. sing arrows in your presentation visuals is one of the many
methods that can help lead your audience to focus on specific
information. Sometimes it is difficult to position information of
deferring importance to make each one relevant. With arrows, we can
effectively direct attention to areas of our presentation slides where the
critical information is.
We do not need to use fancy arrows. Simple arrows that can easily be
created with any presentation software are most effective. We want to
44
U

46. lead audience to the information on our presentation visuals and not focus on the
arrows. If done correctly, this can create higher impact in your presentation slides.
There are many exciting ways that you can use arrows for this purpose. Here are a
few that you might want to try out in your next presentation.
Growing Trends. Instead of always using line
charts for showing trend data, try using an arrow that
curves up. Along the curve, you can overlay numbers
(or percentages) growing in 3 to 4 intervals.
Process or sequenced information.
Sometimes we have information that we want to
present to illustrate steps in a process. Arrows can be
useful in this situation to lead our audience from start
to finish.
45

47. Highlights. Pointing an arrow to specific information
during a presentation to highlight words or numbers is
better than turning your back to your audience while
using a laser pointer.
Think about other possibilities of using Arrows
to create an impact in your presentation design.
There are no fixed rules on which are the correct
methods. You decide the layout based on the
type of content you are presenting.
Think of how your audience would accept
certain information when they see it. Think of
what you want to say about the information that
you are showing.
Is the information clear to you? Is the
information clear to your audience?
Always make a point to see it from the
perspective of the person receiving the
information—your audience.
Use Arrows to make an impact in your
presentation design.
46

48. o you sometimes wonder what to do with the empty spaces you
have on your presentation slides? Leaving it empty seems
unfinished and uninteresting. So we tell ourselves that we have
to do something about that space. A common practice might be to look
for an image or some images to fill those spaces.
This can result in slides that are un-composed or uncoordinated. Worst
of all, they cause distractions and are confusing to your audience.
Sometimes these so-called decorations can increase the complexity of
47
D

49. our slides, making it difficult to deliver our
intended message effectively.
Decorating our presentation slides is not a good
idea for an effective presentation. Decoration is
an afterthought and is usually not part of the
design. Every element or object
on your presentation slides
must have a purpose. They must
contribute in helping you to effectively deliver
the message in your presentation. Any element
that is included without a purpose should be
removed.
Practice design instead of decoration. Plan your
presentation and decide how the content should
be delivered. What is it that you want your
audience to see and hear? Design your
presentation slides so that it helps you deliver
your message with ease and persuasiveness.
Design your presentation slides so that you can
deliver your message with impact.
When an element in your slide is part of the
design, your whole presentation will flow
smoothly giving you the highest impact in line
with your intention or objective of your
presentation. However, when you decorate your
slides by adding elements to fill in the empty
space, you end up patching holes that you think
should be covered with something.
Design. Not decorate. Now, go
create a presentation that will WOW! your
audience.
48

50. recently read an article in a photography magazine about posing
positions for portraits. I thought I will share with you some of the
poses that are suitable for presentation slides. You can use these poses
when taking photos of executives for your presentation visuals.
Take all photos against a white background in natural lighting when
possible. Be sure to experiment with various positions to see which fits
the individual.
49
I
Posingfor
Presentation slides

51. An upper body shot with crossed arms. This can also be
extended to a full body shot. Note that shoulders should be
pulled back a little and stomach muscles kept in check.
Leaning against a wall makes another interesting pose for an
upright position. Lean back against a wall and look slightly left (or
right). Lift one leg off the ground to rest against the wall. Hands can
either be folded or in the pocket as shown on the right.

52. A simple pose for a formal portrait like this example can be interesting
when taken with full body. Hands can be holding on to the jacket.
Alternatively the hands can be holding to work items such as a laptop,
file, or books.
If the individual is a male subject, then the hands can be placed in the
pocket. In the situation where one hand is carrying an item, the other can
be placed in the pocket.
Holding a jacket over the shoulder, merely a thumb in the
pocket (or tugged at the belt level), and legs crossed as shown
in the illustration on the right can work very well for a
business casual shot.

53. Leaning against the wall side ways. This is an interesting
pose and can be a formal or casual shot. Instead of folding
the arms as show in the illustration on the left, putting
hands in the pockets and leaving the jacket unbuttoned will
look good as well.
Sitting on a chair and leaning forward a little gives a pleasant
uncommon pose in a formal shot. It works with or without the
jacket worn.
Ensure that the sitting position is comfortable and that the height
of the chair is adjusted correctly.

54. ou present to many different groups of audiences. And you need
the flexibility to branch out to different parts of your
presentation depending on whom you are presenting to and what
your audiences want to know.
How many presentation branches should you have?
My answer to this is NONE.
If you are presenting content on a website or guided information on a
CD/DVD-ROM, that would seem to be the right approach—giving
options for readers to navigate at their own will. In these formats, we
53
Y

55. can provide links or buttons for individual
readers (visitors/users) to click on to find
additional information or branch out to other
areas of interest.
And yes, your presentation software, such as
PowerPoint, too is capable of providing links
and buttons to enable branching beyond the
main presentation path. But think again. What
is the purpose of a presentation?
A presentation is a focused
opportunity session for us to get our
ideas across as quickly as possible
within a given time limit.
With limited time, we need to plan our
presentation to be concise and with very focused
objectives. We have to be decisive on the path to
take so that we can deliver our presentation
effectively. Branches in our
presentations will add complexity
and create traps for us to make
mistakes during our presentation.
54

56. If you are developing your presentation slides
for the purpose of a discussion session, then the
rule changes. By all means, create links and
buttons so that you can navigate to different
segments of information depending on where
your discussion brings you. However, in a
normal presentation we should keep things
simple.
You might have different presentations for
different audiences—which we all do. In cases
like these, select appropriate slides to build the
presentation for your target audience in
advance. This approach is more effective and
gives you better control compared to having
multiple branches in your presentation.
An effective presentation is linear
and should be delivered from start
to end with a very specific objective.
Make every effort to minimise distraction and
keep to the planned path. This will ensure that
your delivery is simple and effective.
55

57. o you often face situations where you are being constrained by
the number of slides you are allowed in a presentation? Or
maybe you were being told that you are only allowed 5-8 slides. It is a
common belief that the more slides we have, the longer will be our
presentation, and we will most likely over run the allocated time given
to us. This is quite true if we approach presentation slides in the way
95% of presenters do.
With the constrain imposed on us, we usually try to squeeze more
information on to each slide making it cluttered, unattractive, and
difficult to comprehend. This might be acceptable to most in an
56
D

58. internal meeting, but we shouldn't make this a
norm for all our presentations.
In a meeting, we are sometimes required to
present data using a pre-defined set of template
—everyone has to use the template. Beyond the
standard templates, I am sure there are ways
that we can make our presentation slides more
exciting.
Having more slides shouldn't
increase the amount of time we take
to deliver our presentation. We might
even take lesser time to present because
breaking information into more slides will make
each slide is more focused and easier to
understand.
We should create as many slides as needed to
present the information effectively. When we
start to break information into smaller chunks,
we are validating the content of our presentation
and realizing that certain information is not
necessarily needed in our slides.
Unnecessary information can be additional
footnotes; numbers or figures that are not key;
text that seems like words you would say during
the presentation; images that are small and do
not help you convey your message; information
that you will not be highlighting during the
presentation, information for documentation
purpose, etc.
Don't make the slide count a constrain to
your presentation, but make your
presentation slides count.
57

59. t's Presentation Day. You have invested time and effort to ensure
everything in your presentation is the way you wanted. You have
done your research. You know your content. You have rehearsed well.
You have dry-run your presentation over and over again and
everything works perfectly. You are confident, so what could possibly
go wrong?
Surprises are good. But if it happens on Presentation Day, it can be
quite a disaster. Many, including myself, assume that it just works!
What could possibly go wrong? In fact, many things could go against
58
I

60. you, if it's not your day. So, if the presentation is important, it doesn't hurt to take
extra steps to ensure higher success on Presentation Day.
Here are 5 key pointers to help you avoid surprises on Presentation Day.
Projection System
We always assume that it's all plug and play. Trying out the projection system
before Presentation Day is not always a luxury we have. When possible, make the
extra effort to try out the projection system that you are going to use on
Presentation Day. This is to ensure that the projection system is able to
reproduce the colours from your presentation with acceptable resolution,
contrast and brightness.
Computer System
Whose computer are you using on Presentation Day?
Is it yours or someone else's computer?
If it's your own, then you have less problem. However you will need to ensure
that you know how to operate your own computer while connected to the
projection system. Ensure that you know how to toggle your computer screen to
display on the projection screen. Figure that out before Presentation Day and not
59

61. when it's your turn to be up on stage. If you are using a MacBook, remember to
bring your VGA adaptor.
If it's someone else's computer then you need to be cautious. Ensure that the
PowerPoint version installed in the other computer can work with your
presentation file. If you are using fonts that are not the standard ones, ensure
that you embed those special fonts into your presentation file or install it onto the
other computer. Better still, use only standard fonts.
Wireless Clicker
If you are using your own computer on Presentation Day, be sure you have your
own wireless clicker. Besides being familiar with your presentation slides, you
need to be familiar with the device that controls your slides. Make effort to
rehearse using your wireless clicker. Many presenters only bring out their
wireless clicker on Presentation Day. If you do not rehearse with your wireless
clicker, you will not know if your clicker is still working; you will never realise
that the battery in the clicker is weak and is not responsive to your click.
Plan Version 1.1
You might not always get to know your audience before the presentation.
Sometimes halfway into your presentation, you realised that the audience does
60

62. not respond well to your planned presentation. Having Plan B might not be
practical, for that would mean switching to another presentation. What required
is Plan Version 1.1. This is not an entirely different presentation but a variation of
how you would deliver the message. Instead of memorising your script (which is
not recommended), associate your messages through keywords. This will give
you the flexibility to adjust your delivery according to the situation on
Presentation Day.
Voice
If you have prepared well and know your content, your presentation can go on
even if technology fails you. However, without your voice there is no
presentation. On Presentation Day, avoid food and drinks that might give stress
to your voice. Sugared drinks, coffee and tea are bad for your voice. Always drink
plain water. Have a glass of water with you while you speak. It is okay to pause in
the middle of your presentation to take a sip.
Make the extra effort listed above before Presentation Day. The chance of surprises
will be highly reduced thus boosting your confidence level towards a successful
presentation session.
61

63. Learn more
Never stop learning.
There are many resources that you can tap on to learn more. Videos
from YouTube are a good place to start. Search for presentations or
public speaking and you will find millions of videos that you can learn
something from them.
If you are looking of more slide ideas, visit SlideShare.net. This is a
great resource for getting ideas on presentation slide design. See what
people are doing to their presentation slides. Get some ideas, change
them and make them your own.
Attend a presentation workshop. I am sure there are plenty of training
organisations at your locations that provide such courses. Attend
conferences. See what speakers are doing. Learn from them what to do
and what not to do in your presentations.
Most importantly, you must have fun and be inspired in your journey
towards effective presentations.

64. You can see and experience Sticky Presentations® LIVE in action at one of our
workshops in Singapore.
To attend a Amazing Sticky Presentations® workshop
www.stickyspy.com/workshops
Sticky Presentations on Facebook
www.facebook.com/StickyPresentations
Please contact aki@stickyspy.com or call +65 9680 4313
Other References
Sticky Presentations - A different approach to
presentation design and delivery.
Multi-touch Book for iPad available at selected
iBookstores.
Sticky Presentations® LIVE!
63

65. Download the Multi-touch interactive iPad version
of this book from iBookstore on your iPad.

66. 65
www.stickyspy.com