This document provides tips for creating highly effective presentations. It emphasizes the importance of clear communication and storytelling to engage audiences. The key recommendations are to have a single core message, keep content simple, start with an engaging story rather than an agenda, use visuals over words whenever possible, appeal to emotions, and practice presentation skills. The overall goal is to make presentations "insanely great" so that audiences feel compelled to pay attention.

1. INSANELY GREAT!
make your next pitch or presentation

2. 30 MILLIONpresentations per day

3. How most
of them
make us feel:

6. let’s strive for
INSANELY GREAT! (instead of “rather shitty”)

8. “BEING ABLE TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC
IS ONE OF FIVE KEY BUSINESS SKILLS
THAT CAN MAKE OR BREAK
YOUR COMPANY OR YOUR CAREER.
- FORBES -

9. “PRESENTATION LITERACY
ISN'T AN OPTIONAL
EXTRA FOR THE FEW.
IT'S A CORE SKILL
FOR THE 21st CENTURY.
- CHRIS ANDERSON, HEAD CURATOR OF TED TALKS -

10. “a person can have
the greatest idea in the world,
completely different & novel,
but if that person can’t
convince other people,
it doesn’t matter.
- GREGORY BERNS -

11. INSANELY GREAT!
make your next pitch
or presentation
Here’s how to

12. Have ONE
CORE MESSAGE.
step 1 :

13. Have ONE
CORE MESSAGE.
step 1 :
- And please don’t make
me guess what it is! -

14. This portable music
player weighs a mere
6.5 ounces, is about the
size of a sardine can,
and boasts voluminous
capacity, long battery
life, and lightning-fast
transfer speeds.
for example :

15. This portable music
player weighs a mere
6.5 ounces, is about the
size of a sardine can,
and boasts voluminous
capacity, long battery
life, and lightning-fast
transfer speeds.
for example :
Huh?!?

16. This portable music
player weighs a mere
6.5 ounces, is about the
size of a sardine can,
and boasts voluminous
capacity, long battery
life, and lightning-fast
transfer speeds.
1000 songs
in your pocket.
- vs -

17. 1000
songs
in your
pocket.
boom!

18. care about
your audience.
pro tip:

19. What do you
want your
audience to
FEEL?

20. +
What do you
want your
audience to
FEEL?
What do you
want your
audience to
think?

21. +
What do you
want your
audience to
FEEL?
What do you
want your
audience to
think?
+
What do you
want your
audience to
do?

22. start with a
5-slide pitch
pro tip:
& build from there.

23.
SITUATION
THE 5-SLIDE PITCH
1

24.
SITUATION
PROBLEM
1 2
THE 5-SLIDE PITCH

25.
SITUATION
PROBLEM OPPORTUNITY
1 2 3
THE 5-SLIDE PITCH

26.
SITUATION
PROBLEM OPPORTUNITY
SOLUTION
1 2 3 4
THE 5-SLIDE PITCH

27.
SITUATION
PROBLEM OPPORTUNITY
SOLUTION
CALL 2 ACTION
1 2 3 4 5
THE 5-SLIDE PITCH

28. pro tip:
paper
before
PowerPoint.

32. - STEVE BOOTH-BUTTERFIELD, THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO PERSUASION -

33. BIT.LY/APCYES
Speaking of persuasion…
Have you signed up for my
free video crash course
(on Mastering the Art of
Persuasive Communication) yet?

34. keep it
simple.
step 2 :

35. - LEONARDO DA VINCI -
“simplicity
is the ultimate
sophistication.

36. working memory
can only hold
3 to 4 chunks
of new information
at one time.

37. pro tip:
Obey
1:7:140
the
rule.

38. 1:7:140idea
per
slide
1

39. 1:7:1407words
per
slide
no more than

40. 1:7:140140characters
or less

41. Practice
kanso.
(aka = the omission or exclusion of the non-essential)
pro tip:

42. for example…

43. a typical data slide

44. step 1: remove distracting gridlines.

45. step 2: eliminate unnecessary labels.

46. step 3: remove the logo!

47. step 4: lighten up the lines.

48. step 5: make the core point crystal clear!

49. VOILA!

50. see the difference?
before after

51. S T A R T
STRONG!
step 3 :

53. you’ve got
< 8 seconds
to engage
your audience.
Which means…

54. don’t waste it
on the a.s.s.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

55. =A.S.S.
Agenda
Start
Slide

56. =A.S.S.
Tell them what
you’re going to tell them.
Tell them.
Then tell them
what you just told them.

57. =A.S.S. No bueno!

58. JUST
say
no!!!

59. Instead of starting with the A.S.S.,
pro tip:
start with a story.

60. LOVE
humans
stories.

62. stories.
even before
we had language
we had

63. Stories have heros…
heroes.
stories have

64. villains.
stories have

65. remember.
stories help us

66. @mzkagan
this is not a story.

67. A story is
the only way
to activate the brain
so that listeners
turn the story
into their own idea
& experience.
- URI HASSON, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY -
“

68. visuals
> w o r d s
step 4 :

69. 60,000
the human brain
processes visual input
f a s t e r .

70. A set of points in a
plane equidistant
from a given point.
for example :

71. A set of points in a
plane equidistant
from a given point.
- vs -

72. - vs -
CIRCLE

73. which did you “GET” first?

74. want another example?
of course you do, you devil!

75. - vs -

76. - vs -
words > visuals

77. - vs -
visuals > words

79. boom!

81. make ‘em step 5 :
feel!

82. most people believe
they make decisions
via logic & reason.

83. ready for the truth?

84. - FAST COMPANY, JULY 2015 -

85. nobody
if logic alone
were enough,
would smoke.

86. - MAYA ANGELOU -

87. emotions trigger
an influx of dopamine.

88.
“REMEMBER THIS!”
dopamine is like a huge neon sign that says

89. Set the mood
pro tip:
—visually.

93. Use evocative words.
pro tip:

94. sad
TIRED
large
for example…

95. sad
TIRED
large
morose
exhausted
colossal
- or -
?

96. practice.
step 6 :

97. “Take advantage of every opportunity
to practice your communication skills
so that when important occasions arise,
you will have the gift, the style,
the sharpness, the clarity,
& the emotions
to affect other people.
- JIM ROHN -

98. So that’s it!
You are now armed with
the very formula I use to create
most effective,
most popular
presentations ever!
some of the

102. Now it’s
YOUR
TURN!
BIT.LY/APCYES

103. A lot of people are waiting
for Martin Luther King
or Mahatma Gandhi
to come back
—but they are gone.
“
- MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN -
We are it.
It is up to us.
It is up to you.

104. BIT.LY/APCYES
get your hot little hands
on my free video crash-course!
Now go