1. Presentation
SECRETS
a book by Alexei Kapterev

2. Hi. I’m Alexei.
SOME OTHER GUY ALEXEI KAPTEREV

3. I live in Moscow and I teach at the
Moscow University’s business school

4. 4 year s ago
I pub lished
a pr esen tation
Slideshare
on

5. As se
TV!
en on
W hich became one the world’s
most popular presentation
about presentations (funny, yes)

6. B ut let
me make
a small confession...

7. Back then I
wasn’t really
much of a
guru myself

8. I was just
making my
first steps

9. But when “Death
by Powerpoint”
went viral, lots
of people came to
me asking for
helP!

10. I had no
choice but
to become
an expert

11. Q: So, 4 years later, do
we still suffer from
Death by Powerpoint?
YES.
A:

12. Most presentations
still have:
Incomprehensible Lousy Sleep-inducing
structure slides delivery

13. Typical
structure
You cannot summarize the argument
No answer to the question “why bother?”
No story arc — just tons of facts

14. Typical
slides
(it did get a bit
better, but still…)
Too much text and data
Aesthetics? What’s “aesthetics”?
Pictures for the sake of pictures

15. Typical
delivery
Talking to the mic, not to the audience
Mo-no-to-ny-mo-no-to-ny-mo-no-to-ny
Scripted, canned… inauthentic

16. What is still wrong?

17. Bad presenters share either
of the 2 extreme beliefs:
or
It’s voodoo magic, You can do it
you have to be by following
born with it “3 simple rules”

18. are
OK, presentations
difficult
(This is true and I’m not
gonna lie to you on this)

19. It m ight SEEM like
you have to become:
Scriptwriter
YOU
Designer
Actor

20. But after
doing it myself
I’m convinced:
EVERYONE
CAN DO IT

21. 4 RULE
It’s just NEVER
PRESE
a matter of 1. Don’t e
“simple rules”. 2. Use san
3. Avoid u
For example… 4. Always

22. The rule
“Use pictures
not words”
often leads to
irrelevant,
cheesy slides

23. So I suggest adopting
3 PRINCIPLES (not rules):
Focus Contrast Unity

24. Focus Contrast Unity
Our attention is limited, so we
should FOCUS only on few things
and leave out the rest.

25. Focus Contrast Unity
We can truly understand
facts only in CONTRAST
to other facts.

26. Focus Contrast Unity
By working from a
SINGLE UNIFIED METAPHOR
you achieve internal consistency.

27. Theory
pracTice
Now, principles are easy.
Applying them is hard.
Let me give you some examples.

28. Structure
1st
point
2 nd
point
GOAL 3 rd
point
4 th
point
Ideally, a presentation should have
ONE GOAL supported by 3-5 KEY POINTS.

29. Slides
LARGE
BIG STATEMENT PICTURE
• Much
• Smaller
• Supporting KEY INDICATOR
• Points
A slide should have a CLEAR FOCAL
POINT, something it is “about”.

30. Delivery
A presenter
has to GUIDE
the audience’s
attention,
making sure
they can
FOLLOW.

31. Structure
The story must describe both solutions
and PROBLEMS — otherwise it’s POINTLESS.

32. Slides
Best illustrations COMPARE
or show things CHANGING.

33. Delivery
Great presenters
ENGAGE *
the audience.
*
En•gage [enˈgāj]:
1. occupy, attract, or involve
2. enter into conflict or combat

34. Structure
Solution
+
Intro
Call for action
Problem
—
The S-curve is a CLASSIC PATTERN of CHANGE.
What’s the overall pattern of your story?

35. Slides
This font works
with this object
This font works
with this object
What’s your OVERALL DESIGN METAPHOR?
For this presentation it’s a whiteboard.

36. Delivery
Improvise
Rehearse
Both improvisation and rehearsal are
INDISPENSABLE if you want to look authentic.

37. OK, principles are
important, but this
book is NOT about
the principles.
It is mostly about
ILLUSTRATIONS,
EXAMPLES, CASES.

38. I believe that by
studying examples you
learn to APPLY those
principles CREATIVELY —
and this is the secret
of GREAT presentations.
Get your copy of
Presentation Secrets
ALEXEI KAPTEREV
on WILEY.com.
www.kapterev.com