In the world of presentation design and PowerPoint deliverance, there is no denying that dull, boring, and robotic presentations simply do not work. Extensively long presentations with text-heavy slides (especially ones without logical design flow) only result in audiences’ eyes glazing over, continuous clock checks, and the risk of your message not sticking for the long term.
Nearly everyone has sat through a presentation where they thought to themselves, “when can I leave?” In fact, recent polls found that 79% of people think presentations are boring.
That said, if you are getting ready to become the presenter yourself, you’ve likely stumbled here because you’re avidly seeking the best ways to avoid your audience becoming part of that weighed statistic. Luckily, there is a fundamental presentation design avenue that can help ensure audiences remain immersive, interactive, and engaged…and it all boils down to understanding and applying the art of PowerPoint storytelling.
What Is PowerPoint Storytelling?
PowerPoint storytelling, at the rudimentary level, is strategically creating a presentation design that allows you to deliver storytelling presentations that keep audiences invested from start to finish. Storytelling in and of itself is as old as humanity and has a very intrinsic way of absorbing the attention of others when executed correctly – i.e., converting your presentational message into a compelling narrative that is both persuasive and memorable.
Why go this route? Because according to 2022 presentation statistics, people are 22X more likely to remember a fact/message when it has been wrapped up into a compelling story. Even more, 55% of audiences state that great storytelling is the primary thing that holds their focus during a presentation. In short, if you truly want to deliver a successful presentation with the best odds of instilling long-term impacts, develop a presentation that follows a logical storytelling narrative that fosters and secures audience-wide engagement.
Creating Storytelling Presentations
Knowing the compelling factors ofstorytelling presentations is one thing, but actually implementing them is another. The good news here is that setting your presentation design for storytelling success is not nearly as hard as it may sound:
- Use A Traditional Story Structure – Like all great stories and narratives, your presentation should have a beginning, middle and an end. This is the most simplest structure you can follow for storytelling optimization and one that can have significant impacts. As a bonus tip, always begin your storytelling presentation with the end goal in mind first so you can tailor your story to help guide them deck by deck to the conclusion you are trying to convey.
- Add The Human Element – When designing, don’t forget about setting the stage with good human elements. This includes the 4-step framework of establishing the setting and introducing your characters. These are things that can help your audience relate to your message, lure them into a relatable storyline, and hook them to want to understand/learn more.
- Conflict – Somewhere in the middle of your presentation, you will want to introduce the conflict. For example, if you are presenting in a business setting, the conflict could be the pipeline challenges your characters need to overcome. Again, the conflict should be a burning one that is relatable to your audience and wants them to remain invested to learn how to overcome similar issues themselves.
- The Resolution – Finally, end your presentation with a resolution, preferably a happy and effective one that your audiences can take with them and apply in their own lives. This should also be tied back to your characters or “hero” of your story to close the presentation full circle. Furthermore, here is a great area to leverage things like relevant visuals and info-graphics to enhance the resolution message. Remember, audiences may like hearing the solution, but showing them what success looks like along the way can impact much stronger.
Set Yourself Up For Storytelling Success
Traditional monomyth storytelling flow. A rags to riches story. Stories with false beginnings. Petal storytelling structures for those who will have more than one presenter on the stage. In summary, no matter what type of story design appeals the best to your overall message, they all hold exceptional audience-grabbing potential. However, also keep in mind that the success of storytelling presentations stems much deeper than following a flow and sticking to it; it is also highly contingent upon the presentation design itself.
Overall, set yourself up for storytelling excellence with the engaging guarantees and streamlining realities of leveraging presentation design professionals. Because if there is one thing for sure, nothing is quite as valuable to a presenter as attaining a quality presentation deck without sacrificing what they need the most before stepping on the stage – confidence, energy, and time.