When Presentation Eclipses Story

Is it possible for design to be too good?  At last weeks Design Research conference, Tania Aldous of Whirlpool gave a stunning presentation called " Winning the Hearts and Minds of Consumers".  I cannot overstate how visually magnificent her presentation was.  I felt like a novice as I sat there drooling over the amazing graphics and motion design.  The presentation was a non-stop visual dream come true.  The entire thing was professionally crafted—impeccable and brilliant.  The display of information was tasteful and well executed.  I'm not exaggerating—it was that good.

Only one problem.  I can't remember what the heck her presentation was about.

I don't mean this in a snarky way at all.  Tania was very articulate and gave good voiceover to her "slides".  I was so darn distracted and engrossed by the effectiveness of her visual presentation that it was hard for me to focus on what she was saying.  I am not alone—the designer next to me was also enthralled and I think somewhat distracted.  We kept chatting back and forth on how the presentation was done. What software did they use?  Was it professionally designed?  It had to be.  There was no other explanation. 

So it got me thinking.  Can a presentation be so well designed that it actually detracts from the story?  I'm really wrestling with this one.  I couldn't find one thing wrong with that presentation.  It was absolutely smart, attractive and effectively communicated information in an elegant fashion.  Maybe that was the problem.  The presentation layer was perfect.  Too perfect.  There were no signs of imperfection.  Nothing that said  "a human being touched this".

I'm going to have to think about this one some more.  It's really messing with my head.

Comments

[Mario Vellandi]

Perhaps it was just you design afficionados, being so easily distracted :) while everyone else from different backgrounds was paying attention.

But seriously, does your point make valid sense? It most certainly can from a Tuftian perspective, where informational graphs are meant to enlighten and not entertain. With great graphics we must complement it with excellent content (audio, video, print). If an element appears overpowering in comparison the remaining comm. channels, there is valid cause for concern, in general.

[Max Kalehoff]

D,
Yes, presentation itself can distract! In fact, multimedia and design aside, good presenters (people) can distract as well! They can distract from the fact they have no clue what they're talking about, leaving an audience feeling good and inspired, but not necessarily left with any specific information or takeaways.
-Max

[DA]

Mario, the whole audience were designers! So maybe an insight here is don't design something too perfectly for an audience of designers—we'll be like deer caught in the headlights. ;-)

Max, I see what your saying about "feel good" presentations. But it depends on what your in the mood or. Sometimes you want practical take aways, and other times you just want to look at things differently.

Most good conferences etc. will get both kinds of speakers—hopefully both types know what they are talking about.

[Trevor van Gorp]

David,
Some thoughts...

I might suggest that it's an issue related to emotions and attention. Could it have had something to do with the level of emotional arousal or activation that was created unconsciously by the high quality visuals and motion?

Attention and emotion are intimately related. Among other things, beauty (and motion especially) draw attention and hold it for reasons related to evolutionary reproduction and survival (find an attractive mate, escape predators).

For example, some have linked the fact that movement in our peripheral field of vision creates more activation or anxiety than movement in our direct line of sight with a greater chance of survival.

If attention is, as Csikszentmihalyi puts it, "psychic energy", that is a limited resource, (like "energy" in the traditional sense) could the visuals simply have been so distracting on an unconscious (i.e., "visceral level" to go with the Don Norman's model) that you had a hard time investing attention in focusing on the content?

It's would be similar to trying to absorb textual content presented in a music video (fast cuts, lots of motion, etc.).

At Norman's "behavioral level", you mention that your attention was taken up in figuring out how the presentation was created and discussing it with another person. Another investment of attention.

Maybe the presentation itself also needed to be more intentionally designed to focus viewer attention on the content by using motion, beauty, etc. in a way that specifically emphasized the material?

Thoughts? :-)
Trevor

[Stefan]

David, any chance to convince Tania to put her presentation up on Slideshare?
Aside from natural curiosity to see what got you mesmerized and into the whole deer/headlight thing, it would be great to actually discuss the issue you raised indepth...

Stefan

[Steve Cunningham]

David - it seems to me (from your description) that the visuals weren't well designed at all - they merely looked nice.

If you (and the rest of the room) can't remember the point, then the visuals didn't do what they were supposed to do - which is to add meaning and context to the talk.

[Erik Peterson]

Yes. A presentation can eclipse the story you're trying to tell.

Chip Heath did some work with graduate students where he would have them take sides of an argument. After several people each took turns arguing one side or another, Chip distracted them with another task for a few minutes. Then, he would ask them how much they remembered from each students argument. He found that being highly polished in your presentation did almost nothing for the audience's ability to remember your argument. The only thing that determined how much someone remembered your presentation was if it contained story. Arguments made with just the facts were remembered less than 5% of the time. Arguments made from story were remembered well over 50% of the time.*

Polish. Great presentation skills. Etc. Doesn't make your presentation memorable. Story makes it memorable.

*Going from memory here. The numbers might be off slightly, but it's right in the ballpark.

[Steve Cunningham]

I agree full-heartedly with Erik. Great storytellers will always leave you with something to take away. These same people are usually masters at using their visuals to enhance their story.

There are TONS of great examples on TED.com, and any presenter should spend some time on the site seeing how the best of the best do it.

I'm guessing the problem with the talk was not that the design of the presentation was too perfect, but that the person giving the talk didn't have the ability to weave it into a memorable story.

[DA]

Everyone, these are some great thoughts.

Trevor,
I think you are on to something. Much of this happens on the sub concious level and while my eyes liked what they were seeing, I think my mind had trouble processing.

Stefan,
I don't know Tania personally and my guess is that the presentation would not work on slideshare, I'm pretty sure it was done in Flash or something similar.

Steve,
this is the kicker and why I'm struggling with this topic. The visuals were well designed. Clean and easy to understand. I think it may have been the motion and transitions that make this kind of experince hard to nail down.

Erik,
I think you are getting really close to the heart of the matter. The presentation was highly polished. So much so that I think it actually detracted from the substance. Maybe it's the equivilent of looking at a very attractive person and being distracted by their looks vs. what they are saying...

[Ike]

David - I think you have finally found the Artist's formulation of Godel's Incompleteness Theorem:

"There exists no perfect and complete system of presentation that will reach every audience for every subject."

There must always be viewers and listeners who are so familiar with the tools and the gruntwork of the medium, they will be paying attention to the wrong things.

[Dan Schawbel]

Very interesting. I think it can, especially when you invest so much of your time to the presentation, the story loses meaning. The purpose of everything is the story that you tell and not the presentation.

[Uncle Paul]

Love to see the presentation, but I don't see any link to it.

It reminds me of what they say at Pixar. it doesn't matter how good the movie looks, the story still takes precedence.

[Mitch]

This reminds me of one the first presentation I ever made to senior administration.. We gave a great talk and I used a presentation tool that was really just starting to be used. I think I had a beta of it and well.. I thought we had done great..

Five minutes after my talk.. one of our most senior leaders came up to me.. we had just proposed some major changes to how we work.. I was excited.. he leaned over and said.. Mitch.. I have a question.. very important, could I have a minute of your time.. I was pondering. did our talk really get him to change his position.. was he really going to take our advice.. we stepped to the side while others talked in groups.. he looked me in the eye with the seriousness of a doctor in the operating room.. "Mitch.. how did you do that presentation.. can you teach me to do that?"

UGGGGHHHHH

[Jon King]

I realize this is discussion about graphic (more or less) but I believe the same can be true for a "product". We can be so over overwhelmed by the exception of the artifact, the success of one or two functions, or perhaps so enamored with the designer that we are will to forgo the fact that it just doesn't work, or it isn't a good value for it's intended audience.

Which brings up another point... sometimes it's good for the soul.

[David Armano]

Jon,

Actually this discussion is more about graphics and products—it's about experiences.

Mitch,
Thanks for sharing that story. I believe we all have one like this!

[Doug Meacham]

Chris Brogan wrote a post last week that discussed presentations. One of his points:

"Think Television, Then Break It

We are a world of TV viewers. We are used to screens. Think HARD about this when planning your presentation. First, think about slides. Slides are PART of your TV screen. Know who the other part is? YOU. Now, if you and your slides are the presentation, which is more interesting? A big glowing screen? Or you hiding behind the podium."

It's really easy to get caught up in the visuals; letting them BE the presentation instead of reinforcing your message.

[Doug Meacham]

BTW, the link to Chris Brogan's post is: http://chrisbrogan.com/presentation-secrets-for-social-communicators/

[bg]

I definitely think it affects it as much as a bad presentation can. If it’s doing it job, the presentation as a whole should just be there moving the content along and telling the story. Just like you shouldn’t be able to tell when an actor is acting.

Russell Davies also puts up examples of his presentations on his blog. Mostly, they’re one simple thought per slide in a handwritten font. Cuts through the clutter found in the typical 140-page ppt monster.

[jon burg]

So this was hot, anyone out there know Tania? There's got to be a way we can get this presentation (or at least part of it) up on Slideshare for the general viewing audience.

[Erica]

Erik - I think you're right on target. Without a story, there is no reason for the audience to listen and retain any of the information from the presentation.

We're more likely to remember something when it's directly tied to a story that hits at something personal - or relates to something we all do.

One of my communications classes in college briefly went over this same argument, and in the end the class decided it was better to have a story the audience could remember, paired with less-than-stellar visuals, instead of a perfect presentation that leaves the audience in a daze.

[Chris Finlay]

Great content is cool. Great content effectively presented is king.

Still, if a presentation has great content can it be too pretty? Too smooth? It seems as though a presentation shouldn't answer all its own questions. Leave something for the audience to chew on. A little something to ponder. Too tight and its too easy like TV.

[G.B. Veerman]

This is really a question of style versus substance and places where the twain meet.

For stories rich with eye candy but totally devoid of substance, witness: "Star Wars, Episode I;" "The Cell;" Song Airlines.

For stories loaded with substance (and by extension with significance) but low on the visual flash, witness: W+K's "High Life" Man spots; the Ketel One print campaign, W=K London's "Dream the Impossible Dream" spot for Honda.

Style can never carry a story; substance always can. Which doesn't exclude style, by the way (witness: Achtung Baby, Apple's 1984, Blade Runner, both by Ridley Scott).

[Ike]

So much style without substance,
so much stuff without style.
It's hard to recognize the real thing,
it comes along once in a while...

[mave]

IMNSHO, the best design is that which is nearly invisible - in other words, that which serves its purpose so well that the user doesn't even notice it's been designed. it may look fresh, clean and even beautiful, but the main focus is on the function, not the form. design that is so focused on looking hot is generally crap in terms of doing what it was intended to do, as is well demonstrated by the presentation under discussion.

[bg]

Ike, there will be no quoting of Rush here. Thank you. That is all.

[Ike]

Bill, are you accusing me of harboring grand designs?

[bg]

Look, I’m just trying to shine some available light on the issue.

[DA]

@Ike and BG,

I can't believe what you've turned this fine thread into. ;-)

[Ike]

My sincerest apologies, for infecting this post with my malignant narcissism. It's a far cry from the thread you'd thought you'd inherit.

[DA]

DA,

Ike, you know I was kidding right. I enjoyed the malignant narcissism. I mean, there's not enough opportunities around to even use that phrase! :-)

[Adiel]

Is there any way to view this beautiful presentation? I looked on the conference website, and hers doesn't seem to be on there.
Thank you!

[Todd Zazelenchuk]

I used to work at Whirlpool with Tania and the rest of the Global Consumer Design Group. While I did not attend this recent presentation, I have certainly experienced presentations where the 'creative effort' effectively eclipsed the meaning that should have really been the focus...not just at Whirlpool, but at many conferences and within other orgs as well. I'll send her a note with a link to this thread to see if she is willing to share. I'm sure she would be interested in the dialog and the feedback.