Using Props and Slides to Enhance Performance

This is the ninth in the Over-the-shoulder (OTS) series. In the last one, we talked about your performance and how you can enhance it. I see Props as part of the performance, and PowerPoint is the most common prop used. However, there is enough to cover on Props and PowerPoint that it deserves its own issue.

I want to start with PowerPoint, which is almost ubiquitous in most talks. However, you can replace PowerPoint with any other software, such as Keynote, Canva, SketchWow, Prezi, or any of hundreds of others. The principles are the same for all of them.

The key to this is in the title: Slides are there to enhance your performance.

It should not replace your performance.

Your slides should not be your notes. The slides are there for your audience, not for you.

My General Stance on Slides

Every year, I took on new TEDx speakers and would first suggest that nobody needed slides. If they felt they did, they must justify every slide. What does it add to the talk? What is its purpose? I would push back on using slides more because they are so often thoughtlessly included.

Slides are invaluable for lectures and workshops, and I frequently use them for these reasons. But a TEDx talk is not a lecture or a workshop. It is a performance. Therefore, the presentation's focus should be YOU, not your slides.

However, even in TEDx, slides have value for the right reasons. Slides can help you with:

• Complex or abstract concepts or ideas that can be more easily explained with diagrams or images.

• Images that can convey emotion effectively

• Video that can show unusual things that are difficult to imagine.

Visually Explaining Concepts

At TEDxRuakura in 2018, Guy Howard-Willis, the inventor of the Manta 5 hydrobike, spoke of his invention journey. This vehicle was new, and most people had never seen a video of it in action. We had the prototype in the lobby so people could see it.

But it was obvious that when the talk referenced the need to pedal with sufficient power to move from submerged to hydrofoiling, we would need to show the video to illustrate this process as it was too difficult for most to imagine it effectively from words alone.

We also had Dr Ryan Ko speak at TEDxRuakura, and he used an animated diagram to help explain the concept of Cyber Security.

Obviously, if you are a photographer speaking about photography, using slides to share your photos makes sense.

Using photos or images to set the scene and show a place or a situation can also be very effective, as Curtis Bristowe did to show the barren landscape of the Chatham Islands. It was important to show this landscape so that the audience understood the impact it would have as a penal colony with families deposited on the islands to fend for themselves.

Words should be used sparingly or not at all. -Again, we are looking at this in the context of a performance rather than a lecture or workshop.

Emotion & Empathy

Emotion contained in an image can be used to enhance the feeling of emotion in the world. A photo of the speaker triumphant can enhance the portrayal of triumph in the story. Equally, a picture of someone in despair can enhance that feeling in the story where needed.

The key to both of these is that the image shows people and, ideally, faces. This is because we are trained to recognise and translate facial expressions from birth. For this reason, I suggest that the ideal emotion-boosting slides have faces showing emotion.

Of course, faces are not the only options. Cartoons, photos of nature, and works of art can all enhance emotion. Equally, Audio or Video can be used, but the danger is taking the spotlight too far from the speaker.

Authority & Credibility

Slides can also be used to shortcut authority and credibility. Usually, this will be a photo of the speaker in a certain situation or with an influential person. For example, an astronaut will have a photo of themselves in the international space station, which immediately adds authority and credibility to everything they say about the space industry.

If you were portraying yourself as a successful businessman, you might show photos of you with Sir Richard Branson or Warren Buffet. If you were talking about international politics, photos of you with various recognisable world leaders would add authority and credibility to the subject.

Consider your topic and what images you might have that may add to your credibility or authority. It may be you in place doing the work or you with recognisable icons in your domain.

Directing Attention

All props can direct the attention of the audience. One of the most obvious uses of props is by magicians, who often use these to direct the audience's attention to create illusions. Wands often focus the audience’s attention away from sleight of hand.

Slides also have a significant ability to control the attention of your audience.

With our TEDx speakers, we usually have several blank, black slides. Typically, this is what is displayed at the beginning of the talk. The purpose of this is to manage the audience’s attention. If the screen is blank, the audience will focus on the speaker.

Then, when you get to your first ‘active’ slide, it grabs your audience's attention. This should be done at a meaningful moment so that the image's attention is both useful in context and powerful in terms of timing and performance.

Equally, it is important that when you deliver a key concept or line of your talk, you click from an active slide to a blank slide. The audience’s eyes will immediately snap to you, and when you deliver your line, it is you that they will associate with that line; it is you they will remember in relation to that line- not some slide.

Live Demos

Talk about a live demo if you want to see an event producer sweat. So many things can go wrong that they often do. But a live demo can certainly be memorable, so the risk can be worth it.

The key is to mitigate as many of the risks as possible. If your demo is a live demo of software or something similar, I recommend you record it working correctly. So, if the WiFi fails on the day, you can at least make the point with the recording. Explain to the audience that this is the recording of an earlier demo. Never lie to your audience.

We had Mahonri Owen demonstrate his mechanical hand, operated by the brainwaves of someone in the audience. This had many possible failures, but the impact of its work would be profound.

I finally prevailed in at least some mitigation, and we pre-selected someone to be the volunteer. We used the sister of one of our volunteers, checking that the headset would fit her properly and her hair would not be a problem. As I recall, she didn’t actually practice opening and closing the hand before the event, but I think the headset was calibrated for her beforehand.

This demo was a highlight of the event and was much discussed at the after-party. I was relieved, but we did have some fallback plans if it did not work. You must always be prepared for the worst with live demos.

Other Props

There are an unlimited number of things that can potentially be props. The most important element is safety. The prop and its use MUST be safe, with no potential to cause harm, or it will immediately be pulled from the event.

Often, props are used because their physical properties can be used to make a point. I once shared the stage with an experienced keynote speaker who used a beach ball on stage. He would show one side asking the colours, then the other side, and finally the end where all four colours could be seen, as a memorable way to make a point about perspective. It was safe, portable, clearly visible, and effective.

The less complex your prop, the better. Simple is king.

Other props, just like slides, must only be used to add something to your talk.

Conclusion

Props and Slides can enhance the message of your talk. However, they can distract from the speaker, so they must be used judiciously and skillfully. They should only be used where they enhance the presentation for your audience.

Last week, I spoke at the Virtual Speakers Success Summit and had a great time connecting with attendees and other speakers. I am speaking at The Reinvent Your Life & Business Summit this coming week.
You can register for free by clicking the image below.

Unpacking Wisdom is a weekly section in which I explore a famous (or not-so-famous) quote and how it applies to the Compelling Communicator.

This quote has a lot to unpack, but I want to focus on just two aspects of communication. The first is Van Gogh’s directive to love many things. Far too often these days, we are told or expected to be specialists. We are expected to ‘stay in our lane’ in our communication. But this is not realistic in human terms.

People are complex, with multiple interests, perspectives and insights. Sticking too tightly to one subject will make you appear two-dimensional, which is shallow, unreal, and ultimately untrustworthy.

Therefore, you must include other aspects of your interests or personality in your communications.

For example, this newsletter on communication focuses on this subject. However, I will often include lessons I have learned from my experience in martial arts, filmmaking or podcasting, which fascinate me and from which I have a library of stories to share.

The second point I want to pull from this quote is related but is the last line. When you are taking the stage to talk to a group of people, it makes a huge difference if you are talking about something you love. If you have a topic that you must speak on that, you don’t really love. Then it is your task first to see how you can connect the subject to something you love.

If you have to talk about combating climate change but it doesn’t energise you, consider the impact on something you love—perhaps your grandchildren and the world they will inherit.

It may not be your passion if you are talking about online advertising. Still, the ability to change the lives of entrepreneurs and their families meaningfully might provide that passion.

What I am up to this week…

Professionally:

My talk at the Virtual Speakers Success Summit on Finding Your Topic was well received and has already resulted in some people reaching out. I am pretty stoked with that. I am speaking again next weekend, and I invite you to register.

Recreationally:

Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to Improv on Sunday, which has opened back up. I am looking forward to getting back into the improv scene.

What I am watching:

In a trip down memory lane, I re-watched the first season of Boston Legal. It is such a good show!