Presentation Zen: Key Insights

    The introduction and preparation sections of the book, “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds, explain methods to present. As a student, both giving and listening to presentations are frequent occurrences. In this week’s blog, I will dissect the standout ideas of the reading.

    The book mentions the importance of storytelling, enabling a tighter connection between the speaker and the audience. Despite the impact, “story and storytelling have been marginalized in business and academia as something serious people do not engage in” (Garr, 16). The idea that presentations have to be boring in order to have serious meaning is foolish and I believe that stories make it easier for people to create connections and relations with the presented ideas.  While reading “Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths” by Karen Armstrong, I noticed how many stories Armstrong noted that have had unmeasurable impacts on the audience. Armstrong refers to a few biblical stories like the story of Eden and the Tower of Babel, where the audience receives an understanding whether it's symbolic or literal of the messages portrayed. In my Business Analytics classes, the goal is to take raw data and turn it into a meaningful story using the data as structure. Throughout all facets of life, we see the impact that storytelling has on the audiences and the world.

    While creativity and enthusiasm are vital components of a successful presentation, it’s beneficial not to allow these elements to overcomplicate the message. It’s crucial to remember the advice of Garr to “exercise restraint and always keep these three words in mind: simplicity, clarity, brevity” (Garr, 43). Presentations usually have a time constraint, and unless it’s recorded, the audience can’t ponder and reflect on each specific idea presented throughout the display. The two biblical mentioned earlier, both have clear messages being portrayed to the audience. The purpose of the story of Eden is to explain the origin of the world and the Babel story’s mission is to explain why people on earth speak different languages. It is easy to take tangents while presenting on topics that have so much meaning and value, but clarity and simplicity will have a greater impact. 

    In my opinion, the most important attribute for a presenter is having the ability to empathize with the audience because it allows the presenter  to “make adjustments based on his or her reading of a particular audience” (Garr, 17). In reality, not all presentations will go as smoothly as planned, so empathy goes hand in hand with adaptability. “Presentation Zen” presented many great ideas and examples of vital pieces of a great presentation and in this blog I dissected a few ideas that stood out to me. 

Photo Source: https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/events/lecture/presentation_zen.html