See a photo of Jon, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3.

Q&A with Jon Thomas, Questions 6, 7, 8, and 9:

Q: Are there situations in which a presenter might be better off not using slides at all but should just tell stories?

A: I don’t know if I can name any specific instances when slides aren’t appropriate and just storytelling is, but I do want people to understand that I don’t believe PowerPoint slides are always necessary. Just because I’m a presentation designer doesn’t mean I’m ignorant to the fact that there are situations where slides may not be necessary and could ultimately be a hindrance to the learning process, especially if they’re poorly designed. I simply believe that in situations where slides could be beneficial, those slides must be designed effectively in order to properly engage the audience and aid in their retention of information.

Q: A story practitioner colleague follows this formula for presentations: “3 stories, 3 points, sit down.” To what extent do you feel formulas like that are useful for presentations?

A: I don’t subscribe to any type of formula. I don’t know how anyone possibly could. What if you have four great stories? What if you have three but one is “meh?” I suggest going with whatever style/formula works for you. The only rules I follow revolve around respecting the audience and their time.

Q: You probably have stories you use repeatedly in presentations. Because you’re likely to give presentations of varying lengths, do you have a short version and a long version of the stories you use?

A: I don’t have anything prepared, but you always have to respect the audience’s time and deliver the content you’ve promised. So sometimes stories will be shortened, or removed completely. Just make sure you practice the delivery before you try to edit a story or any presentation content for that matter.

Q: Should slides for a presentation be able to stand on their own without narration? There are thousands of slideshows on sites like SlideShare, and many have an audio track, but I wonder about the usefulness of the slideshows that lack narration.

A: SlideShare is a unique animal. It’s the first technology created for mass access and consumption of slide decks without a presenter. I believe there is a distinct way to design a presentation to be consumed on SlideShare or any other non-live environment (more akin to an eBook), and there’s a distinct way to design a presentation intended to be presented live, with a presenter.

The PowerPoint deck I submitted to SlideShare’s World’s Best Presentation Contest (which came in third overall) [embedded below] was actually created as a live presentation for a client. In order to make it work on SlideShare, I had to give it a fairly massive overhaul, adding text in many places where it didn’t originally exist in order for it to convey the proper information without a presenter or any type of narration.

I think SlideShare is a great tool, but I don’t want people to think that any old PowerPoint presentation can be put on SlideShare and consumed by an audience. There has to be a distinct design process depending on where/how the presentation is consumed.