Had a couple of good comments to yesterday’s entry about Slideshare’s World’s Best Presentation Contest 2009.
Raf Stevens challenged me to share more examples of good storytelling, particularly from among Slideshare presentations. I accept the challenge, although I find it difficult to identify good slideshow storytelling because the slides are only half the equation; the presenter’s spoken words provide the other half. As I accept Raf’s challenge and try to find good storytelling on Slideshare, it’s possible I will divide my discoveries into good storytelling slideshows with no narration and good storytelling slideshows with narration.
In the meantime, can you nominate any Slideshare presentations that you would consider to demonstrate good storytelling?
One thing is certain: The best examples will be the antithesis of this amusing specimen shared by reader Chris Collison (his friend Rowan Manahan created it to mock PowerPoint on its 20th anniversary), in which a familiar story degenerates into slideshow bullet points:
Cathryn Wellner asked I’d ever explored the definition of “story” on A Storied Career — because I suggested in yesterday’s entry that presentations may require a narrower definition of “story” than I usually subscribe to. On further reflection, I think presentations with slideshows may require a subset of the presentation definition.
I told Cathryn that I had primarily communicated the opinions of others (notably my Q&A participants) about defining “story.”
As a jumping-off point for discussion, I’ve compiled a little handout (DefiningStory.pdf) that juxtaposes the opinions of story practitioners who don’t feel it’s important to define “story” with those who feel it is important and offer a definition.
With these thoughts in mind, assuming it’s desirable to include stories in presentations:
Do you feel presentations require a different definition of “story” than do other ways of using story?
What criteria for “story” would you set for slideshow presentations?