A (minor) rant on why good presentation design works …

• 9 September, 2008
• 3 Comments
• Technology and Creativity
• Posted by Kate Foy

Once again I’m reminded of the impact of good design. This morning I received an e-letter from SlideShare pointing me to the  World’s Best Presentation Contest winners.

Judged by some big-hitters in the web-design stakes (Garr Reynolds, Guy Kawasaki, Nancy Duarte, Bert Decker) here is the overall winner.

Why did it win? Here is the judges’ feedback, but as far as I am concerned, Thirst is a winner as a presentation because

• It’s not a slideument … i.e., a document pretending to be a slide show;
• It’s short;
• It’s visually appealing, with images that support and extend the message;
• It’s memorable. If you’ve flicked through it even once, there is going to be an image that has told you a story that you’ll remember.

As the Heath brothers might say, it’s a sticky presentation that you’ll recall.

Oh how I wish more presenters would take a leaf from this book. I sat through a slideument last week … with quietly gnashing teeth!

Congratulations Jeff Brenman. Jeff is the talented young designer behind that other fantastically popular and sticky slide presentation Shift Happens.

• Tags: Art and Creativity, Collaborative Learning, design, Garr Reynolds, great tools, guykawasaki, imagination, Nancy Duarte, powerpoint, presentation, slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations, SlideShare, slideument, sticky, tips