BUSINESS STORYTELLING

keep your audience asking for more

MARC JADOUL
me 2
volu
blog posts compilation
B2B Storytelling – keep your audience asking for more
© Marc Jadoul, 2012-2024

This content is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial

4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. You are allowed to share –copy, distribute and
transmit– this document for non-commercial purposes, provided that you make clear to
others the license terms and reference the title and the author.

2
All posts

All posts................................................................................................. 3
Preface.................................................................................................. 8
What if?................................................................................................. 9
A night at the opera...............................................................................17
About a company I will not mention by name............................................21
The knight on the plane.......................................................................... 22
Do you speak Jargonese?....................................................................... 23
The young ones..................................................................................... 26
About folklorists, evangelists and futurists................................................27
Who put the ram in the ramalamadingdong?.............................................31
The (in)evitable agenda slide..................................................................32
El meu circ a Barcelona..........................................................................33
The comic toolbox.................................................................................34
Don’t leave home without a clicker...........................................................39
Discovering the art of abstraction............................................................40
Mastering the mean telephone machine....................................................43
Penguins can be cute.............................................................................46
Moore’s law… and beyond.......................................................................47
What presenter species are you?.............................................................52
Sometimes graphs are not more than pretty lines......................................55

3
Me and my brand..................................................................................58
The back of a roll of wallpaper.................................................................59
Titles................................................................................................... 61
Five elements of a story (and how to use them in a business presentation). . .62
The triggerfish......................................................................................65
Some B2B marketers are liars (or not).....................................................67
Creating personas for audience-centric story design...................................69
Cut the crap (enterprise edition)..............................................................71
X-ing wombats...................................................................................... 74
The making of Guernica..........................................................................76
In sweet memory of Aldus Manutius.........................................................78
Quotes that aren’t quotes.......................................................................81
Ten hundred words................................................................................85
Occam’s razor shaves better...................................................................88
The serious science of presenting science seriously....................................90
The right of being wrong........................................................................91
The golden circle...................................................................................95
The legacy of Steve Jobs........................................................................97
Beware the Oxford comma....................................................................100
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba...............................................................102
Elon Musk and the stored sunlight experience..........................................105
Size matters!...................................................................................... 107

4
Start with a book.................................................................................108
B.Y.O.C.............................................................................................. 113
Thought leader or entertainer?..............................................................115
Beauty and the beast........................................................................... 117
Penne all’amatriciana...........................................................................120
Right pitch, wrong shirt........................................................................122
Bambi does the toothbrush test.............................................................124
Wow! here came the iPhone..................................................................126
No words needed................................................................................. 129
Marketing lessons from Sun Tzu............................................................130
Dress to impress..................................................................................134
Trump and the rule of one....................................................................136
Proudly promoting my president’s presentation pizzazz.............................138
Every Rolex tells a story.......................................................................141
The emotion of nature and the nature of emotion.....................................145
Unity!.................................................................................................148
Five do’s and don’ts for speakers at B2B events.......................................150
A panel’s worth a hundred speeches.......................................................154
Look above your head.......................................................................... 157
Smile and the world will smile with you...................................................159
If an infographic is worth a thousand words…..........................................161
Hear, hear! long and descriptive assertions may be more effective than short
and crispy slide titles............................................................................168

5
No more naked numbers.......................................................................170
As all of you will know, there are 10 phrases you shouldn’t use..................172
The mysterious Mr Fubini......................................................................176
An empirical evidence of Fubini’s law......................................................178
Marketing, promises, and real products...................................................180
Shhh, this is confidential information — or not.........................................181
About white shirt, black shirt, and tee-shirt gigs......................................182
All stories deserve embellishment..........................................................185
Not every picture tells the story.............................................................188
The 4th P............................................................................................ 190
The ethos, pathos and logos in Oprah’s #metoo speech............................193
My design agency is called none............................................................198
A (wo)man needs a plan.......................................................................200
Entertain. Educate. Engage...................................................................203
Six minutes and twenty seconds............................................................207
From accumulation to understatement....................................................209
The bird watcher..................................................................................212
Icarus................................................................................................213
Whistles and bells and spoke cards.........................................................215
The swan lake (re)visited...................................................................... 217
Everyone’s a winner, baby....................................................................219
Spoiler alert!....................................................................................... 224

6
This boy got a new toy.........................................................................224
It takes more than a template...............................................................226
Snap. Timing is everything....................................................................227
tl;dl...................................................................................................228
Three inspirational quotes from along the roads.......................................231
Stop Capitalizing Every Single Word In Your Titles....................................235

7
Preface
As a marketer or salesperson, the Business-to-Business (B2B) presen-
tations you deliver to your internal and external customers can make a
real difference in positioning the products or solutions you are managing,
promoting or selling.
In today’s high-tech, information-overloaded and always-connected
business environment, where effective communication is more important
than ever, good presenters invest in establishing a dialog with their
audience through storytelling.
A good story enables individuals to make a leap in understanding complex
products, services, and solutions. There is more than just PowerPoint, or
Keynote, or Prezi for delivering a presentation that sticks.
The more personalized and relevant information is to the person
presented with it, the more engagement is possible. Your audience may
forget the facts and figures on your slides, but they will never forget how
you made them feel…
In my B2B Storytelling blog on [Link], I am exploring the rich
universe of corporate storytelling, while diving into best practices for
creating, preparing and delivering your business presentations.
This ebook contains all the articles I posted to my blog on
[Link] from January 2015 to December 2018. I
have tried to include the relevant hyperlinks into this PDF version.
Apologies if some of the older links don’t take you anywhere anymore.
Enjoy reading!

Marc Jadoul, December 2018

8
What if?
Posted on January 8, 2015

How does one present a high-technical product portfolio to a non-technical

audience?
The company I work for, Alcatel-Lucent, recently organized an open day
and I was asked to present my employer, our activities and our products.
These were a few of the challenges I was confronted with:

 We are an IP networking, cloud and ultra-broadband access

specialist. Most of the solutions we develop and sell are complex and
high-tech in nature;
 We deliver communications technology to service providers,
industries and public institutions. As such, our products (and
consequently our brand) are not really visible to end-users and
consumers;
 The presentation was to be given to a broad, local audience of all
ages. Most of these people are not familiar with any network gear,
related jargon and acronyms;
 With a guided tour of the venue scheduled each 10 minutes, the time
budget to present our rather extensive portfolio was very limited;
 I had given a similar talk during a past edition of the same event. As
part of the audience might have attended that one, I had to craft a
brand new pitch.

9
As reported in an old blog post of mine, “Highway 61 revisited”, this
previous presentation was built upon the theme of a jamless (information)
highway. At that time, I got lots of positive feedback from the
management as well as from the audience: “an original and compelling
corporate narrative”, “my parents understood your presentation” and “my
kids thought you told a cool story.”
So, how could I be successful (again) with without retelling the same story
or reusing the same highway metaphor?

“What if?” is a bestselling science book by former NASA employee Randall

Munroe (who is also the creator of the popular xkcd web-comic) in which
serious answers are given to absurd hypothetical questions such as:
“What if you tried to hit a baseball that was moving at 90% of the speed
of light?, “What if I took a swim in a nuclear fuel pool?” or “What if a
Richter magnitude earthquake were to hit New York City?”
There’s also a popular Emmy-awarded comedy show broadcasted on
Belgian television, in which every sketch begins with a “what if?” question.
What if Jesus was a politician? What if taxi drivers didn’t like driving?
What if life was an R&B clip? …
This is why I proposed to build a company pitch around the theme of
“What if there was no communication technology?” and illustrate the
possible consequences of this unlikely assumption with a series of
cartoons (created by the cartoonist about whom I already wrote in my
“Mr. Watson, come here!” post).
Here are the visuals we presented (with a transcript of what was said ―
sorry for the promotional tone, but it was a company presentation after
all…)

10
What if you wouldn’t have fast internet access at work or in your
home? No digital TV to watch your favorite movies? No wireless
network to make calls and surf on your smartphone? No access
anymore to email, FaceBook, YouTube, NetFlix, Dropbox, Skype or
WhatsApp?
As a worldwide leader in communication technology, Alcatel-Lucent
provides products and innovations in IP and cloud networking, as
well as ultra-broadband fixed and wireless access to service
providers and their customers, that allow and enable all these
applications ― and many more ― to function properly. Our people
contribute to the telecom solutions for today and tomorrow.
Did you know that our company has been recognized by Thomson
Reuters as a “Top 100 Global Innovator” and MIT Technology
Review put us in the “Top 50 Most Innovative Companies in the
World”?

11
12
We can’t imagine a world without broadband internet any more. To
search for information, to communicate, to shop … or just to watch
a movie on digital TV, Netflix or YouTube.
Alcatel-Lucent enables service providers to offer fast internet and to
bring digital video at the highest quality in your living rooms. You
can browse the web or watch movies on every screen: TV, tablet or
smartphone.
Did you know that ADSL (or fast Internet over telephone wire) was
invented by Alcatel-Lucent in Belgium? And that we, as a technology
company, received an Emmy Award for our contribution to the
development of digital TV?

Internet is everywhere. So we think it’s only normal that we can call

anywhere mobile and can surf at high speed in the park, in the
station, in the car …

13
Alcatel- Lucent’s 4G wireless networks and Small Cells offer ultra-
broadband access to the mobile internet whenever and wherever
you want. To find your way around town, to watch YouTube on the
bus, or simply to communicate with your family and friends.

Most of you probably own a Facebook or a Twitter account. Or you

maybe you ar an occasional or frequent Skype, YouTube or
WhatsApp user. Did you ever wonder how it’s possible that all these
apps (most of the time) run smoothly on your PC, smartphone or
tablet?
Obviously there is an important role for the Apples, Samsungs,
Microsofts and Googles of this world to play, as well as for their
respective application developers. But it’s too often forgotten that
the network also plays an important role.

14
Without Alcatel-Lucent ‘s communication technology, your
smartphone suddenly wouldn’t be that smart anymore and all these
popular apps would sit idle on your devices, not able to talk with
their servers or with each other.

Increasingly often you hear colleagues and friends say that they are
“in the cloud”. Do they mean that they are living with their heads in
the clouds? Certainly not! Cloud simply means that your emails,
music, movies, business documents or applications are stored on a
server that’s attached to the network. As such, they are always
accessible. You can throw away your hard disk drives and servers,
because a fast Internet connection is all you need!
At Alcatel-Lucent, we know that cloud computing is an opportunity
for service providers and enterprises, and that a secure and high-
speed access is important for end-users. That’s why we are
investing in research and development of new technologies and

15
products ― such as Software Defined Networks, Network Function
Virtualization and CloudBand ― for faster, more robust and more
flexible cloud solutions.

So, the Internet has become an integral part of our daily lives. What
would you do without? At school, at work and in your spare time.
Imagine a day without the world wide web, no email, no Facebook,
no YouTube, NetFlix, Skype, Snapchat or WhatsApp …
Did you know that 90% of the information that we use today was
collected in the past 2 years? And that the traffic in that period
increased by one-third? With a PC in our living room, a tablet on
your lap and/or a cell phone in your pocket, we are all travelers on
the information highway.
To make your trip as comfortable as possible, Alcatel-Lucent keeps
investing in the evolution of broadband and IP networks. In

16
 transporting data over fiber, in routing and switching, in wireline
and wireless internet, and in cloud platforms to offer voice, video
and multimedia communications services. At high speed and with
the best quality of service.
All our employees are giving the best of ourselves to invent new
products, and to develop and commercialize communications
solutions to make your internet faster, safer and more comfortable.
Day after day.

Days after I created the presentation, I found out that Nissan is also
running a “What if” advertising campaign.

Note: the cartoons above were created for and paid by my employer. If
you want to reuse some of them for non-commercial purposes, you must
acknowledge Alcatel-Lucent as the source and copyright owner of the
image(s) ― which I am also doing by writing this sentence.

A night at the opera

Posted on January 15, 2015

An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long
after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes
my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the opera
house. ― Maria Callas

17
In my past posts I have written many times about ethos, pathos and
logos. The three persuasive appeals, as described by ancient Greek
philosopher Aristotle.
Let me briefly recap what these three are all about:
 Ethos means ethical appeal. We tend to believe people whom we
respect. We trust in products with a good reputation. We go to places
that were recommended on Tripadvisor…
 Pathos translates to emotion. We all like stories about the good vs.
the bad. We prefer presenters that speak passionate about their
topic. We (too) often make decisions motivated by love, admiration,
fear or disgust.
 Logos stands for reasoning and argumentation. We believe in what
we can see and what we can touch. We want statements supported
by facts and figures. If not, we keep asking for the Why, the What
and the How.
If you think about it, ethos, pathos and logos are present in almost every
area of our daily lives. And more than we realize, they determine how we
experience situations, interact with people and make decisions.
I witnessed this recently myself on a trip to Budapest, where my wife and
I spent a night at the opera, watching and listening to Puccini’s Tosca. I
am not that frequent opera visitor nor a lifelong opera lover, but this
performance really hit my sweet spot, thanks to ― what I interpreted
afterwards as a ― perfect mix of ethos, pathos and logos.
 Ethos: a more than a century old institution that opened in 1884, the
Hungarian State Opera House has a very good reputation.

18
The operaház’ acoustics are considered to be among the best in the
world. From the moment we entered the venue, we were impressed
by its gold-decorated interior and its red velvet seats.

 Pathos: written by the late 19th century romantic Italian composer

Giacomo Puccini, the opera Tosca is filled with emotion. With love,
lust and jealousy. A webpage of the Metropolitan Opera describes
Tosca’s antagonist Scarpia as “the 19th century’s Darth Vader.”
Almost two months after our night at the opera, Scarpia’s
words“Beware: this is a place of tears!” (in Italian, “Questo è luogo di
lagrime! Badate!”) still echo in my mind.

19
  Logos: apart from the wonderful setting and the touching story, my
wife and I enjoyed an outstanding interpretation of Tosca. The
orchestra and the lead singers delivered a rousing performance. This
music would have sounded great on my iPod too!

Lesson learned: as for so many other things in life, the whole of Aristotle’s
rhetoric is greater than the sum of its three parts. It’s neither about ethos
OR pathos OR logos, but all about ethos AND pathos AND logos.

About a company I will not mention by name

Posted on January 22, 2015

20
I was attending an event a few days ago, where one of the presenters
cited some facts and figures about one of his customers. But incidentally,
one of the next speakers on the agenda was actually a representative of
that same customer. And you know what? This guy denied the facts and
corrected the figures given by his supplier. As a business speaker this is
certainly a situation you want to avoid at all price.
Here are a few simple rules for referring to other persons, companies or
case studies:
 Don’ t cite facts or figures on behalf of any 3 rd party, as they may be
outdated, misinterpreted by you, or just boldly wrong.
 Never mention customers or business relations by their name (or by
their logo), unless you’ve got their prior (implicit or explicit) approval.
 If you have (good or bad) case studies you want to piggyback on in
your presentation, it may be an option to anonymize them, and speak
about “a company I will not mention by name”. As such you will avoid
embarrassing situations like the one above.
 Or even better: invite one of your customer’s (most friendly)
employees as a guest speaker. And if this is not possible, ask them to
provide you with a quote or a testimonial video.
 There’s a golden rule in life that says “do not do to others what you
do not want done to yourself.” So never resort to talking bad about
your customers, partners or competitors, even if they deserve it.

21
The knight on the plane
Posted on January 29, 2015

Last week I was flying with Air Malta, the airline operator of the
Mediterranean islands with the same name.
Malta has a rich and colorful history. From 1530 to 1798, for almost three
centuries, the islands were ruled by the Knights Hospitaller of St. John,
a.k.a the Knights of Malta, who transformed it into a center of art and
culture.
In today’s post, I want to share Air Malta’s inflight safety movie with you.
The message it gives, and even the spoken narrative, is the same one
that I have heard hundreds of times before. On other flights. To other
destinations. With other airlines. But the way the safety instructions were
presented caught my attention.

Such a great example of brand storytelling, capitalizing on the beautiful

Maltese Islands’ rich history and their famous Knights!

22
Do you speak Jargonese?
Posted on February 5, 2015

In a world crowded with complexity, simplicity stands out.

It brings clarity instead of confusion, decision instead of doubt.
And the rewards are real. Simplicity inspires deeper trust and
greater loyalty in customers, and clears the way to innovation for
employees. ― Global Brand Simplicity Index 2013, siegel+gale

Lately, I was listening to a conference talk about “an UART

implementation on FPGA using VHDL.” And the presentation certainly rang
a bell with me. Not the “Ah, that’s interesting!” bell, but rather the “Help,
what am I doing in here!” one.
Although I have worked in tech industry for more than half of my lifetime
and I have listened to hundreds of this type of presentations,
enthusiastically embraced by engineers, I still suffer from acronyphobia or
fear of acronyms.
OK, the presentation became a lot ‘clearer’ to me when the speaker
expanded the accursed four-letter abbreviations into “Universal
Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter”, “Field-Programmable Gate Array”,
and “VHSIC Hardware Description Language.” (yes, sometimes an
acronym may hide another one.)
But then, I was gripped by a sense of hippopotomonstrosesqui-
pedaliophobia. Why didn’t the speaker explain in simple human language
that he had used a programmable chip to build a new piece of computer
hardware? OK, I admit that I am more of a software guy, which may be a
an explanation for why I was not appreciating the hardware design jargon.

23
Though I’m pretty sure that I was not the only VHDL layman listening to
this presentation in Jargonese.
Here are a few public speaking tips for this (without any doubt) highly
qualified hardware engineer ― and for the rest of us techies too:
 Don’t overestimate your audience. Even if there are few experts in
the room that fully understand the technical details on your slides,
the majority of your listeners may not (very often it’s not the
engineer, but rather his or her manager that attends a conference…)
 Apply the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. No acronyms (hehe,
do you see the joke?) No difficult words. No long sentences. And
refrain from technology/financial/business jargon.
 Avoid complex drawings with detailed architectures. As a speaker you
will need too much time to explain them, your audience will spend
too much energy to understand them, and most often the text on the
slides will be too small to read anyway.
 Prove to your listeners that you have the “right to speak”, that you’re
a person of interest and an authority on the topic you are presenting.
Win their attention ― as well as their respect ― by telling interesting
things instead of difficult ones.
 Don’t just copy & paste text from a written document to a PowerPoint
slide. Sentences will be too wordy and too structured. Never use your
slides as your teleprompter.
So, next time you’re start preparing a technical presentation, keep Arthur
Schopenhauer‘s advice in mind:

“One should use common words to say uncommon things.”

24
Image courtesy of Manu Cartoons

25
The young ones
Posted on February 5, 2015

Yesterday, I attended one of the preliminary heats of the Telenet – BBC

Public Speaking Awards, a competition in which 16 to 20-year old non-
native English-speaking students speech about technology, society,
philosophy and culture. About challenging topics such as “Education kills
creativity”, “Culture is not a luxury, but a necessity” and “Ignorance is
bliss.”
Belgium is a small country, and English is taught as a second or third
language at school. But still, the richness of idiom and vocabulary of these
adolescents on stage was beyond impressive. I heard some excellent and
some not quite so good speeches. But overall I was surprised and
delighted to see how most of these young people (among which one of
our sons) presented more-than-worth-to-listen-to content and showed a
remarkable mix of character, creativity and confidence.
Still, let me share some points for approval I jotted down:
 Practice makes perfect. And without doubt all the competitors
practiced a lot. But if a speaker over-rehearses his or her discourse,
it may start to sound inauthentic or even theatrical.
 Speaking in public without slides or without cheat sheet is certainly
not easy. When you pencil the key points of your talk in the palm of
your hand, however (which is not necessarily a no do,) don’t spend
the whole presentation with your hand palm-up.
 Less than 10% of a message is conveyed by actual words or
content. The rest is delivered through non-verbal means. Most
presenters controlled their body language well and kept good eye
contact with the audience, but some of them neglected the

26
 expressive power of their voice pitch, intonation and volume of
speech.
 The end of some monologues could have been more inspiring. A
sincere “Thank you for listening” or a dry “This concludes my
speech” is hardly ever enough to engage your audience or call them
to action (or help you to the second round of the competition.)
 A poor response during the Q&A at the end may ruin the whole of
your performance. Make sure you know your topic extremely well,
and be ready for some provocative or even weird questions from the
jury.
But most importantly, I heard a lot of good stories. Filled with ethos,
pathos and logos. And seasoned with personal examples, anecdotes and
metaphors. Each of those 18-year olds managed to deliver a great
performance on stage. My Saturday morning in the audience was well-
spent. So, let me close by paraphrasing the title of one of the speeches:
“Storytelling can teach as well as entertain.” Yes, it can.
And our son Robin, he made it to the quarter finals! Congrats from his old
dad for an outstanding performance.

About folklorists, evangelists and futurists

Posted on February 12, 2015

The past is an experience, the present is an experiment, the future

is expectations. Use your experience in your experiment to achieve
your expectations! – Anonymous quote

27
A few weeks ago I read a HBR column titled “Why marketing needs to hire
a corporate folklorist”. The key point of the article was that every market-
centered company should hire a chief storyteller to manage the collective
memory of its brand.
More often than occasionally, the future of an organization is anchored in
its past. Some big companies even actively treasure, celebrate and
monetize their historic brand icons:
 At the 2015 CES show in Las Vegas, Kodak introduced a
photography-focused smartphone dubbed the “Instamatic 5“. A
clear hint to the company’s family of success products in the 1960s.
 IBM’s futuristic Artificial Intelligence system, “Watson,” has been
named after Big Blue’s first CEO Thomas J. Watson, who lead the
company during the first half of the previous century.
 The current Volkswagen Beetle’s exterior design is heavily inspired
by the original 1938 model. The People’s Vehicle that dethroned the
Ford T in 1972 as the world’s bestselling car ever.
 The Coca Cola bottle, one of the most recognized icons in the world,
still inherits the contour design of 1915, “which a person could
recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if
broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was.”
Does this mean that all your brand marketing stories have to be echoes of
the past? Certainly not. But there’s also nothing wrong with cherishing our
collective memory ― while living (and doing business) in the present and
preparing for the future.
Here are a few good reasons for doing so:
 Trust: although past performance has never been (and will never
be) a guarantee of future results, a company with a long-standing

28
 history of success may be conveying a more trustful image than a
little known newcomer.
 Identity: you cannot wipe out a company’s past. Whether positive or
negative, it reflects on its current image, identity and reputation.
 Story: citing the HBR article, every touch point in the marketing mix
– including advertising, executive communication, demand
generation, sales enablement, and customer support – benefits from
an injection of folklore because stories are a potent vehicle for
persuasion.
When I worked as a freelancer for Apple Computer in the late eighties,
that company already recognized the role of “evangelists”. Guy Kawasaki,
about whom I wrote in my “Four storytellers about storytelling” post was
one of them. Kawasaki’s describes evangelistic marketing as “when you
convince people to believe in your dream as much as you do.”
About a decade later, I also had a “Marc the Evangelist” photo with a
Venetian lion sticking on the door of my office in Alcatel.
The function of evangelist still exists today. Although it may pop up under
different names such as “advocate”, “rainmaker”, “corporate storyteller”
or even, ugh, “solution consultant”. In a November 2013 blog post, I
talked about a study by the French ManpowerGroup that identified the
Storyteller as one of three emerging job profile for the future.
Here’s why you should appoint or hire one or more company
evangelist(s):
 Brand marketing: to get your customers emotionally engaged with
your company and/or your brand. To communicate with them about
your core values and differentiators, and position your offer beyond
functionality and price.

29
  Thought leadership: to listen to your customers, change the
conversation and establish a new dialog with them. Evangelists may
also help you to identify opportunities and open up doors for new
business.
 Portfolio clarification: to let your audience better understand your
products, services and solutions. A well told story will simplify
information, make your message more memorable, and (maybe)
persuade people when facts can’t.

Things are changing fast in this world, and companies need to watch
ahead to learn about what’s coming. This is why also futurists appear (an
internal or external resources) in marketing organizations:
 Identify long term business opportunities: keeping up with market
and technology trends is crucial for the continuity of any business.
One of the key tasks of a corporate futurist is to research new
trends, offer insights and suggest new business opportunities.
 Inspire company strategy and drive product roadmap: insight in
what’s coming may give a competitive edge to a company, allowing
to target future markets, with better product functionality and
timely roadmaps.
 Trend watching and trend setting: a good marketer (and even a
sales person) should talk about the future and give customers a
perspective of the “things to come.” Personally, I believe that
providing a 2-5 year vision statement is one of the best methods for
selling the products and services that you have available today.

30
As a conclusion and a call to action: in many companies there’s a role to
play for folklorists, evangelists and futurists, or – why not – for this one
rare bird that can connect the past, the present and the future and deliver
the best of all times as a single story.

Who put the ram in the ramalamadingdong?

Posted on February 19, 2015

This is a plea for user-centric design. A call for easy-to-use technology.

For simple applications with clean GUIs. For PowerPoint slides that care
more about their viewers’ experience than about their presenter’s ego.
Last night I was called in by a neighbor to help her fix a problem with the
doorbell. Actually, the wiring problem was quickly fixed. But when she
asked me if I could also change the annoying bell sound ―a long and
loud bong-bong-dong-ding-ding-bong-bong-dong-ding-ding chime, as
warped hourly by the Big Ben in London― I came to a stunning
observation.
The questioned doorbell device was preloaded with a series of 20 merry
melodies, ranging from Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca, over Rossini’s infamous
William Tell Overture, up to an almost-a-minute-long recital of Ludwig van
Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (at that moment I also realized that joy is a
subjective term). But… there was no simple bell chime inside.
Nodingdong. Not even an old fashioned riiiing.
So, here’s my advice to all doorbell makers, product engineers, GUI
designers and PowerPoint authors: keep your creations simple and sweet.
Don’t over-design and don’t over-implement. Most doorbell consumers,

31
including me, are happy with a plain dingdongand don’t need a loud and
excessive ramalamadingdong.

The (in)evitable agenda slide

Posted on February 26, 2015

We have a new company PowerPoint template. And when I opened the

file, the first slide that hit my eye – after the title page of course – was
titled “Agenda.” Well, one thing I already know for sure: that will be the
one I am going to kick out each time I start creating a new slide deck.

I always try to keep my presentations short and sweet. As such, I’m a big
fan of Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule – prepare 10 slides, to support a 20-

32
minute speech, with 30 point font size text on it– and therefore I cannot
afford to waste 5 minutes at the beginning of my speaking slot to explain
the audience what I am going to tell them during the following 15
minutes.
You better start your presentation with a strong statement, and try to
intrigue surprise or provoke the people in the room instead of boring them
with a “this is what I will have on the next slides” intro.
And if you have 5 minutes extra to spend, use them wisely at the end of
your talk for summarizing your key messages and calling your listeners to
action.

El meu circ a Barcelona

Posted on March 5, 2015

So, I am once again at the Mobile World Congress. A huge technology

circus. A high mass of telecom and information technology industries. And
an event not to miss if you want to hear and see the latest and greatest
on mobile networks, wireless devices, and software applications. In 2014
the event attracted more than 85,000 attendees, and more than 1,800
exhibitors, utilizing 98,000 net square meters of exhibition and business
meeting space.
A year ago, I wrote about the many storytellers, storydoers and
storymakers that convene in Barcelona each year to evangelize and
promote their companies, products and services. In today’s short blog
post (I have other things to do this week than writing long epistels…) I will
talk about my visit to some of the MWC booths, and about what the
demonstrators and exhibitors had to tell. Or rather, how they told their

33
stories to me. And I’m afraid that I can be bold and short about this. Still
too much technobabble… Too many acronyms… Too many product
details… Too many marketers pushing their stuff instead of listening to
their customers.
For those who remember the 7 sins of the speaker, well, I am afraid have
seen and heard all of them over here. Demo after demo. Time after time.
And also the demo devil seems to have made the trip to Spain.
But on the other hand, I also felt privileged to discover some really
exciting technology innovations, touch some brand new mobile devices
and experience some mind-blowing applications. And I had the
opportunity to meet quite a few interesting customers too.
It’s been a busy and hectic week for me at the Fira. Fortunately the Mobile
World Congress circus comes only once a year to Barcelona. But it’s worth
the long days and the sore feet. As a visitor, a speaker or a demonstrator.

The comic toolbox

Posted on March 12, 2015

“The class clown tells jokes everyone gets while the class nerd tells
jokes that only he gets.” – John Vorhaus in the Comic Toolbox

“The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You’re Not” is kind of a

reference book for comedy script writers, written by John Vorhaus in
1994. The author, who is also known as the screenwriter of success series

34
such as “Married… with Children,” is a rare example of someone who has
dived into the foundations of humor, who is able to explain (and illustrate)
how a joke actually works, and offers helpful suggestions for using it.
Personally, I find the subtitle a bit misleading, as the writer doesn’t force
you at all to be funny. What he does, however, is provide a
comprehensive and reproducible framework for creative thinking,
character-building and storytelling.
Humor is subjective, but the principles underlying humor are not. And
even if you’re not writing sitcoms of comic novels, there’s a lot of wisdom
to find in this oeuvre. The techniques and exercises can bring value for
any business speaker, technology presenter or corporate spokesperson ―
they will teach you how to become the class clown instead of the class
nerd.

35
Let me share a few quotes I found interesting, and explore how they could
be used in your daily life as a B2B storyteller…

The very first chapter is about truth and pain.

“You often don’t have to tell a joke to get a laugh; sometimes you
just have to tell the truth.”

36
The example given by Vorhaus about airplane food is quite illustrative:

“When a stand-up comic makes a joke about bad airplane food, he’s
mining a common vein of truth and pain. Everyone can relate. Even
if you’ve never flown, you know airplane food’s, shall we say,
ptomainic reputation. You get the joke.”

I have used this combination of truth and pain many times in my business
presentations. If you introduce your audience to a painful situation or
confront them with an uncomfortable problem (preferably one they have
experienced themselves), they tend to be much more open to listening to
the solution you’re going to present.
Another section I found extremely useful is the one in which the author
maps the three classic types of conflict, man against nature, man against
man, and man against self, onto comic situations. Let me focus only on
the first one, which

“[…] is the conflict between people and their world. The conflict can
be that of a normal character in a comic world or a comic character
in a normal world.”

The book illustrates the first case by “Back to the Future” protagonist
Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox), and the second one by the
personage of Michael Dorsey (portrayed by Dustin Hoffman) who becomes
Dorothy Michaels in the movie “Tootsie.”

37
As a business or technology presenter, this global conflict is almost a
natural state of conflict to exploit. Aren’t all your customers struggling
with some small of big problems in their “comic” ―which is often also their
real― world, when they come listening to your presentation? If you can
manage to find their sweet (or sour) spot you’re probably off for an
interesting dialogue.

A next paragraph (in chapter 12) I’d like to elaborate on is the following
one:

“When dealing with story problems, you need to think in terms of

two kinds of logic: plot logic and story logic. Plot logic is outer logic,
the sequence of events that you, the writer, impose on your story.
Story logic is the inner logic of your characters, the reasons they
have for behaving the way they do. All of your story moves must
satisfy both plot logic and story logic. In other words, your
characters must do what they do to move the story forward, but
their actions have to make sense to the characters themselves.”

Now, think of the plot logic as the structure of your talk, and of the story
logic as the main concerns of your listeners. Your presentation must
satisfy both too. In other words, your speech and your visuals must follow
a plot that conveys your key messages, but the vocabulary and the tone
of your content should be adapted to the needs and expectations of a
specific audience.
There’s still a lot more in this book to reflect upon, that I may come back
to it in a future post on this blog. In the mean time, you may go to your

38
(online) book store, order theComic Toolbox and look for my favorite
quote on page 133:
“The best lines in comic writing do three truly marvelous things:
They tell the story, tell the truth, and tell a joke, all at the same
time.”

Wow! Isn’t this what all of us presenters and storytellers dream about at
night?

Don’t leave home without a clicker

Posted on March 19, 2015

When I go on a business trip, I always carry one on me. It doesn’t occupy

much space in my suitcase, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. That’s
why I never leave home without my clicker!
When giving a business presentation, a handheld remote slide advancer
gives you to the freedom to walk around on stage. It provides you full
control over your own slide show. That’s particularly useful when your
visuals contain overlay animations. And you’ll never have to say “next
slide please…” again.
Actually, the one that I use is not very high-tech. It has got only two
buttons: one to move forward and one to return to previous slide. I don’t
need more ‒ and it keeps the risk of clicking the wrong knob to an
absolute minimum. I also never use the laser pointer function, as I have
seen its dancing red (or green) spot on the screen too often betray a
nervous speaker.

39
Also a wearable wireless microphone may offer extra degrees of freedom
to a presenter. I was recently speaking at an event, and surprisingly the
only one out of 25+ speakers who requested for and put on such a device.
Unfortunately it is not always obvious to bring your own headset or clip-on
mike and connect it to a venue’s audio installation. That’s the main reason
why I haven’t included one in my speaker packing list yet.

Discovering the art of abstraction

Posted on March 26, 2015

This guest post was written by my 18 year old son Robin Jadoul, based
upon the transcript of a speech he delivered at the Telenet-BBC Public
Speaking Awards (about which I reported in an earlier article.)

“The expert knows more and more about less and less until he
knows everything about nothing.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

Due to the progress mankind is making in almost every aspect of life, we

don’t have the possibility anymore to gain knowledge on everything. We
don’t have the choice anymore to search for profound knowledge on each
subject that attracts our attention.
To be able to keep an overview of all, or at least most topics that are at
hand, we need to focus on the big ideas, without bothering about all the
tiny details that are involved in everything we do. We need to find a way

40
to know without knowing everything. A way to leave all complication
behind us. Thus, enters the notion of abstraction.
The concept of abstraction is perceivably simple and useful in our day to
day lives. It simply means making a clear separation between the
internals (the inner workings) and the interface (the part ‘users’ get to
interact with). This makes it easy for the users to, indeed, use things,
while they needn’t know anything at all about the internal mechanics.

An excellent illustration of this technique is a microwave oven. You

probably all have one at home and frequently use it as well. But I dare
suspect that not a single person thinks on a daily basis about what exactly
powers that splendid machine that warms food and drinks for them. You
see, you just need to set a few simple parameters, or put simpler, push a
few buttons, and the internal implementation takes care of the rest for
you.

41
Internally this microwave probably relies upon some other layers of
abstraction as well, to power the rotation of the dish, or to fire the waves
at the object inside of the microwave. This way, we can stand on the
shoulders of giants, and do great things ourselves.
Does any of you even want to know, to the level of the underlying
physics, how your smartphone connects to the internet to get exactly that
YouTube video you wanted to see? Or how the astronauts get to the ISS
in a space shuttle?
Yet I strongly believe that the level of abstraction we are at today is the
best we could wish for ourselves. We have a broad idea of how things
work, without the details, and we can use things without needing those
details. But if we want to keep on innovating, we also have to preserve
this intuition about other kinds of topics. Who knows what marvelous,
unsuspected connections between science and religion, for example, can

42
be found. If a scientist knows nothing about religion, how does he know
when he has found something relevant?
Another bonus of having at least a basic understanding of how things
work is that you can easily try to fix them yourself. A bit extreme perhaps,
but you wouldn’t want to call a handyman every time a screw gets a bit
loose, would you?
So in short: I believe that we should be happy that humanity found a way
to use or to know without knowing, but also that a general knowledge still
remains a requirement for human kind.

Abstraction is an art. We must try to walk on its boundaries, without

falling off either end.

Mastering the mean telephone machine

Posted on April 2, 2015

In last week’s guest post, my son Robin let us discover the art of
abstraction. Using the microwave oven and the smartphone as examples,
he wrote about the benefits of making a clear separation between the
internal mechanics and the external interface of an apparatus.
But even when appropriate abstraction is made to hide implementations
detail from end-users, understanding and utilizing new machinery may be
a challenging experience for many people. Technology marketers
shouldn’t underestimate the intellectual capabilities of their customers,
but they shouldn’t overestimate them either. While engineers and experts
may consider a concept or a product simple, the average Jane or Joe may
find it hard to understand or to handle. Even the fact that most of today’s

43
articles are shipped with a (often too comprehensive) user guide, does not
mean that consumers will actually read the handbook, follow the
instructions, and remember them for future occasions.
Recently I stumbled upon a beginner’s guide to telephone use, dated
1917. Of course, for a 21st century digital native it’s child’s play to use a
mobile phone (though I wonder if some of today’s kids would still know
how to use a plain old wired black telephone set with a rotary dial…) but
put yourself in the shoes of an early twentieth century low educated US
citizen.

44
Maybe for him or for her that new telephony service wasn’t that
straightforward at all. I’m sure he or she has appreciated the sweet and
simple stories shown on the images below.
So, long live abstraction! Long live simplicity! And long live user-focused
products, with easy understandable user manuals.

45
Penguins can be cute
Posted on April 9, 2015

Penguins are great swimmers. But when it comes to moving on land, they
are neither the fastest nor the most elegant animals. Their short legs are
simply not made for running or walking. Though most scientists agree that
waddling is the best way for a such short-legged animal to conserve
mechanical energy.

Penguins can be cute, but they will also never be good presenters. Their
silly walks and low gestures would distract the audience and draw people’s
eyes away from their face. If you watch for it, you may catch human
presenters doing a clumsy imitation of penguins. Waddling nervously over
the podium, their hands fluttering at their waist.
A study carried out by Dr. Albert Mehrabian revealed that only a mere 7%
of any message is conveyed through actual words, 38% through vocal
elements like volume and pitch, and 55% through facial expressions,

46
gestures, posture, etc. I don’t want to get involved in a numbers game
(there has been a lot of discussion on the web about the meaning of these
percentages), but this study is certainly underlining the importance of
nonverbal elements when communicating with any audience.
 Adopt a neutral and open stance. Have a locked start position. Be
aware where you stand. Do not obscure the screen. Walk with
purpose. Use a clicker. Never turn your back the people in the room
(yes, this may mean that you won’t be able to read the slides
projected behind you). Use your hands to point to what’s interesting
on the screen (instead of a nervously jumping laser pointer beam.)
 Stand tall, keep your head up. Keep the “gesture zone” beside and
in front of your upper body half (remember the penguins!) The
bigger the audience, the bigger the gestures you should make. Take
benefit from the adrenaline in your body. But be conscious of what
you do with your hands (and with your remote control.)
 Body language and facial expression should match your message.
Stay natural. Smile, nod, make open gestures. Make eye contact
with your listeners. Don’t gesture constantly, but let your emotions
drive your gestures. Vary your gestures to keep your audience’s
attention.

Moore’s law… and beyond

Posted on April 16, 2015

Earlier this year, the world (or maybe rather a few tech-savvy geeks like
me) celebrated the 50th birthday of Moore’s Law.

47
In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted that transistor density
(and thus the performance) of microprocessors would double each 2
years. Take for example today’s iPhone 6, which is 3.5 times faster than
the iPhone 1 while its price is 30% less than the first generation 7 years
ago. Moore’s Law has been used as a stable basis for forecasting
technology evolution in the ICT industry for the past 5 decades.
Reading a few articles about this special anniversary reminded me of a
conference presentation I gave (also) many years ago, in which I explored
the thin line between “nice to have” and “need to have” technology.

Starting with a picture of Moore’s Law, and with the help of two other
famous industry laws, a bit of visual thinking, a healthy dose of
abstraction and some creative chartsmithing, I developed the following
storyline…

48
Note that, although “doubling each 2 years” suggests a parabola-shaped
curve, Moore’s growth function is almost always represented a straight
line ― complemented by an exponential scale on the Y-axis.
Several years after Gordon Moore’s famous observation, another ICT
pioneer, 3Com co-founder Bob Metcalfe, stated that the value of a
network grows as the square of the number of network nodes (or devices,
or applications, or users, …) while the costs follow a more or less linear
function. Take for example a wireless network: if you have only 2
subscribers with a mobile phone, they’re only able to make calls to each
other. If you have millions of subscribers however…

Metcalfe’s Law is about network growth, customer acquisition, and value

creation, rather than about technology evolution. The combination of
Moore’s and Metcalfe’s laws explains the rise of information technology
and the growth of the Internet as we know it today.

49
As the next step in my presentation flow, I introduced my audience to the
technology adoption lifecycle, and more specifically to the “chasm theory”
that was developed by another Mr Moore. In his book “Crossing the
Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream
Customers,” management consultant Geoffrey A. Moore talks about the
gap between the take up of new technology by early enthusiasts and the
mainstream market.

And finally, in an unprecedented apotheosis, by combining the three

preceding charts and by ― I have to admit ― visually cheating with axes,
scales, and representations I came to the observation that the chasm is
actually the point where the transition from a technology driven business
to a value driven business needs to take place ― and if this doesn’t
happen, that any new product or technology introduction is doomed to
fail.

50
That’s a nice conclusion, which ― just like Moore’s Law ― still holds today,
isn’t it?
You may view my original presentation on SlideShare. Please note that
the deck dates from 2002, and that the market, my company, and the
technology and product related content obviously have evolved since
then.

51
What presenter species are you?
Posted on April 23, 2015

Throughout my career I have attended many public and private events,

listened to many business, technology and product presentations, and
seen many good and even more not-so-good storytellers in action.
In Dutch language, we have an expression that says “elke vogel zingt
zoals hij gebekt is,” which translates literally to “every bird sings the way
it is beaked.” The same counts without any doubt for public presenters, as
each individual speaker has its particular style to get his or her message
across.
Here’s a list with presenter types I have frequently spotted in the field:
the Engineer, the Kindergarten Teacher, the Actor, the Philosopher, the
Consultant, the Salesman and the Conversationalist. Note that, although I
am describing the male specimens, all the species below have a female
variant too ― but some of them, e.g. female Engineers or Consultants are
quite rare birds.
 The Engineer is great in delivering technical content and in
educating people. He loves projecting huge PowerPoint files with lots
of detail about architectures and product features. He is seldom a
good listener and tends to care more about his own solution than
about the audience’s problem. As such the Engineer’s presentations
are often lacking a clear (commercial) message that goes beyond
“look how good I am/we are” and “isn’t it wonderful what I/we have
built.”
 The Kindergarten Teacher is somewhat the opposite of the Engineer.
He doesn’t pay attention to (or maybe doesn’t know about…) the
details. His performance has all the elements that you may expect

52
 from a good storyteller, complete with protagonists/antagonists, a
well-built tension and a moral lesson at the end. A kindergarten-
style presentation is always nice to listen to, but usually has a bit
too little meat on the bone, and at the end of the talk you still feel
hungry for the real stuff.
 The Actor’s main goal it to deliver a dazzling show. A well written
story, attractive visuals, and a thoroughly rehearsed speech are key
to the success of his performance. We all know that practice makes
perfect, but over-rehearsal can also kill your presentation. Overall,
the Actor is a great performer on stage, but he’s frequently lacking
spontaneity, and will often make a poor appearance when the
audience starts asking questions.
 The Philosopher tends to introduce high-level concepts, ideas or
solution schemes. His visuals contain lots of boxes, arrows and
clouds. Although his content may be called abstract, holistic or even
esoteric, and his talks are frequently lacking a clear structure ― the
Engineer would rather call them fluffy ― a Philosopher’s
presentation is often well received by corporate strategists. If you
have these in your audience, they might be looking for visionary
material and food for thought, rather than for the Engineer’s
precooked product and solution bites.
 The Consultant also puts up lots of slides with boxes, arrows and
clouds, but that’s mainly because these graphic elements are
prescribed by his employer’s PowerPoint template. And you can bet
on it that he’s added lots of numbers, tables and charts too, to
make his proposition (look) concrete. Don’t expect him to come up
with an entertaining story, because being perceived as a storyteller
is exactly what (most) Consultants try to avoid at all times.

53
  The Salesman doesn’t really care about the story ― and,
unfortunately, sometimes not even about the accuracy of the
content. Real business is done before and after — not during — a
presentation. His slides are generally “off the shelf”, his messages
pushy, and his tone not adapted to the audience’s expectations and
needs. As they are rather centered on offer than on demand,
Salesmen tend to be bad listeners too. As an example, rewatch the
video sketch that I included in my “One mouth and two ears” post
on this blog.
 The Conversationalist’s presentation thrives on interaction with the
people in the room. You may recognize one when a speaker starts
his talk with an open question or a personal anecdote, and has his
Twitter ID or his LinkedIn URL mentioned on the title slide. The
Conversationalist welcomes interruptions, but then unfortunately
regularly enters into discussion with (a few members of) his
audience, gets carried away from his presentation topic or story line,
and will probably not manage to finish his speech on time. And of
course, a Conversationalist loves to continue the conversation
during the break.
The list above is neither intended to be exhaustive nor prescriptive. You
may have encountered a storyteller with a presentation style that does
not match one of the types (or a combination thereof) in the list, or you
might even be a unique-beaked species yourself…

54
Sometimes graphs are not more than pretty lines
Posted on April 30, 2015

Two weeks ago I published a blog post, “Moore’s law… and beyond,” about
a presentation in which I used Moore’s Law, Metcalfe’s Law and the Chasm
Theory to characterize the transition from a technology driven business to
a value driven business.
With a bit of creative chartsmithing, I combined the graphs of these 3
famous industry laws into one, and by visually cheating with axes, scales,
and representations I came to the observation that the chasm is actually
the point where the transition from a technology driven business to a
value driven business needs to take place.
Besides some positive comments on LinkedIn and a bunch of likes on
Facebook ― my post was even republished by the World Economic Forum
― I also received these critical remarks:

“Combining these graphs is actually ridiculous and leads to invalid

deductions. Your conclusions are unsupportable because there is
no data being presented.”

and

“Graphs without meaningful units, operationalized axes, and

statistical analyses are just pretty lines.”

Both commentators were of course absolutely right. But the presentation I

reported on in my article had never been meant to introduce a new,
mathematically correct forecasting model. Its only aim was to deliver a
message about creating market growth through user orientation. The
medium is the message. And this medium worked very well for me.

55
Remember that the title on top of this blog page is “B2B storytelling”. And
that’s exactly what I tried to do when I joined the three graphs into one…
One more excellent reaction to the allegations above came from another
LinkedIn reader:

“Letters are also just pretty lines, but the order in which they are
put gives them context and turns them into words with meaning.
Quit being so literal and enjoy the graph within the context of an
accompanying article and as a way to illustrate something
interesting.”

The online conversation about my blog post probably reveals a more

fundamental discussion: when we create and deliver a presentation,
should we stick to the hard facts and figures, or is a presenter allowed to
“filter”, “frame” or “massage” certain data?
Here’s my opinion. First of all, you should never, never lie to your
audience or present them with facts and figures when you definitely know
they are incorrect. There is nothing wrong, however, with omitting
unnecessary details, or framing the content to better align with the
message you’re trying to convey.
A good example of this is the use of (financial or industry) analyst data in
your slides. Although most of these analyst guys are to be considered
trustworthy sources, in my blog post about “the incredible lightness of
numbers” I illustrated that the figures they give may sometimes vary by a
large factor. Of course, as a presenter, you’re allowed to quote only the
sources that ― depending on what you want to show or prove ― mention
the smallest of the largest numbers.
As a presenter you can also influence the audience’s perception of
objective data. The case (by Garr Reynolds) I have outlined in my post

56
“the duck and the rabbit” shows how a table may be (mis)used as an
alternative to a bar chart to display hard numbers in a less dramatic or
emotional way.
And, finally, sometimes you may assume that a theory or statement is
true, until somebody proves you it’s not. Take the anecdote of the 17th-
century Dutch painting “View of Scheveningen Sands,” created by
Hendrick van Anthonissen.

57
Until recently, the whole world assumed that the people on the painting
were actually staring at a deserted seascape… until the restoration of the
artwork revealed a beached whale on the beach!

Me and my brand
Posted on May 7, 2015

My manager recently said to me that, even if I didn't put my name on my

PowerPoint presentations, he’d recognize them any time. Did I do
anything special to earn this compliment? I don’t think so. As a good
corporate citizen, I always use the prescribed company template. And I
present content (at least I hope) that is relevant for my employer and our
customers.
Where I may be different, is that ― unlike the average professional in my
company ― I try to keep my slides simple and sweet. No information
overload. No long bullet lists. No 12 point font sizes. No complex technical
drawings. I am also a visual thinker, which often helps me finding good
metaphors and original graphical representations. And, as a passionate
storyteller, I always put a proper mix of ethos, pathos, and logos in my
presentations. The more personalized, attractive and relevant information
is to the person presented with it, the more engagement is possible.
Of course I’m flattered by the fact that my presentations are recognized
as (part of) my personal brand. In an earlier post on this blog I wrote
about the relationship between brands and customers, and how
companies are taking their target audience on a journey, connecting with
them emotionally, and positioning their products and services beyond
functionality and price. But also personal branding is a very powerful tool,

58
because it provides a clear and consistent message about who you are,
what you stand for and what you have to offer – as a representative of
your company as well as a private person.

As such, I can only acknowledge the words that Tom Peters wrote in a
1997 Fast Company article:

"In the age of the individual, you have to be your own brand.
[…] Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the
business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the
importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies:
Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to
be head marketer for the brand called You."

In today’s technology-ruled, content-driven and information-overloaded

business environment, the contribution of an individual can still make a
big difference. That’s why (even if my boss doesn't think I need to) I
always put my name and my TwitterID on the title page of my
presentations…

The back of a roll of wallpaper

Posted on May 14, 2015

59
 “As a trafficker in climaxes and thrills and characterization and
wonderful dialogue and suspense and confrontations, I had
outlined the Dresden story many times.
The best outline I ever made, or anyway the prettiest one,
was on the back of a roll of wallpaper.
I used my daughter’s crayons, a different color for each main
character. One end of the wallpaper was the beginning of the
story, and the other end was the end, and then there was all
that middle part, which was the middle.” ― Slaughterhouse
Five, Kurt Vonnegut

Although, most of the time I don’t have a roll of wallpaper at hand, it’s
certainly a good practice — if not an absolute must — to start building
your presentation with another tool than PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi. All
of these great programs are to be categorized as visualization software.
They are perfectly suited for creating, animating and flipping through your
slides, but they offer (too) limited functions for problem analysis,
mindmapping, and storyboarding.
Wikipedia defines a storyboard as “a graphic organizer in the form of
illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-
visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive
media sequence,” and — take this from me — you don’t have to be a
professional graphic artist to transform your ideas into a storyboard for
your speech of presentation.
There are some great (free) software tools available for building
mindmaps and storyboards (e.g. the ones mentioned in the lists below).
And if you don’t want your creativity hampered by the capabilities of your
laptop or tablet: a whiteboard, a flip chart or a large piece of paper, a set

60
of index cards or post-it notes, and a few crayons or colored markers will
also do the job. Or just start drawing on a roll of wallpaper or the back of
a napkin…

Titles
Posted on May 21, 2015

I remember a pop song that was frequently played on the radio when I
was a teenager. In 1975 the British band Barclay James Harvest recorded
“Titles”. It was a musical tribute to The Beatles, and the lyrics were
actually composed of a sequence of song titles fromJohn, Paul, George
and Ringo.
I introduced this earworm just to tell you to pay attention to the titles of
your presentations and your slides. In an older post on this blog I
described how I put on original presentation titles for grabbing my
audience’s attention. Do you still remember what my “10 (light) years
after the big bang”, “Why do hand-picked cherries provide no guarantee
for a tasty pie?”, and “Making the volcano” presentations talked about?
To keep your presentation simple, you should refrain from overloading
you visuals with text. This is why the words on top of your slides may play
an important role in getting your message across. Here are a few
suggestions:
 Use the sequence of your slide headings as a ticker line to support
your storyline, e.g. a slide titled “John was suffering from
information overload …” followed by another one “… until we
provided him with our analytics solution.”

61
  Add creative titles to surprise, intrigue or provoke your audience. I
experienced that many people appreciate references to (or
variations on) song or book titles. I recently got positive feedback
on an “All things great and small” visual (alluding to the book by
James Herriot) which was part of an IOT presentation.
 Make it easy for the tweeps in the room: design your slide titles for
tweetability. Keep them crisp, short and sweet (and mention your
twitterID on your first slide, so they can follow you, mention you
and reach out about your speech.)
 Repeat your key messages on top of your visuals. Many people have
a visual memory and will better remember the words when they see
them written than when they hear the same words spoken.
 And remember that not all slides necessarily need a title on top.
Your story is about what you tell, not about the words you show on
the screen!

Five elements of a story

(and how to use them in a business presentation)
Posted on May 28, 2015

Storytelling is the interactive art of using words and actions to

reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging
the listener’s imagination. — Definition by the National
Storytelling Network

62
Most novelists and movie directors rely upon 5 key elements to ensure a
consistent story, allow the action to develop and let the audience
emotionally engage: character, setting, plot, theme, and style.

And, though “telling a story” is often associated with delivering fictive

content, the same components can be explored by business presenters
too.
1. The character is the individual (or several of them) that the story is
about. The answer to the “who?” question. Many narratives
introduce protagonists and antagonists — respectively the main
characters of the story and their opposites. Note that a protagonist
does not necessarily represents the “good guy”, though it’s always
the one with whom the reader can identify himself or herself.
Depending on the topic of your business presentation, the
protagonist may be you, your company or even your product, while

63
 the antagonist may e.g. be a competitor, a demanding customer or
even an unfavorable market condition.
2. The setting is the “where? and when?” of a story. It is the time and
place during which a story takes place. This can be in the past, the
present or the future, and in an imaginary or a real-life location.
Introducing a setting with which your business partners or
customers are familiar, e.g. a specific technology configuration or a
market segment, can help them to better visualize the story and feel
connected to the plot. As such, customer testimonials and case
studies may be good means for setting the scene for your
presentation.
3. The plot defines the structure of a book, movie or talk. The
sequence of events and (inter)actions that make up your storyline.
Many good plots are centered around a conflict or a problem (the
“what?”), the ways in which the characters attempt to resolve the
problem (the “how?”), the actual implementation of the solution
(a.k.a. the climax), and what happens with them when the conflict is
no longer existing (“they all lived happily ever after”.)
As mentioned above, characters do not necessarily have to be
human. So, explaining how your products or services have been
applied to solve a specific customer problem may prove an excellent
plot for a business presentation.
4. The theme is the main idea, the central message, the answer to the
“why?” question(s). It’s what the writer, the director, or the
presenter wants his audience to learn from the story.
It’s the umbrella statement of the message house you’ve prepared,
that will translate into the conclusion and/or the call for action at the
end of your discourse.

64
 5. And finally, there’s a style element in each presentation you deliver.
“How?” do you want to get your message through? How will you
encourage your audience’s imagination? What will be the tone of your
words What mood or atmosphere do you want to create with them?
Is the evidence you provide factual or anecdotal?

The triggerfish
Posted on June 4, 2015

I have just returned from a relaxing vacation on the Azores, the beautiful
green Portuguese archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. One
night, my wife and I went for dinner at a small seafood restaurant on Faial
island.
When we asked for the menu card, the young waiter told us: “My father-
in-law went out fishing this afternoon. What about trying his catch of the
day? Have you ever tasted triggerfish?”
Then he started talking about local fishing practices. So we learned that
Azorean coastal fishery is still mostly artisanal and carried out by family
crews, with 90% of the boats less than 15m long.
And finally, he dug up a small book, the “Consumer’s Guide to Azorean
Seafood,” that visualized the local fish species and provided us with some
welcome information about the fresh peixe-porco or grey triggerfish on
offer. On each page of the guidebook there was also a colored icon, that
labeled the endangered species with a red fish and the sustainable-to-eat
ones with a green one.

65
As you may expect (otherwise I wouldn’t bother writing this blog post), we
ended up ordering triggerfish fillets for two. Of course combined with a
nice glass of local Frei Gigante wine. Let me tell you that this was the
freshest and most tasty seafood dish I have eaten in years (and the green
icon in the book assured us that local stocks appear to be healthy.)
And while we were enjoying our meal, we noticed that the waiter repeated
the same process with all new customers that entered the restaurant —
probably until there was no peixe-porco left to recommend.
Our experience in the fish restaurant was yet another proof point of the
power of a good story. By introducing us to the catch of the day, and
visually documenting it with the guidebook, our restaurant host truly
created a win-win-win situation for his business, for his father-in-law’s,
and a for couple of hungry Belgian tourists too.
Yes, went back to the same place the following night. For more peixe do
dia.

66
Some B2B marketers are liars (or not)
Posted on June 11, 2015

What’s more important, the absolute facts and figures or the story?
As I have written many times before on this blog (read e.g. the posts
mentioned at the bottom of this article,) I am not a big fan of presenting
naked numbers to an non-expert audience. IMHO, most numbers,
spreadsheets and charts are meaningless without a value context or
without a good story.
The title of this week’s post is inspired by the title of Seth Godin’s 2005
bestseller “All marketers are liars.” In this book the author illustrates the
power of marketing an authentic story:

“All marketers tell stories. And if they do it right, we believe

them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass than a
$1 glass. We believe that an $80,000 Porsche Cayenne is
vastly superior to a $36,000 VW Touareg, even if it is virtually
the same car. We believe that $225 Pumas will make our feet
feel better —and look cooler— than $20 no names… and
believing it makes it true.”

Though Godin’s examples are originating from B2C use cases, the title
statement also holds for B2B marketers. Often, we think that, unlike
consumers —who tend to make buying decisions based upon impulse,
emotion, or even the love for a certain brand— business customers only
care about detailed product specs, competitive differentiators, and value-
for-money. But business decision-making is often driven by emotion too.

67
Recently I came across a CEB research paper about the challenges that
marketing leaders in large B2B organizations face in structuring a brand
differentiation strategy and in addressing their customer’s real needs:
 Branding is important. Most B2B buyers (74%) believe that brands
provide business value, although the exact value is hard to quantify
by numbers. Only 14% of customers perceive a real difference in a
supplier’s offerings and value its difference enough to be willing to
pay a premium for it, while 68% of buyers who see a personal value
will pay a higher price for a product or service. This personal value
includes emotional appeals in areas such as professional benefits,
social benefits, emotional benefits, and self-image benefits.
 Stories and personal value messages drive action. 48% of B2B
buyers say they have ever wanted to buy a new solution but not
spoken up about it because of fear of losing respect and credibility
with colleagues (or even their job). To drive action, suppliers must
shift their customers’ focus away from the costs and risks of change
and start a conversation with their prospects about personal
difficulties, emotional needs and future personal gains.
By telling a story that empathizes with their customers’ real challenges
and offers them solutions in a language they can understand, B2B
marketers can build trust and support buyers in their choices and
decisions.
And, although one should never lie to your audience or present them with
content that you definitely know is incorrect, there is nothing wrong with
omitting meaningless figures, or framing the facts to better align with the
message you’re trying to convey.

68
Creating personas for audience-centric story
design
Posted on June 18, 2015

“In this age of the customer, the only sustainable competitive

advantage is knowledge of and engagement with customers.”
— David M. Cooperstein, Forrester Research

Not so long ago, I participated to an ideation session in which we used

personas to represent different user types of a new application.
In user-centered design and marketing, personas are fictional characters,
created to represent classes of users that might use (and appreciate) a
site, brand, product, or service in a similar way.

69
Sketching imaginary characters with a name, a face, and a story makes it
easier for people to generate and evaluate ideas. Musing about a day in
the life of Fiona Wright, “a middle-aged female manager with two digital
native children, who’s interested in technology and gastronomy” could e.g.
facilitate brainstorming about the functionality and the GUI of a new
restaurant finder app.
Defining and fleshing-out personas may also help you with personalizing
your presentation for a specific audience, and building a narrative that
resonates with a number of (possible) archetype customers in the room.
Starting from a sheet with made-up demographic information, such as
their name (or nickname), age, gender and family situation (some
marketers even search the web for a picture of a look-alike), here are a
few other questions to ask and, consequently, assumptions to make about
your targets:
 What is their job, level of seniority and role in their company?
 What do they do in their free time? What are their personal
interests?
 What does an average day in their life look like?
 What do they value most? What are their goals? How do they get
motivated?
 What are their main challenges and pain points in their job? In their
daily lives?
 What could be their most common objections to your product or
service?

70
The answers to the above questions will empower you to tell a better
story, by putting yourself into the shoes of (some in) your audience and
establishing an emotional connection with them — as they’ll help you
better understand what they think, believe, do, feel and need.
In older posts I have described a few tools for characterizing, predicting
and influencing the reactions of people in the room. Drawing a power
quadrant, an influencer quadrant, and a personality quadrant for each of
the personas you create will enable you to adapt your content and
presentation style to their anticipated behavior.

Cut the crap (enterprise edition)

Posted on September 22, 2015

More than two years ago, I published a post on this blog with a not so
very nice title: “Cut the crap.” In that article I fulminated against the
corny, poorly designed, and –above all– unwanted canned PowerPoint
Shows (appearing as PPS or PPSX attachments) that filled up my personal
mailbox.
Today, In am writing the Enterprise Edition of this indictment. Denouncing
another kind of scam that hits my work inbox with an almost daily
frequency. No, I’m not talking about the real spam, like the
recommendations for places on the web to buy pills, the discrete sex
offers from cheating housewives, the generous donations from Nigerian
billionaires, the free Amazon gift cards, or the not-to-miss opportunities to
acquire booming stock. There’s actually a softer kind of trash that is
invading my mailbox.

71
As a B2B marketer, with my job title visible on the web and on social
media, I am unintentionally but effectively exposing myself as an easy
target for direct marketing campaigns and unsolicited mass mailings that
sound like:

Hi Dave,
On your website I found out that your company provides content and
video delivery network solutions.
Would you be interested in receiving a sample of our email lists? We
have a comprehensive database of 42 million viewers of popular
American horror films, such as:
* Assault of the Killer Bimbos
* Cannibal! The Musical
* Slime City Massacre
* Spooks Run Wild
* The Velvet Vampire
Thanks and looking forward to having a call with you.
Steve
PS: if you wish not to receive any more emails from us please reply
with “leave out” in the subject line

Even if the content and the wording of the vast majority of these emails
look the same to me, some of the senders seem to fail dramatically in
conducting basic research on their addressees, or in personalizing their
message.
 One of my colleagues recently got an offer that was intended for
somebody else. Though I’m not sure that a salutation like “Dear

72
 <firstname> <lastname>,” (with the placeholders not filled in) is a
good way to avoid such naming mistakes.
 As a potential (meuh, not really…) customer I can also confirm that
phrases like “on your website I found out that …” or “we have
identified you as an employee of …” don’t make a very good
impression.

What I find most contradictory is the fact that all these mails are sent by
people trying to convince me of the quality and the effectiveness of the
address databases they sell – while the content of their message is
actually telling me the opposite.
Most senders of such mass mailings get a unique – and equally impersonal
– reply from me: “leave out”. Only the ones that, like in the example
above, manage to attract my attention through their incompetence get an
original and personalized reply from me, e.g.:

Dear Steve,
thank you very much for your email.
Unfortunately, my company doesn’t distribute any content, my name
is not Dave, and I don’t like horror movies at all. As a fellow
marketer, however, I’m impressed by the errors in your address
database, as well as by the lack of customization and personalization
of your message.
As a result, I am not interested in receiving a sample of your data,
nor in having a phone call with you. May I kindly ask you to remove
my address from your mailing list, and stop sending me unsolicited
scams.

73
 With regards,
Marc

Outbound marketing – even when delivered through a digital channel like

email – is so 2000-ish. My dear B2B direct marketers, please cut the crap.
Stop wasting your time, my mailbox space, and the internet’s bandwidth.
There are lots of better ways to fill your sales funnel, and to make leads
and prospects connect with your business. Consider this rant as a plea for
better digital marketing. For a real data driven approach. For social
selling. For decent content. For more personalization. And for an
outstanding customer experience.
(Note: the email example I quoted above was fictitious, but the movie
titles are too hilarious not to be true.)

X-ing wombats
Posted on October 12, 2015

I am currently visiting Australia for a public speaking engagement,

combined with a series of customer meetings. And — unlike from other
destinations ― I will take a small souvenir with me from Down Under.
When you add up the number of kilometres I have travelled during my
career, I may have circled the globe more than 25 times. And now that
the children have become too old to play with toys, and the collection of
‘exotic’ earrings, bracelets, and necklaces is filling my spouse’s entire
jewel case, we decided that I should no longer feel obliged to bring home
a little present from each single business trip.

74
But this time I made an exception, and I bought a gadget for myself. You
may have seen them before: the black-on-yellow plastic road sign replicas
that warn drivers for kangaroos, koalas or other wild animals crossing the
road. Though I’m not an Australian wildlife expert, I plan to put up this
sign on my cubicle wall to warn my colleagues (and remind myself) to
beware of wombats.

Of course, I will have to explain them first that the “wombat” word on my
wall does not stand for an Australian marsupial, but that it is an acronym
for Waste Of Money, Brains And Time. Among the activities that people
(including me) perform at work, I tend to distinguish 3 major categories:
the need to have ones, the nice to have ones, and the WOMBATs. Each of

75
them has an obvious immediacy, a corresponding measure of relevance,
and a decreasing order of importance.
I expect that my wombat will soon become a visual signpost at work. Next
time when someone walks in and out my work spot, I’m sure that my little
marsupial friend on the wall will remind him or her to focus on what’s
really essential ― instead of wasting their and my scarce resources on
something which may not be needed, cost-effective, or urgent at all…

The making of Guernica

Posted on November 4, 2015

“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction” – Pablo Picasso

Last week I visited the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid, renowned as the
home of Picasso’s Guernica. The famous mural-sized, black-and-white
painting was created in 1937 after the devastating bombing on the Basque
town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, and is considered one of
the most powerful visual political statements ever made by an artists.
The painting was impressive indeed. Its visual message overwhelming.
Undoubtedly the work of a genius.
After intensively and extensively admiring the masterpiece, a series of
small black-and-white photographs caught my attention. Posted on the
wall opposite the canvas, they depict the making of Guernica. The
snapshots were taken by Dora Maar, Picasso’s muse in those days, and

76
show the consecutive development stages of the artwork. Thanks to these
historical pictures I could witness how some key components of the
composition, like the bull, the horse, and the (light bulb) sun, were
created, destructed and recreated by the Spanish painter.

While observing the metamorphosis of Guernica, I had to think of Dale

Carnegie’s quote about delivering a presentation:

“There are always three speeches, for every one you actually
gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one
you wish you gave.”

Just like Picasso’s masterpiece evolved during its inception, conception

and creation, your presentation’s messaging, storytelling, and

77
visualization may change over time – although an act of destruction is
seldom required.

In sweet memory of Aldus Manutius

Posted on November 23, 2015

While cleaning out my closet, I dug up an original 1987 printed copy of

the “Aldus Guide to Basic Design” by Roger C. Parker. It dates back from
the early days of affordable laser printers and desktop publishing, when
Aldus Pagemaker was one of the most popular applications in this area.
For the trivia lovers: the software package was named after Aldus
Manutius, a Venetian renaissance printer and publisher who lived between
1449 and 1515. Aldus and PageMaker were acquired by Adobe in 1994,
and the final version of the software was released in 2001.
In the second half of the 1980’s, when I was teaching a Desktop
Publishing course at Apple Computer, I used this publication as a
reference to tell, show and instruct my pupils about the basic rules of
page layout. And, well, the booklet’s content is still more than relevant
today.

78
It starts with a simple-but-great customer-centric definition of graphic
design:

“The purpose of graphic design is to make it as easy as possible

for readers to understand your message.”

No, I’m not going to repeat all the guidelines Parker is giving about
margins, columns, fonts, headlines, quotes, images, etc. You can buy a 2 nd
hand copy of the book online for a few cents – which, in my humble
opinion, is still worth a thousandfold in value.
As a teaser, here’s a summary of the advise provided in chapter 1:

79
  Be willing to experiment. Creativity often beats experience, and a
great design is usually the result of many alternate attempts.
 Be flexible in applying the rules. Graphic style and content always
need to be adapted to a publication’s purpose and audience.
 Consistency helps to organize information. Be consistent in the way
you handle the various layout elements, within a page, within a
section, and within a document. (Note: this is what I introduced in
an older posts “Don’t feed the chameleons.”)
 Let the style of your publication develop according to the placement
of its elements. Style is defined by a combination of your personal
ideas, skills and experience, and the document’s specific
requirements.
 Recognize design appropriateness for symmetric and asymmetric
balance. The layout you create may guide a reader’s eye
movements over a page. One can use design elements to create an
asymmetry that attracts visual interest.
 Organize each page around a single dominant visual element.
Putting a dominant visual element (like a headline or an image) on a
page provides both a focal point and a resting spot for the reader’s
eyes.
 Design your publication in terms of facing pages. Two pages that
may look good on their own may be difficult to read when presented
side-by-side. This problem can be handled by constructing facing
pages as a single entity.
Although the Aldus Guide is addressing the authors and editors of written
publications, all the above rules (except for the last one) are good for
presentation designers too. In case you’re looking for more tips and tricks

80
for creating better slides, you may also reread my post about “Why look
and feel matter in business presentations”.

Quotes that aren’t quotes

Posted on December 14, 2015

Sometimes a well-chosen quote may help to catch the attention of (or

provoke or challenge) the people listening to your presentation. As some
readers may remember from my “wise men say” post, I have repeatedly
used this technique to open or broaden a conversation with a professional
audience.
Lately, I was preparing a slide deck about business transformation, and
the first words that came to my mind were Charles Darwin’s:

81
At least, I assumed that they were coming from the 19th century
naturalist. Because, to my surprise ― while Googling for the exact
passage ― I came across several web sites (e.g. [Link])
that claim there is no evidence that Mr. Darwin actually said or wrote such
statement.
Incidentally, this was not the first time that I (almost) fell into the traps of
fake quotes, misquotes, or misleading attributions. In my blog post about
“the incredible lightness of numbers” I referred to a quote attributed to
Winston Churchill, saying that:

82
Also here, it turned out that Sir Winston never made such statement at
all. The above sentence is a product of Nazi propaganda that managed to
survive the fall of the Third Reich by more than seven decades.
If you are looking for an alternative citation about the (mis)use of
statistical information, I also strongly advice you not to use Mark Twain’s
one either.

83
These words are indeed often attributed to the man who created Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. It’s a true fact that Twain popularized the
saying, but in his autobiography he denies having invented it, and claims
that British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli was the originator. But even
this claim could be a misattribution too….
Let me finish today’s article with a positive and quotable note (or rather a
notable quote). Instead of putting Charles’s Darwin’s (in)famous words on
my business transformation slide, I Googled a Hindu proverb that says
about the same about change, and I ended up my presentation in an even
more memorable way…

84
I’m sure some of you will start including this wisdom in your future
presentations too.

Ten hundred words

Posted on January 11, 2016

A picture tells more than a thousand words. But what if you would reduce
your vocabulary to not more than 1000 words? This is the starting point of
Randall Munroe’s new book “Thing Explainer“.

85
I already mentioned the creator of xkcd before in an earlier post when I
referred to his previous work “What if?” in which the author gives serious
answers to absurd hypothetical questions.
In his latest publication, Munroe explains complicated things in simple
words – from ballpoint pens, over data centers, to the solar system. The
picture below (courtesy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) shows an example of
how the former NASA employee describes an iPhone using only the 1000
most common English words.

86
87
While writing this post and trying to simplify my prose, I realized that for
many topics the stripped-down vocabulary may be too restrictive. That
the languages I know are too rich and too beautiful to prune their lexicon
so dramatically. And that Munroe’s ten hundred words list may be just a
gimmick. But, on the other hand, a real expert doesn’t need difficult
language to make his point. Albert Einstein rightfully remarked: “if you
can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”
As a technology or business presenter you’d better invest in your story
than in your vocabulary. Use simple words, striking examples and
compelling metaphors to explain complicated concepts and hi-tech
products. Create an emotional liaison with your audience, rather than
blow them off their feet with complex expositions, specialized language
and sophisticated jargon.

Occam’s razor shaves better

Posted on January 15, 2016

Yesterday, my company Alcatel-Lucent combined with Nokia. Two industry

leaders joined forces, and their combination will profoundly change the
technology market. But theFinnish touch may also change our corporate
communication style.
In the brand starter kit that my new employer distributed, I read that “we
bravely refine and simplify,” that “our communication is clear, honest and
free of the unnecessary — yet still warm,” and that “each sentence should
be meaningful and valuable to the audience.”

88
As a long-time fan of crisp and clear communications, I can do nothing but
warmly applaud these guidelines. And I’m looking forward to applying
Occam’s razor…
Also known as the lex parsimoniae (Latin for law of parsimony,) Occam’s
razor is a problem-solving principle attributed to the Franciscan monk
William of Ockham (1287–1347.) The principle, as originally written,
states that:

“When one is faced with competing hypotheses, he or she

should select the one that makes the fewest assumptions,”

or simply said:

“Don’t make things more complex than they are.”

The term “razor” is used as a metaphor for cutting apart two similar
conclusions or shaving away unnecessary material.
Scientists have adopted the principle of parsimony to synthesize research
data into actionable insights, and medical practitioners use it to deduct a
viable diagnosis from a set of illness symptoms.
But Occam’s law also applies to corporate messaging and presentation
design. Simplicity always works, though it often requires a thorough
understanding of the complex details. Keep your messages short, sweet
and simple. Cut your slides down to the information your audience
absolutely must absorb. Be consistent in what you tell and what you
show.

89
Occam’s razor shaves better. Cheers to the new Nokia and its pure
communication style!

The serious science of presenting science

seriously
Posted on January 27, 2016

Whatever the purpose of your presentation – you may be trying to sell a

product, convey an idea, or educate people – there’s a message you need
to deliver and a result you want to achieve. But too often, this message
gets diluted (or even obscured) by badly designed visuals, wrongly used
presentation tools, or inappropriate speaking habits.
In an older post I embedded a YouTube video of stand-up comedian Don
McMillan to illustrate the “death by PowerPoint” phenomenon. It shows
how easy it is to kill a presentation by over-focusing on your slides and
over-using the fancy features of software packages like PowerPoint,
Keynote or Prezi (you may remember my article about why I don’t like
Prezi).
Recently, I discovered another video that exposes the same behavior, but
in an even more powerful way. While the audience of a comedian would
expect the man or the woman in front to say and do some pretty crazy
things, this movie shows a recording of a renowned researcher, speaking
in front of an audience of undergraduate students.
In a 5 minute long talk, the keynote speaker, Dr. Fisher-Katz, manages to
make almost every possible presentation mistake. What the audience
doesn’t know is that the famous scientist is actually a fictional character,

90
impersonated by an actress, and that all of them are being tricked in the
context of a communications course.
Enjoy the video. There’s so much you can learn from world’s worst
research presentation…

The right of being wrong

Posted on February 15, 2016

In a democratic system, people are allowed to have different opinions.

Quite often there is even no single truth. As both cartoons below illustrate,
individuals can look at the same thing(s) or situation from different
perspectives – without one being more right or wrong than the other.

91
(courtesy Malcolm Evans cartoons)

92
Recently I came across an artwork by the German-French artist trio
Troika. Watch this video of their hanging steel sculpture, called: “Squaring
the Circle”, and compare the perspective at the beginning of the movie
with wat you see at the end…
Also, as a business presenter you may have people in the room with
different viewpoints on the topic(s) you cover in your talk. As I explained
in an earlier post about “the duck and the rabbit”, it depends on how you
present things, but also on what your audience sees and/or wants to
make of them.
So, be persuasive in presenting and defending your case, but keep in
mind that some members of your audience will have diverging views or
may come to deviating conclusions. Always be open, tolerant, and

93
respectful for other people’s sentiment and be prepared for a good
conversation (or a harsh discussion).
It’s always better to adopt a good mix of Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals:
 Ethos: try to earn your audience’s respect and show them that you
have the right to speak. Don’t be dogmatic, but don’t compromise
on your principles either. Prove by all (verbal and non-verbal)
means that you mean what you say.
 Logos: state your opinion consistently, clearly and crisply, and
support it by reason and proof. Provide facts and figures, but
beware of presenting faith, beliefs and opinions as hard evidence.
 Pathos: remember that enthusiasm is contagious and can arouse
positive emotions. If you manage to appeal to the emotions of your
audience in a sincere and purposeful way, you may eventually break
down their barriers to accepting your position.

And, finally, you could use the Q&A at the end of your talk to give people
with a different opinion a forum to make their statement. But never allow
any of them to dominate the conversation, or – even worse – override
your message and hijack your presentation.

94
The golden circle
Posted on February 24, 2016

It’s Mobile World Congress time again. And although this is probably my
busiest work week of the year, I’m taking some time, again, to write a
post about my experiences at Barcelona’s mega(lomaniac) telecom event.
Two years ago, I reported on the many executive storytellers, storydoers
and storymakers that meet here each February to evangelize and promote
their companies, products and services, and last year about all the
demonstrators and exhibitors at el meu circ a Barcelona that
systematically use too many acronyms, show too many implementation
details, and push their products instead of listening to their customers.
Here’s a probably shocking message for all those enthusiastic, booth duty
doing engineers, marketers and sales guys: most visitors don’t care about
your products! (except for your Chinese competitors of course, but these
aren’t exactly the people you don’t want to share too much information
with, or do you?)
If you started wondering what “the golden circle” has to do with this (no,
it is neither an opium-producing area or an obscure oriental sect,) watch
this famous TED talk video in which UK born author Simon Sinek discusses
how great leaders inspire action.
I strongly believe that the golden circle is a key to successful storytelling,
and as a consequence to a successful product demonstration, and
hopefully also to a successful business transaction
Sinek’s message is simple: “Always build your story from the inside out,
starting with the WHY.” Initiate a conversation with your audience by
talking about what keeps them awake at night. Give them a reason for
taking the time to listen to your exposition and watch your demonstration.

95
What I witness here on the MWC exhibition floor, however, is that most
vendors communicate about the solutions they sell by starting with the
“WHAT.” They elaborate in detail about the many features and
implementation details of their products, and then eventually (if they
haven’t run out of time, or lost their client’s attention by then) work their
way back to talk about “HOW” and “WHY” their stuff does what it does.
So, here’s the – IMHO – right order for conducting a conversation with
your customers in spe. Tell them consecutively:

1. WHY they should listen to you. Start a conversation about what

matters most to them, help them understand their problem, and
create an urgency in decision-making.

96
 2. HOW your product/service/solution contributes to solving their
problem. Talk about the process improvements, the cost savings, the
revenue opportunities it may bring.
3. WHAT scenario or features you will show them during the demo, and
what they can actually buy from you.

Simon Sinek says: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do
it.” For similar reasons, most trade fair visitors don’t care about your
products; they are looking for a solution to their problem or for
opportunities to create new business.

The legacy of Steve Jobs

Posted on March 21, 2016

I just finished watching Apple’s “Let us loop you in” live stream. A near-
anticlimactic event without any spectacular new product announcements –
but rather new features on, and different colors and sizes of the Cupertino
company’s smartphones, tablets and watches (and wristbands.)
There were also no surprises in terms of the CEO’s presentation style. Tim
Cook has never been able to reach the speaking heights of Steve Jobs,
even though he keeps delivering a consistently good speaking job.
As Carmine Gallo observes in one of his Forbes articles, Cook has skillfully
taken over the techniques of his famous predecessor to introduce new
products. His presentations are also rich on photographs and images. And,
even when Cook talks more statistics, his slides only have one number on
it —the number he wants his audience to remember.

97
What is probably more remarkable than Tim Cook giving a Steve Jobs-like
talk, is that nowadays almost any device manufacturer or software
developer is trying to mimic Jobs’ presentation style and templates.
In some of my presentation skills workshops, I’m showing Bill Gates’
infamous slide that he used for introducing Microsoft Silverlight. It’s a self-
explanatory example on how overcrowded visuals may blur the message
and overshadow the speaker.

98
But, in preparation of writing this blog post, I watched some recent
product announcements by some of Apple’s direct competitors: Samsung,
LG and Huawei. Look at the video captures below. Sometimes it’s even
hard to identify their visuals as not being created by an Apple designer. All
of them have rigorously adopted Steve Jobs’ principles: focus, design and
simplicity.

99
The only advice they all might have missed is Jobs’ “Think different” – and
in this case, probably, “Use different visuals” too…

Beware the Oxford comma

Posted on April 4, 2016

Have you ever heard about the Oxford comma, also known as the Harvard
comma, or theserial comma? No? Neither did I (although I just used one
in the previous sentence) until I was confronted with this Sky News alert
about the Nelson Mandela memorial service on December 10 th, 2013:

“Top stories: World leaders at Mandela tribute, Obama-Castro

handshake and same-sex marriage date set…”

100
I would never have imagined that there was something more behind that
warm handshake between US president Obama and the Cuban leader Raul
Castro, but that’s what I (thought I) was actually reading…
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a serial comma is “a comma
used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before
‘and’ or ‘or’ (e.g. an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect).”
Here are a few other sentences in which a small comma can make a big
difference (the two first quotes are told to have appeared in The Times):

“Among these interviewed were Merle Haggard’s two ex-

wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.”
“Highlights of Peter Ustinov’s global tour include encounters
with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo
collector.”
“During the sales team meeting they discussed the quarterly
results, their key customers and their upcoming trip to
Disneyland.”

Not all writers and publishers use it, and style experts disagree on
whether it is required or not, but if you look at the examples above you’ll
concur with me that the Oxford comma may actually be the most
important punctuation mark in English (or any other tongue.)
Although commas only appear in written language, oral presenters may
also benefit from punctuations. Silence sometimes says more than words,
and the effective use of pauses turns an average speech into a dynamite
speech. As such, it’s a good practice to insert a short moment of silence

101
(while taking a breath) when a comma, a semicolon, or a period would be
used in a printed text.
A colleague of mine has even adopted the habit of (occasionally) speaking
punctuations out loud. The first time you hear him talk like this … comma
… it may sound a little bit weird … period … But when you think about it …
comma … it’s actually a good way to pace your speech … comma … to
emphasize your message … Oxford comma … and to avoid confusing word
constructions … full stop.
And if you follow the news you won’t have missed that the odd couple,
Obama and Castro, recently had another date (their fourth one already)
in Havana, to further deepen their relationship.

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba

Posted on April 14, 2016

Some stories are so strong that they survive for centuries, and so
universal that they appear in many forms and in different contexts.
Recently, while I was watching Disney’s classic masterpiece The Lion King
on TV, it came to my mind that the plot holds many similarities to
Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Although my children consider themselves too grown up for watching
animated features, their old dad enjoys them more than ever.

102
William Shakespeare and Walt Disney are two of the most influential
storytellers in human history. In my article about five elements of a story
(and how to use them in a business presentation) I identified 5 key
ingredients to ensure a consistent story, allow the action to develop and
let the audience emotionally engage. Let’s have a look at how Hamlet and
The Lion King compare…
1. Plot
The plot of both Hamlet and The Lion King is about a (young) prince
whose father is killed by his uncle. The prince is exiled from his home and
returns to revenge his father’s death and take the throne that rightfully
belongs to him.
2. Characters
The protagonist role of prince Hamlet Jr. of Denmark is played by the lion
cub Simba, while Shakespeare’s antagonist, the king’s brother Claudius,
has inspired Disney’s animators to create the villain lion Scar. And did you

103
ever look at the hyenas Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed as Rosencratz and
Guildenstern?
3. Theme
Death, revenge, and justice are major themes in both stories. Both
princes delay action, they overcome a moral struggle, and their faith only
changes when their dead fathers reappear as a ghost. It has to be noted
however, that most of the characters in Hamlet die, while Simba lives
happily ever after with his youth friend Nala.
4. Setting
At first sight, the settings of both productions are completely different.
One can hardly compare the African savanna with the medieval Denmark.
But what if you start looking at Pride Rock as the King’s castle, and match
the devastated Pride Lands that Simba discovers when he comes home to
Shakespeare’s churchyard in act 5?
5. Style
As they were addressing a different audience, the style of Shakespeare’s
play vs. Disney’s movie is notably different. Playing around 1600 A.D.,
London theater visitors were the very rich, and the upper and lower
middle class, while Disney’s movies are primarily addressing 20th century
children and their parents.
But, as with many Disney films, The Lion King works on different levels
and both children and adults will enjoy this animated classic for different
reasons. You even don’t have to be a Shakespeare fan.
P.S. For those who wonder about the title of this post: “Nants ingonyama
bagithi baba” is Zulu for “Here comes a lion, father.” They are the first
words of the opening sequence of the movie… and, yes, I have seen the
musical too.

104
Elon Musk and the stored sunlight experience
Posted on April 27, 2016

Over the past weeks, there has been a lot of excitement about the
unveiling of the Tesla Model 3. But almost exactly one year ago, the car
maker’s CEO made another game-changing announcement.
On April 30, 2015 Elon Musk introduced the Powerwall, a home battery
system that charges using electricity generated from solar panels (or
when utility rates are low) and powers your home in the evening.
Although there was nothing really revolutionary about the lithium-ion
battery technology that Tesla showed off, Musk delivered a memorable
pitch. His presentation changed the public’s perception of batteries —
similar to when Steve Jobs talked about a new laptop, or introduced the
iPhone. And he thoughtfully applied Simon Sinek’s golden circle principle.
As I described in an earlier post on this blog, Sinek’s message is as simple
as it is powerful: People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
That’s why great leaders always start with the WHY, before they talk
about the HOW, and the WHAT.
Let’s have a look at the video and do a bit of analysis on the Tesla Energy
keynote…
 Musk starts his presentation with reminding the audience about how
today’s power is generated. Showing an image of burning fossil
fuels, he tells the people in the room that: “This is how it is today. It
is pretty bad. Actually, it sucks…” and supports his statement by
facts and figures about C02 concentration in the atmosphere. Isn’t
this a direct — and memorable — way of saying what’s wrong and
WHY things need to change urgently?

105
  Then, before disclosing anything about his company’s actual
product, he explains why today’s electricity grid is not properly
working, and evangelizes the HOW — a vision of a world powered by
“this handy fusion reactor in the sky, called the sun” and “that one
red pixel, that is the size of the batteries needed to bring the United
States to have no fossil fuel generated electricity.” Two high-impact
metaphors that describe how simple and compact a solution to
being solar with batteries could be.

Of course, there’s still one small matter that needs to be solved: “The
issue with existing batteries is that they suck. They’re really horrible. They
look like that. They’re expensive. They’re unreliable. They’re sort of
stinky, ugly, bad in every way, very expensive – you have to combine
multiple systems – there’s no integrated place you can go and buy a
battery that just works…”
 And finally, only after more than 6 minutes, the keynote speaker
comes up with WHAT people will be able to buy: “That’s the mission
piece. That’s the thing that’s needed to have a proper transition to a
sustainable energy world… This is a product we call the Tesla
Powerwall.”

Particularly for this kind of groundbreaking technology innovation, it may

be important to give evidence that you’re not just showing slideware.
 Musk does that by zooming in on a camera feed of the event
venue’s power meter. And by observing that “the grid it’s actually
zero. This entire night has been powered by batteries. Not only that,
the batteries were charged by the solar panels on the roof of this

106
 building. So, this entire night, everything you’re experiencing is
stored sunlight.”
In yet another post on this blog about storytellers, storydoers and
storymakers, I wrote that only great personalities are able to combine
these three roles. They not only have great ideas, but they also have the
capabilities to execute them and engage their audience — and as such
create or change an industry. If you ask me, Elon Musk is certainly one of
them.

Size matters!
Posted on May 11, 2016

Here’s another true story, possibly even an Oscar candidate in the “wrong
answer to a good question” category.
One of my colleagues – let’s call him John – was recently presenting at an
industry seminar. With more than 200 experts and potential customers in
the audience, the speaker had a great stage for promoting our company’s
vision and portfolio. The event turned out to be a big success and John’s
message was well received.
Actually, the content of his talk was outstanding. But, during the after-
event debrief, there was this one comment about “too much text on the
slides and too small font sizes.” As I was sitting in the back of the room, I
can acknowledge that a pair of binoculars would indeed have been a good
thing to bring along.
When confronted with the poor readability of his visuals, John’s reaction
was unexpected and wrong:

107
 “Well, when we come back next year, we should probably ask
the organizers to install a larger projection screen…”

In my humble opinion, a more straightforward – and easier solution –

might have been to put fewer words on the slides, and to increase the font
size of the remaining text. A to follow Guy Kawasaki’s advice:
“The reason people use a small font is twofold: first, that they
don’t know their material well enough; second, they think that
more text is more convincing. Total bozosity. Force yourself to
use no font smaller than thirty points. I guarantee it will make
your presentations better because it requires you to find the
most salient points and to know how to explain them well.”

Size matters, John, also for your presentation fonts!

Start with a book

Posted on May 19, 2016

When delivering a talk, it’s utterly important to grab your audience’s

attention from the first moment on. In an earlier post on this blog, “Begin
the beginning,” I gave a few examples on how you may surprise, intrigue
or provoke them with an opening statement or poll. And in another article,
“Titles,” I elaborated on using original presentation titles.

108
Here’s yet another great jump-start for the beginning of your speech: tell
the people in the room about a book you read that’s relevant to the
subject of your presentation. You may even consider bringing a hard copy
with you: a tangible artifact that your audience can see, touch and browse
through.
In my day job as a high-tech marketer and communicator, I’m involved in
conversations with customers and opinion makers about how broadband
internet, connected devices, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications are
changing the way we live, work, and do business. So, after reading the
summaries below, it should be no surprise that I picked these three –
fiction, non-fiction, and science fiction – books for introducing some of my
speaking topics.
“Blackout – tomorrow will be too late” by Austrian author Marc Elsberg, is
a techno-thriller about a large-scale power outage in Europe, caused by a
cyber-attack. While the digitization of the energy sector, and the move
towards distributed power generation, smart meters, and internet-
connected appliances are creating a number of opportunities, new
technologies can also open the door to cyber threats.

109
As no-one wants to experience the scenario that’s described in this book, I
mentioned it at the start a lecture about smart energy grids and cyber
security. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of an English translation of the
book.
In “The Zero Marginal Cost Society,” American social-economic theorist
and activist Jeremy Rifkin describes how new technologies, such as 3D
printing, green energy, and the Internet of Things, are speeding us to an
era of nearly free goods and services (and, according to the author, the
eclipse of capitalism.)

110
Billions of sensors are being attached to natural resources, production
lines, energy grids, logistics networks, recycling flows, and implanted in
homes, offices, stores, vehicles, and even human beings, feeding Big Data
into an IoT global neural network. Prosumers will be able connect to the
network and use Big Data to accelerate efficiency, increase productivity,
and lower the marginal cost of producing and sharing a wide range of
products and services to near zero…
In another post on this blog, “Back to the future,” I wrote about why it
may be a good thing for a sales or marketing person to make speculations
about the long-term future. Some of the best forward-looking statements
–of which a number really materialized– about technology and the
evolution of society were written many years ago. Take for example
George Orwell’s “1984,” or Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot.”

111
The book I sometimes refer to when touching the topic of smart cities and
a technology-powered society, however, is a less known work by French
science-fiction author Jules Verne. Marketed on the cover as the lost
novel, “Paris in the Twentieth Century” was originally written in 1863, but
it took more than one hundred years before his great-grandson discover
the handwritten manuscript.

The work gives a staggering prediction of Paris of the nineteen-sixties.

The author depicts a city in which industry and commerce have
triumphed, and creativity and art have become obsolete. Just like
Villemard did in his 1910 postcards, Verne predicts automobiles, the
subway, fax machines, and more things to come.

112
B.Y.O.C.
Posted on June 2, 2016

In an earlier article, I listed the character as one of the 5 key elements

upon which novelists, movie directors, as well as professional presenters
rely to let their audience emotionally engage.
The character is the individual (or several of them) that the story is about.
The answer to the “who?” question. Many narratives introduce
protagonists and antagonists – respectively the main characters of the
story and their opposites.
Introducing one or more characters is often a great way to personalize
your message and add “what’s at stake?” tension to your story.
Depending on the topic of your presentation, the protagonist may be you,
your company or even your product, while the antagonist could be a
competitor, a demanding customer or even an unfavorable market
condition.
As such, I have enriched many of my business talks and blog posts by
telling about what happened to “a friend”, “a colleague” or “a customer of
mine”. Characters may be fictive, but you’ll feel more confident and earn
more credibility when talking about real persons. Of course, you don’t
have to mention their names – particularly when the protagonist or the
antagonist appears in a not-very-flattering situation or gets involved in an
embarrassing incident.
This weekend I walked into a French LEGO store. For more than 80 years,
LEGO toys have engaged kids in creative play, encouraging them to
imagine, invent and explore (see for example the 1970’s letter from Lego
to parents below.) That’s why their flagship store always is a good place

113
to breathe the air of creativity – and in this case, get inspiration for a new
blog post.
Incidentally, I stumbled upon the Build-A-Minifigure bar. By combining a
broad variety of heads, torsos, legs, hair, hats and accessories, everyone
can design and purchase his/her own LEGO character(s).

It made me think about another article I wrote about “creating personas

for audience-centric story design,” in which I explained how defining
personas may help you to tell a better story. Putting yourself into the
shoes of (some in) your audience will help you better understand what
they think, believe, do, feel and need.
Suddenly, while having an Aha! moment at the Minifigure bar of the LEGO
store, I figured out why I had intuitively borrowed a LEGO image to
illustrate this old blog post.

114
And, then I realized that I might have run into the perfect tool for
fleshing-out personas of my audience, and for synthesizing the
protagonists and antagonists of my story.
B.Y.O.C. = Bring (or Build, or Buy) Your Own Character…

Thought leader or entertainer?

Posted on June 14, 2016

“You know that I’m a thought leader, because I’m wearing a

blazer, I have glasses, and I’ve just done this with my
hands…”

Maybe you’ve already seen the recording of a This is That TED-like talk by
self-proclaimed thought leader Pat Kelly. And if you haven’t, take a look at
the video.
Unless you’re an alien without any sense of humor, you must have
realized that this is not a real keynote. And observed that Kelly’s character
is an empty shell with nothing to say, though with an impressive ability to
deliver his message (and entertain his audience.)
Then, you also know that it takes more to being a thought leader than
wearing the right clothes, putting on a pair of smart looking glasses, and
making some gorgeous gestures with your hands. But, if you still believe
you are one – or have an unstoppable ambition to become one – here are
a few tips…

115
 Stay ahead of the curve. Keeping Malcolm Forbes’ wisdom that “the
best vision is insight” in mind, always base your opinion – and
accompanying narrative – on trustable and traceable facts and
figures.
 When acting as a thought leader, NEVER deliver a sales pitch. Take
the stance of a neutral observer, and a dependable domain expert. Of
course, when you’re explicitly speaking on behalf of your (or another)
company there’s no problem to recommend or acknowledge the
‘sponsor.’
 Never stop earning your audience’s respect. Show them that you are
an authority on the topic and prove them that you have the right to
speak. But even when world considers you a champion, always stay
your humble self!
 Talk as often as you can with customers, end-users, and opinion
makers. Listen to them and benefit from their insights and experience
to further develop your expertise and evolve your narrative. Be
careful with dropping names or citing facts or figures on behalf of any
3rdparty to make yourself look more important.
 Create an elevator pitch, define your mantra and don’t be shy of
repeating yourself – repetition is one of the tools to make your
message stick. In the meantime, keep evolving your story and
updating your content as technology and markets evolve.
 Craft and deliver compelling content for a broad audience. Keep it
simple and sweet, but don’t be fluffy. Be aware of audiences’ needs
and expectations and remember, people are always looking for the
WIIFM.
 Build a personal brand, establish your social media presence (also as
a follower!) and develop a multi-channel content strategy. Try to

116
 create and share quotable quotes, tweetable data points, and
impactful visuals.
 And finally, invest in developing your storytelling and public speaking
skills. Being able to create and deliver a compelling presentation is
certainly one of the basic competences an opinion maker (or any
business leader) needs.
Unfortunately, there is no college class or MOOC that will teach you how
to become a respected thought leader. It takes a lot of insight, expertise,
and communication skills. And, even if you (think) you have all of these,
the next time you’re on stage and walk over to your laptop, your audience
may still look at you as an entertainer…
As a final note, by writing this blog post and giving you the above tips, I
am not pretending to be a thought leader at anything at all. Think of me
as a singer-songwriter, who’s passion is to perform a good song, while
trying to entertain his audience.

Beauty and the beast

Posted on July 2, 2016

This week I read two articles about robots. One was about Jia Jia, a
hyper-realistic young female-looking android, dressed in traditional
Chinese style, which is capable of having a conversation with humans. She
(or, should I rather say “it”?) can understand what people say, though she
mostly just reacts to compliments on her appearance, like “You are
beautiful” and “You look like an 18-year-old…”

117
The other piece covered a more functional species, named SpotMini.
Boston Dynamics’ latest creation could be characterized as a ‘helpful
giraffe-dog’. It can grab all sorts of things, including fragile objects such
as wine glasses or dirty dishes. Although less a pleasure for the human
eye than robot goddess Jia-Jia, robodog SpotMini is probably more what
the average person would expect a robot to be and to look like.
Watching the pictures of both cyborg creatures made me think about the
trade-offs between beauty and functionality. Even in this era of gender
equality, most people don’t associate a sturdy machine with the looks a
beautiful young woman, or vice versa.
Unfortunately, similar prejudices also often apply to the (PowerPoint)
presentations we create. Working in a high-tech environment, in the heart
of a community of engineers, I experience on a daily basis that most of
my colleagues prefer creating long and (often) ugly slide decks with lots of
complicated diagrams, detailed tables, and technical jargon. They seem to
consider any visually appealing presentation a marketing gimmick – a kind
of Jia-Jia, who’s only good for accepting “you are beautiful” compliments –
that is not to be used for explaining complex ideas, designs, and
creations. They put functionality before simplicity and aesthetics.

118
119
And still Beauty and the Beast can live together in perfect harmony. The
Apple II personal computer was launched in 1977 with the slogan
“simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” and although Steven Jobs is
sometimes quoted for saying that “design is how it works, not how it
looks,” many people still buy an iPhone because of its premium look and
feel. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. And so should be your business
presentations!
And, by the way, beautiful robots can be smart, ambitious, and wicked
too. Have a look at another humanlike robot, Sophia, who “in the future,
hopes to do things such as go to school, study, make art, start a business,
even have her own home and family…”, and — oh my — “destroy
humans” too.

Penne all’amatriciana
Posted on September 2, 2016

Last week we returned from a vacation in Italy. During our stay we were
confronted with the breaking news about the devastating 6.2-magnitude
earthquake that rocked the center of the country. One of the hardest-hit
towns was the beautiful comune of Amatrice, with 80% of the historic
center destroyed and nearly 200 deadly casualties.
As we were safe and sound, visiting a region of the country hundreds of
kilometers away from the quake’s epicenter, we heard the dramatic
testimonials of disaster-stricken residents and saw the images of rescue
teams digging through the rubble delivered via the local media.
In addition to all the dramatic facts and figures, we also learned that
Amatrice is the birthplace of the bacon-and-tomato flavored

120
all’amatriciana pasta sauce that was accordingly named after the severely
hit mountain town. This factoid turned out to be an ideal context for
Italian food blogger, Paolo Campana, to launch an appeal on Facebook in
which he asked restaurants to put pasta all’amatriciana on their menus
and donate 2 euros per dish sold to the Italian Red Cross.
When we went for dinner on the last night of our Italian holiday, we found
out that the restaurant had also appended a solidarity penne
all’amatriciana item to their menu. So, guess what we chose as the primo
piatto of our meal? And, actually, the food was delicious, but the
knowledge that we were supporting the earthquake victims with a
symbolic donation made it taste even better…

121
My apologies for using some inappropriate terminology in this dramatic
context for my conclusion, but the above anecdote is proving once again
that combination of an emotion-touching story (the sauce that originated
in the earthquake-hit town,) combined with an excellent product (a
perfectly flavored pasta dish,) and an engaging cause (supporting the
earthquake victims) is a powerful marketing and communication tool.

Right pitch, wrong shirt

Posted on October 4, 2016

Know your audience before you start talking… This is not only the title of
one of my earlier posts on this blog, but even more a piece of good advice
for anyone who’s speaking in public. A group of people that also includes a
growing army of young entrepreneurs, pitching in front of venture
capitalists and potential investors to obtain the so desired initial funding to
realize their dreams.
Not so long ago, I had the honor to be part of the jury for a (try-out)
pitching session organized by a local business incubator. Among the 6 jury
members were representatives of a regional business angel network, a
few technology professionals (like me), and an investment expert from a
major bank.
During the event, one of the startups was pitching a social app they
developed for sports clubs. In an effort to accentuate his message
visually, and probably to charm the audience and the jury too, the
presenter-on-duty entered the stage dressed up in a colorful soccer shirt.

122
A great idea. Theoretically. The young guy made one wrong choice: the
club shirt he was proudly wearing displayed in large letters the name and
the logo of… a large bank. Unfortunately, not the one of the sixth jury
member’s employer. But rather the one of its fiercest competitor in the
market place.
Shit happens. The presenter delivered a great pitch for a nice product. But
he won neither the hearts nor the (virtual) money of all jury memb
ers (guess which one wasn’t convinced?) A mistake that could have easily
been avoided by conducting some quick, upfront research on who would
be in the audience and in the jury (actually, the speaker should have
known; the event was held at the bank’s HQ premises.)

123
Bambi does the toothbrush test
Posted on December 14, 2016

Did you ever hear about the toothbrush test? The term is attributed to
Alphabet’s CEO, Larry Page. And, as you may guess, it has nothing to do
at all with a shiny white smile. The Google co-founder uses the test for
determining whether a company is worth buying – which is always a
complex and risky assessment to make.
As an alternative to diving into the nitty-gritty of revenue projections,
cash flow forecasts, and profitability analyses, the test consists of this
simple question:
“Is the company’s product or service something people will
use once or twice a day, and does it solve a problem or make
their life better?”

If I was asked for an opinion about my own toothbrush, the outcome

would definitely be “yes.”
In this case, the toothbrush is used as a metaphor for usefulness and
long-term value, in contrast to short-term RoI. Of course, one must be a
business genius to make such an important decision based upon such a
simple question. Please, note that I’m not naïve; you don’t have to
convince me that Google’s people carry out a lot of due diligence beyond
the toothbrush inquiry.
In an older post I wrote that simplicity always works. Life (and business)
can be made so much easier than it is today, if you enable decision-
making by asking simple questions, and effective communications by
telling compelling stories.

124
Similar to Larry Page’s toothbrush test, I started using something I call
the Bambi test. When preparing a public presentation, I ask myself the
question below:
“Will people remember my words (or my visuals) two days
from now, and did they get emotionally involved?”

I got inspired to use the Bambi metaphor after observing my kids

watching Disney’s famous movie scene with Bambi and Thumper sliding
on the icy pond. And like for the toothbrush one, the answer to the
question would certainly be a “yes!” (Note to my sons Yannick and Robin:
if you read this text, which you probably won’t, this was of course
loooooong time ago…)

Image from Bambi by Walt Disney Studios

125
Wow! here came the iPhone
Posted on January 9, 2017

Today, exactly 10 years ago, Apple introduced the iPhone. During his
keynote presentation at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, the late Steve
Jobs told the audience that:
Today, we’re introducing three revolutionary products.
The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls.
The second is a revolutionary mobile phone.
And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications
device.
So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a
revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough Internet

126
 communications device.
An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator.
An iPod, a phone… are you getting it?
These are not three separate devices. This is one device.
And we are calling it iPhone.
Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.

For the thousands of people in the auditorium, as well as for the crowd of
technology enthusiasts like me that followed the event via a live blog, this
was certainly a wow! moment.
This was one of these points in time when you recognize that a product or
service is a must have that might change your life. Something powerful
enough to make one say: “Wow! I’ve never seen (or heard) something
like this in my whole life.” Or, like Jobs had perfectly described this
moment a few seconds earlier in his speech:
Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along
that changes everything. And Apple has been – well, first of
all, one’s very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these
in your career.
Apple’s been very fortunate. It’s been able to introduce a few
of these into the world.
In 1984, we introduced the Macintosh. It didn’t just change
Apple, it changed the whole computer industry.
In 2001, we introduced the first iPod, and… it didn’t just – it
didn’t just change the way we all listen to music, it changed
the entire music industry.
So, as a product marketer and a public speaker, what can you learn from
the January 9th, 2007 iPhone announcement? besides that the iPhone was

127
– and still is – a great disruptive product. Here are a few tips on how to
turn a new product introduction into a memorable wow! moment:
 Try to reach an audience as big as possible (though make sure that
they are your target customers.) Press releases and webinars are
good communication means, but a live audience (as the Macworld
one) will beat them as you can use the people’s enthusiasm to echo
and amplify your message.
 Build up a tension and connect emotionally with your audience by
telling a story, showing a video or playing some proper (not
necessarily upbeat) music. Remember the brown envelope that Jobs
pulled the MacBook Air from, or the Chariots of Fire theme that was
played when Apple introduced the first generation Macintosh in 1984.
 Also a (preferably spectacular) product or feature demonstration can
do wonders. The Macintosh also introduced itself in a digitized voice:
“Hello, I’m Macintosh. It sure is great to get out of that bag…” Of
course, always mind the demo devil and be ready to deal with
unexpected failures – like the Wi-Fi failure that the Apple CEO had to
deal with when demoing the iPhone 4.
 Use strong words like “reinvent”, “revolutionize”, or “disrupt” to pull
on the audience’s hearts and minds. You can make reference to an
earlier innovation of your company (as Jobs did to the Macintosh and
the iPod,) or compare this moment with another major events in
history (during a shareholder presentation, Steve Jobs compared the
introduction of the Mac to the invention of the telephone.)
Sometimes a wow! moment just comes spontaneously (or even
unexpectedly.) But if you want to make sure you don’t miss the
opportunity to wow! your audience, then you’d better plan, script and
rehearse your presentation well in advance.

128
No words needed
Posted on January 18, 2017

Body language can be a powerful communication tool. Sometimes a

(mysterious, naïve, smart, candid, …) smile may tell you more than a
hundred words.
Only a few days ago I saw this news video on TV. Confronted with US
president-elect Donald Trump calling Brexit “a great thing,” and
suggesting that more European countries would leave the EU, the
European Commission’s chief spokesperson gave this simple statement:
“We have read this interview with interest,” and complemented his answer
by an (IMHO) priceless, all-saying smile.

Pressed by a journalist if this was all the Commission had to say about the
issues Trump had raised, the speaker confirmed his earlier reply by a
short and dry “yes.”
I think I clearly understood the message. And probably many Europeans
with me…

129
Marketing lessons from Sun Tzu
Posted on February 15, 2017

“The Art of War” is an ancient Chinese military handbook written during

the 5th century BC by Sun Tzu. Probably only few people have read the
entire book, but there are plenty of great takeaways in it for business
leaders, executives, and strategists.
And though a customer should never be your enemy, and a sales
presentation should never be a battle (not even with yourself), Sun Tzu’s
enemy may be regarded as a metaphor for a business opportunity to
pursue, and the war as the process of conquering your audience’s heart,
mind, and wallet.

130
Below are a handful of my favorite Art of War quotes (taken from the
1910 English translation by Lionel Giles), and how yours truly interprets
and applies them in his daily job as a corporate marketer, business
developer, and B2B storyteller.
First, always make sure you know your customers, the environment in
which they work or live, and the opportunities and challenges they face
prior to addressing them:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will
not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you
may make your victory complete.” (from chapter 10: Terrain)

As Sun Tzu clarifies at the beginning of his treatise, “Heaven signifies

night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons,” and “Earth comprises
distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow
passes; the chances of life and death.” But also, know your own strengths
and weaknesses as they may set limits to what you can tell, do, or
commit to.
Based upon this knowledge – of both your audience and yourself – you
can then adapt your sales strategy and customer value proposition
properly:
“Water shapes its course according to the nature of the
ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in
relation to the foe whom he is facing.” (from chapter 6: Weak
Points and Strong)
Preparation is key. It’s all about you being ready to face the market and
the customers. Build a message house, define your pitch, craft your
presentation, and plan your meeting carefully.

131
 “The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the
enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him;
not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact
that we have made our position unassailable.” (from chapter
8: Variation in tactics)

Support your presentation with proper visuals and multimedia testimonials

(a.k.a. gongs, drums, banners, and flags)
“On the field of battle, the spoken word does not carry far
enough: hence the institution of gongs and drums. Nor can
ordinary objects be seen clearly enough: hence the institution
of banners and flags.” (from chapter 7: Maneuvering)

But, always remember – as I have emphasized many times before in my

blog posts – look and feel matter! Be direct and indirect. Be creative and
consistent. Be subtle and clear.
“There are not more than five musical notes, yet the
combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can
ever be heard.” (from chapter 5: Energy)

“There are not more than five primary colors (blue, yellow,
red, white, and black), yet in combination they produce more
hues than can ever been seen.” (from chapter 5: Energy)
“There are not more than five cardinal tastes (sour, acrid, salt,
sweet, bitter), yet combinations of them yield more flavors
than can ever be tasted.” (from chapter 5: Energy)

Finally, always choose your battle and don’t waste your (or your

132
customer’s) time if there’s no real opportunity for growing your market or
creating new business.
“The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be
avoided. The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters, and
various implements of war, will take up three whole months;
and the piling up of mounds over against the walls will take
three months more.” (from chapter 3: Attack by Stratagem)

“Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the

enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the
field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.” (from
chapter 6: Weak Points and Strong)

“Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops
unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the
position is critical.” (from chapter 7: The Attack by Fire)

I realize that making connections between ancient warfare and today’s

business environment is not straightforward. Still I see Sun Tzu’s Art of
War as a timeless and priceless masterpiece that may help marketers and
sales people to develop successful strategies, make better decisions, run
effective campaigns, deliver powerful presentations, and consequently
generate more business.

133
Dress to impress
Posted on February 24, 2017

During the current period of carnival, people over the world dress up
extravagantly. They wear masks and costumes to change their everyday
appearance, make a statement or tell a story. The ultimate example of
such dress-up story telling is probably shown in the image below: amid
the great 1930s depression, attendees of the Beaux Art Ball in New York
were asked to celebrate the innovative spirit that was sweeping the
architectural world. Which resulted in this frivolous lineup of architects
dressed up as the renowned buildings they designed.

134
As a public speaker, your attire can change your image or enforce your
message too. Varying from casual over smart to formal, your dress code
may help you to impress, to convince, or to express. Of course, the
outside always counts and you’ll only get one chance to make a first
impression. A smart business suit exudes confidence and success, but this
doesn’t mean that you must overdress or – even worse – wear clothes
that don’t fit your personality. Dress like an engineer if you are one,
instead of trying to look like a corporate executive (although I can name
some casually – or even sloppily – dressed men and women in this
category too, including a famous CEO that was wearing blue jeans, a black
turtleneck, and grey sneakers as his signature look). Particularly if you
suffer from speaking stress, you may prefer comfortable clothing over a
stiff three-piece business suit. Which doesn’t mean that you have to wear
baggy trousers either.
And, most important, don’t forget that it’s your on-stage performance that
counts. Dedicate your time and creativity to building your story, crafting
your content, and rehearsing your presentation rather than to dressing up
for the audience.
I’d like to close this post with a quote from Arthur Ashe, the only black
tennis player ever to win the Wimbledon championships: “Clothes and
manners do not make the man; but when he is made, they greatly
improve his appearance.” And so it is…

135
Trump and the rule of one
Posted on February 27, 2017

Four years ago, I wrote a blog post “Obama and the rule of three“, in
which I analyzed the previous American president’s re-election speech and
praised his public speaking skills. Incidentally, over the past months –
guess why? – this article has become one of the most frequently visited
titles on my B2B Storytelling pages. Since then, an awful lot has changed,
and the US as well as the rest of the world are getting used to living in the
new, Trumpian reality.
I honestly admit that I’m not a fan of the 45 th President of the United
States. Neither of the person, nor of his political doctrine, nor of his deeds
since January 20. But as Donald Trump was elected by kind of democratic
process, he also deserves kind of credit. Tomorrow he will deliver his first
State of the Union address. An occasion to zoom in on the newly-on-duty
POTUS’ presentation skills.
Surely, Mr. Trump isn’t the eloquent orator that Barack Obama was,
though in my honest opinion he is definitely not a bad communicator.
Note that from the writing perspective of this blog, I’m only assessing his
communication style, not his content nor his use of (alternative) facts and
figures – which would put me on too thin ice. When analyzing his public
talks, I think I’d rather associate him to a “rule of one” than to a rule of
three: as a speaker, he systematically puts his one-self in the center; his
person seems to be more prominent than his words or his audience.
There are common practices that seem to come back in every speech the
president delivers. Some of them are so striking that they have become
fodder for effective Trump parodies:

136
  He has a clear and strong voice and uses simple, often sloganesque,
language with short and declarative sentences. This is an appropriate
habit, considering DJT’s target audience and key messages. His one-
liners like “make America great again” and “let’s build that wall” have
the same magnitude of emotional impact as Obama’s “yes, we can”.
 The words he uses are congruent with his message, and he
consistently repeats them. After analyzing 95,000 words used in
campaign speeches, the New York Times concluded that “the most
striking hallmark was Mr. Trump’s constant repetition of divisive
phrases, harsh words and violent imagery that American presidents
rarely use…”
 The new US president (figuratively and literally) tries to take a
maximum amount of space. His alpha male body language, facial
expression, and hand gestures are compatible with his overall
message. Take, for example, his index finger pointing in the air while
putting his second finger and thumb together (accentuating he’s right
and the others are totally wrong), his thumb-and-forefinger pinch
(that signals precision and control), and his pneumatic drill
movements (to hammer the point he’s making home.)

Donald J. Trump has only been on duty for six weeks. Probably we ain’t
seen or heard nothing yet. But, whether you agree with his politics or not,
you can’t argue that he isn’t a good communicator.

137
Proudly promoting my president’s presentation
pizzazz
Posted on March 4, 2017

I have never used this blog as a channel to promote my company, its

activities, or its people (thought I have referred a few times to my own
and my colleagues’ business presentations to illustrate some prominent
public speaking do’s and don’ts) but today I’m going to make an exception
for our chief executive. Not because he’s my big boss, but because he
delivered such an outstanding presentation at one of the world’s most
important tech industry events.

138
If you have about 20 minutes, take a look at the video recording of Nokia
president and CEO Rajeev Suri’s keynote at the Mobile World Congress
2017. You may watch the video clip here.) He speaks about the Fourth
Industrial Revolution, which is the next wave of technological evolution or
the “automation of everything,” and how the world needs to create a new
5G network that will act as a global nervous system to orchestrate this
revolution.
Over the past 4½ years, I have written more than 160 articles about best
practices in corporate storytelling and, while preparing this new post, it
came to my mind that our CEO used almost every presentation technique
I have written about. His presentation is compelling, credible, concrete,
clear, consistent, customized, and conversational. Taking “the 3 P’s of a
professional public presenter” as a checklist, I could only come to the
conclusion that the head of my company is a smart orator, a skilled
speaker, and a stylish presenter.

With his opening words “It’s a pleasure to be here at such a moment of

change. We have the good fortune to stand on the threshold of one of
history’s greatest leaps forward,” he’s playing the prelude to a visionary
pitch, in which he talks in concrete terms about the possible outcomes of
the technology revolution: “making our lives better, our industries more
efficient, our planet more sustainable.” Note that, throughout the whole
speech, he’s generously using the rule of three and illustrating his
technological vision with appealing use cases, such as 3D printing, self-
driving cars, an entire factory floor of robots, or millions of drones
hovering our skies. And when the Nokia CEO says that “we need
technology in the service of humans,” he is reciting the company’s
mantra, “expanding the human possibilities of technology.” A theme that
is also repeated in a strong ending: “Ultimately however, what matters
most is how we put this technology to use. … We can do both good

139
business and do good. Because that is the promise, the possibility, what
we can do together.” Your story is your brand (and vice versa), isn’t it?

Rajeev also uses compelling metaphors, like “hotspots on steroids” and

word symmetries like “hyper-local, hyper-mobile, and hyper-scale,” while
his visuals are simple and clean, with few words on the slides, supported
by proper graphics. And, within a (relatively short) twenty-two-minutes
time slot, he even manages to show an animation video and – how
audacious! – to include two interactive demonstrations. The video streams
of the monster trucks race and the industrial robot demo, wrapped in live
conversations with the exhibition floor, turned out to be great means to
walk his talk, connect with his audience, and lead people to the Nokia
booth.

140
Doing a live demo is always a risky undertaking, as the demo devil may
be just around the corner, but knowing my marketing colleagues that
contributed to the event I’m sure that everything was well-prepared.

Three years ago while I was attending a previous edition of the Mobile
World Congress, I wrote a blog post “about storytellers, storydoers and
storymakers,” in which I stated that only great personalities can combine
these three roles. They not only have great ideas, but they also have the
capabilities to execute them, and engage their audience – and as such
create or change an industry. Listening to and analyzing his 2017 MWC
keynote address have made me conclude that Rajeev Suri deserves a spot
in this hall of fame.

Every Rolex tells a story

Posted on March 15, 2017

While on my evening stroll during a recent business trip in London, I came

across a small specialty shop in Burlington Arcade. Located in the posh
part of town, about 200 meters away from the iconic Ritz hotel (note to
my financial controller: I was staying in a somewhat cheaper place a few
blocks away,) the boutique is called “the Vintage Watch Company.” As you
can see on the photo I took, the shop window is decorated with an
impressive collection of antique Rolex watches.

141
I must admit that the closest encounter I had with the Rolex label to date
came via unsolicited emails, and through colorful street hawkers in a Far
East country trying to sell me a genuine “Lolex”. But what I saw lying
behind the glass certainly triggered another experience. This window
display was all about emotion and brand love!
Even by just reading the texts below the many watches on display, I
learned that there are rare Rolex species with an all red date, a
thunderbird bezel, or a semi bubble back (whatever these may mean).
And that I probably didn’t have enough cash on me to take one these
vintage bling-bling chronometers home with me.
Fascinated by the subject, I went doing more online research from my
hotel room. So I found on the shop’s website (with not very common, but

142
probably very lucrative language options English, Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese, and Russian) that the Vintage Watch Company owns a
collection of over 1000 vintage timepieces (with some of them eve, dating
back to the 1910s), has a team of 6 full-time Rolex trained watchmakers,
and delivers workshops to support the collection. Wow!
Rolex is often referred to as the Rolls-Royce of watches. I don’t consider
myself a connoisseur of either brands, but looking at the sales prices
listed on the Vintage Watch Company’s web pages, Rolex must have a
special place in the hearts (and the wallets) of many watch lovers. The
appreciations from fans around the world, like the ones I found on
[Link], don’t lie: “Rolex it is not only about telling the time, it is
a label of luxury you carry on your wrist,” or “this brand is my dream and
inspiration,” or “I wouldn’t trade it for any other kind of watch.”
Some of their advertising campaigns were iconic too. Already in the early
1900s Rolex ran newspaper advertisements claiming that the
wristwatches were for both men and women. In the 1920s they published
a photograph of Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim across
the Channel, to promote their first waterproof watch. But my favorite ad is
the one with Sir Edmund Hillary and Reinhold Messner, the first men to
summit Mount Everest – respectively with and without oxygen, but both of
them with a Rolex on their wrist.

143
And what timekeeper do you think that James Bond was wearing in
movies like Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger? – until Omega
started supplying 007’s watches in 1995 (the first one worn by Pierce
Brosnan in GoldenEye.) No surprise that there’s an Omega Vintage
Boutique in the shopping arcade too, almost next door to the Rolex one.
So, here’s the lesson I took from my close encounter with Rolex in
London. Every business has a unique value proposition and a compelling
story to tell. So, find your niche, create your brand, tell your story, and
seduce your (in this case, wealthy) customers!

144
The emotion of nature and the nature of emotion
Posted on March 22, 2017

Research by the BBC and the University of California Berkeley has found
that watching nature documentaries makes people feel happy, while it
reduces stress and anxiety. Overall, a majority of 7500 participants from
the US, UK, Singapore, India, South Africa and Australia experienced
significant increases in positive emotions including awe, joy, curiosity,
contentment, enthusiasm, and amusement. The study also found a
substantial decrease in emotions such as nervousness, anxiety, fear,
stress, and tiredness.
In a BBC media release about the study, Prof. Dacher Keltner of UC
Berkeley commented:
“The shifts in emotion demonstrated in the BBC study as a
result of watching this powerful natural history [Planet Earth
II] series are significant as we know that wonder and
contentment are the foundations of human happiness. If
people experience feelings of awe, they are more likely to
display empathetic and charitable behaviours and have been
shown to be better able to handle stress.”

145
Reading this article about the positive influence of natural images on
humans made me think of one of my all-time favorite movie scenes: the
euthanasia of Sol Roth in Richard Fleischer’s 1973 science-fiction film
Soylent Green (you may watch the video clip here.)
The movie plays in a starving New York City of the future (well, if you still
can call 2022 “the future” …) that’s severely suffering from
overpopulation, environmental pollution, and global warming. With the
help of elderly academic, Solomon “Sol” Roth (played by Edward G.
Robinson in his final role), NYPD detective Robert Thorn (played by
Charlton Heston) investigates the murder of an executive at Soylent
Corporation, the company that manufactures the high-energy Soylent
Green food rations.
At the film’s conclusion, we see Sol Roth in one of New York’s euthanasia
centers. He’s put to rest (aka “going home”) with orange-hued lighting,

146
classical music (Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique” symphony No. 6, Beethoven’s
“Pastoral” symphony No. 6, and Grieg’s Peer Gynt), and a video projection
with wild flora and fauna. And then, Sol reveals Soylent Green’s major
secret: [spoiler alert!] the nutritious green wafers are made from human
remains, before choosing assisted suicide with a lethal drug.

The fact that I consider this one of my favorite movie scenes, is not
because of the actors’ performance – there’s little dialog or action in this
specific scene – but because of the emotion that’s concentrated in these
less than five minutes of video. With color, music, and nature images
acting as amplifiers.
Maybe the above content can look a bit exotic for a post on a blog that’s
labeled “business storytelling,” but I decided to share the article and the
video clip as they show the power of emotion in fiction, non-fiction and

147
science-fiction. Same is true in everyday life and business. I truly enjoyed
every single episode of Planet Earth II. And, isn’t there a bit of Sol Roth in
each of us?

Unity!
Posted on April 10, 2017

More than three years ago, I wrote about Robert Cialdini’s 6 principles of
persuasion, and what it takes for business presenters to appear
convincing, credible and trusty in front of their audience. The six principles
are labeled: reciprocity, liking, authority, social proof, commitment, and
scarcity.
When asked in an interview, 30 years after publication of his list, if he still
thought that it was complete, or whether there was room for adding a
number seven and number eight, Dr. Cialdini replied that
“… the majority of the most effective [practices] seem to fall
into one or another of those categories.”

Well, never say never. About six months ago, in Cialdini’s latest book
“Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade,” the author
writes:
“But now I believe that there is a seventh universal principle
that I had missed – not because some new cultural
phenomenon or technological shift brought it to my attention
but because it was hiding beneath the surface of my data all
along.”

148
And the newborn principle is called… unity!
“[Unity] is about shared identities. It’s about the categories
that individuals use to define themselves and their groups,
such as race, ethnicity, nationality, and family, as well as
political and religious affiliations. A key characteristic of these
categories is that their members tend to feel at one with,
merged with, the others. They are the categories in which the
conduct of one member influences the self-esteem of the
other members. Put simple, we is the shared me.”

Thinking back of most of the B2B conversations I’ve participated to

throughout my professional career, I must admit that unity has always
been present in some way. When I discuss job-related issues with my
colleagues, or when I present to an audience of technology people,
product marketers, or business decision makers, we’re (almost) always
sharing a common technical background, a mutual understanding of our
industry’s challenges and opportunities, as well as a common jargon and
visual language – with lots of subject-specific acronyms, architecture
diagrams, and data visualizations.
So, yes, unity has always been, and will continue to be part of my
marketing toolbox. A means to tell my story, to make my arguments more
credible, and to persuade my audience.

149
Five do’s and don’ts for speakers at B2B events
Posted on April 28, 2017

What’s it like being a (professional) presenter in a business-to-business

environment? I’ve given many B2B presentations during my career as a
high-tech marketer, strategist and communicator (that’s what I have on
top of my LinkedIn profile.) Speakersbase, who were so kind to promote
one of my older posts, asked me to share some experience and best
practices at their event last night.
First, I must point out that not all B2B speaking engagements are shaped
equally, and that one should make a clear difference between a private
and public talk:

 Private presentations are usually hosted (and paid) by the company

you work for or by a partner you work with. The audience consists of
existing customers or business prospects, and they (must)
understand they’re entering in a commercial conversation with you –
as a representative of your employer or an advocate of your sponsor.
 Public talks are coordinated by a third-party seminar, congress, or
event organizer. Most often the audience is putting (quite a lot of)
money on the table to attend, and listen to you and your fellow
speakers. As such, expectations are quite different from the private
case, and organizers and attendees want you to deliver the 3 E’s:
education, entertainment, and engagement.

This being said, the 5 do’s and don’ts below mainly apply to public
speaking opportunities:

150
1. No soliciting.
The audience is not travelling many kilometers and paying lots of euros of
dollars to get a hard sales talk, a product pitch, or a promotional speech
from your company. Just imagine yourself spending a night at an
expensive hotel, when a sales rep, a Jehovah’s witness, or a Mormon
missionary knock on your door to bring you his gospel…
Talk about your audience’s day by day problems, and the questions about
the (your!) solutions will follow. And if they don’t, make sure to end your
talk with a clear call to action.

2. Mind your audience.

Satisfying your audience should be any speaker’s primary goal. Align your
content upfront with the event organizers and/or the session chairperson.
Avoid overlap with other presentations at the same conference. Tailor
your talk to the audience’s specific knowledge, needs and expectations.
Never stop intriguing, surprising, or provoking them.
Also avoid mentioning customers or business relations by their name (or
by their logo), unless you’ve got their prior (implicit or explicit) approval.
Remember what happened to a presenter who cited facts and figures
about one of his clients – that turned out to be the next speaker on the
agenda…

3. Storytelling always works.

Though not all content is equally suitable for storification, I experienced
many times that storytelling techniques have a real value. Even (or should
I say particularly?) for management, business, and technology
presentations.

151
If you’re looking for some extreme cases, read my “Error: Reference
source not found” post in which I explain how I narrated “the ugly
duckling” and “the emperor’s new clothes” to business audiences of over
200 persons.

4. Don’t feed the chameleons.

There’s nothing as easy as creating a presentation by cutting and pasting
slides from existing PowerPoints into yours. But, then you should also not
be surprised that your slideshow looks like a chameleon. Garbage in
usually leads to garbage out!
If you want to be considered a professional speaker, then make sure that
you deliver professional visuals. Look ‘n’ feel really matters! Which also
counts for your dress code: your attire can change your image or enforce
your message too. Read more about this in my “Dress to impress” post.

5. Break away from picks and shovels.

In the fast-moving hi-tech industry that I’m active in, public events are
considered picks and shovels for the gold rush, and conference facilitators
often generate more revenue than participating (start-up) companies.
Money makes the world go round. But, dear event organizers, try thinking
of speaking and sponsoring as two mutually exclusive topics. There are
numerous great business speakers who aren’t able to sponsor a show.
And, reciprocally, many of them may be eager to deliver a top-notch
presentation without getting paid for their gig.

Bonus. Think visual.

152
Finally, a picture says more than a thousand words. For the people who
were in the room last night, here are the new traffic signs that may help
you not to forget the 5 tips I presented…

153
A panel’s worth a hundred speeches
Posted on May 11, 2017

A panel discussion is one of many approaches to talking about a specific

subject. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, a panel’s worth (or could
be worth) a hundred speeches. The format gives audience members the
opportunity to listen to different points of view on selected topics, and
weigh the merits of each perspective.

The moderator
A moderator has several roles and responsibilities, including being an
instigator for the conversation, a champion for the audience, and a
timekeeper for the panelists.
Here are a few tips and tricks for moderators:
 First, select your panelist carefully. Invite people with various
backgrounds and experiences. Depending on the session topic and
objectives, you may e.g. match a visionary leader with a pragmatic
technical expert – one with strategic insight with one who knows how
to implement this strategy;
 When you’re moderating a session, make sure that you know your
panelists. Get in touch with them at least a week in advance, and
make sure you know what ideas they stand for;
 Choose a few provocative conversation topics, make sure that your
panelists disagree on some of them (otherwise prepare yourself for a
boring session), and put your speakers in a comfortable chair or on a
cozy couch rather than behind a cold wooden table;

154
  Introduce your guests with a short bio, tell why you (or the event
organizers) picked them to contribute to the conversation, and how
happy you are that such authorities are joining your panel;
 Then continue with a brief introduction of the topic of the day, and let
each panelist make a short statement or present 1 or 2 slides (not
more!) before you address the audience for comments and questions;
 Make sure you prepare a few questions for each topic or speaker for
in case the audience is not interactive as you would have expected
(or hoped). It’s a good practice is to ask your panelists for Q&A
suggestions before the session;

 It’s important for the moderator to have a strong ability to respect

timing, handle questions from the audience, and deal with the
dynamic of the panelists’ responses. Block long and intricate
discussions, product presentations, and commercial messages. Most
members of your audience are probably not interested in the nitty-
gritty details, your panelists’ company profiles, or hard sales pitches.
Also, make sure that you give equal airtime to the different speakers,
and don’t let one personality dominate the discussion – not even
when he is the most charming or humorous panelist.

The panelists
In contrast to giving a public presentation that is one-to-many, a panel
discussion is a many-to-many (or at least a few-to-many) conversation.
Each panelist is confronted with the challenge of being part of the group,
while at the same time trying to stand out from the other speakers.
 Keep in mind that as a panelist you won’t be able to practice your
content in the same way you would for a solo presentation. So, make

155
 sure you come on stage as a subject matter authority with lots of
background information about the topic. Mitigate the risks of having
to repeat your fellow debaters. Prepare stories to share with the
panel, anecdotes to engage the audience, and facts and figures to
spark the debate;

Photo: The Muppets panel at the 2015 Disney/ABC Summer TCA Tour

 If you get the opportunity to present a few slides upfront to the Q&A
or interactive discussion, please keep it short. The people in the room
are expecting a lively conversation (or even more a discussion)
amongst the panelist, not a boring monologue by each of them;

156
  Listen well to what your fellow panelists say, and try to be as reactive
to their words as possible. Even when I’m giving a public speech at
an event, I’m trying to get in well in advance to listen to the
preceding speakers and (if applicable) ad some links to their content
in my own presentation;
 I have written a few blog posts about knowing your audience when
you are giving a presentation. I also recommend to do similar upfront
research on the other panelists, they may be allies or friends, and
very often they work for one of your competitors.

Look above your head

Posted on May 30, 2017

My wife and I just returned from a refreshing and relaxing city trip to
Prague, the marvelous Czech capital. After having visited many beautiful
cities and gorgeous historic places, I learnt that you should never keep
your eyes glued to the sidewalk. Whether you’re visiting the streets of
Prague, London, Venice, or Barcelona there’s always a good reason to look
above your head: richly ornamented Art Nouveau house fronts, intriguing
baroque facade statues, hidden roof gardens, … Even a frugally flowered
window sill, with or without a cat staring at you from behind the glass can
turn a modest city sight into a memorable and inspiring picture.
Here’s the link to the subject of this book: don’t restrict a business
presentation to ‘sidewalk’ matters like current products and past
achievements. A big part of your audience probably expects to learn more
about your vision on and your plans for the future. If your (or your
company’s) ambition is to be a technology innovator, a business

157
champion, or a thought leader, then you’d better start acting as one. Give
your visitors something to look up (or look forward) to. Provide them with
surprising content that lifts their view higher than today’s ceiling.

Note that this doesn’t mean that you can’t look down (or back). Facts and
figures from the past, as well as customer case studies may help to prove
your point or increase your credibility. As I wrote in an older post, in many
companies there’s a role to play for folklorists, evangelists and futurists,
and for this one rare bird that can connect the past, the present and the
future and deliver the best of all times as a single story.
And if you want to reach even further, beyond the facades, the roofs, and
the treetops, then simply follow Stephen Hawking’s advice:

158
 “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make
sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the
universe exist. Be curious.”

Smile and the world will smile with you

Posted on June 19, 2017

The success of a presentation often depends upon your interaction with

the people in the room. To create a true dialog between a speaker and
his/her audience, it’s important that they both feel comfortable with each
other’s presence. Presenters who aren’t capable of building this rapport
may fail to communicate their message, lose their audience’s trust, or
deter the latter from asking questions or engaging.
As such, body language and non-verbal communication are powerful tools
for putting people at ease while helping yourself to relax. Use positive
gestures… Make eye contact… Smile…
A few weeks ago, I delivered a keynote presentation at Connected Cars
Europe. One of the sessions at the event touched upon the relationship
between self-driving cars and pedestrians. Of course the speaker covered
the obligatory ethical minefield of the driverless car forced to decide
whether it would kill a group of elderly people rather than a woman with a
stroller.
The presenter also gave an interesting answer to the question on how
autonomous vehicles may interact with humans to enhance their safety
perception. Pedestrians crossing the road often engage with motorists –
driving towards or waiting at the intersection – by making eye contact to
make sure that the driver noticed them. But how would they feel when

159
this driver is reading a newspaper (while the car is doing all the work on
his behalf) or even when there is no person at all sitting behind the
steering wheel?
Research has revealed that almost than 60% of pedestrians don’t trust
self-driving cars. That’s why a Swedish company introduced a concept car
with a front radiator grille display that… smiles at pedestrians (watch the
video).

Image by Semcon

160
This smiling car is just one possible way for future self-driving vehicles to
communicate with people around them and avoid confusion or accidents.
And just like the public speaker and his audience, both the car driver (or
driverless passenger) and the pedestrian will enjoy the experience, and
feel more at ease when crossing the street.

If an infographic is worth a thousand words…

Posted on August 22, 2017

Over the past five years I have written over 150 articles on this blog,
accounting for nearly 70,000 words. If the statement that a picture is
worth a thousand words is true, the content of this site could be reduced
to, say, a few tens of images and its reading time dramatically shortened.
Studies like the one by David Hyerle show that up to 90 percent of the
information that we remember is based on visual impact and, from
experience, I know that infographics can make complex information more
appealing and better digestible. Providing your audience with compelling
handout material that they can share with others, also helps spreading
your message and increases the impact of your content.
This gave me an interesting challenge – and a creative way to spend some
(tautology alert!) free moments during my summer holidays – in crafting
a set of infographics that summarize some of my old compilation posts:
 7 sins of the speaker (extended version)
 The 3 p’s of a professional public presenter (extended version)
 5 elements of a story (and how to use them in a public presentation)

161
  Know your audience (before you start talking)
 Sailing the seven C’s

You may download the full-size images from

[Link]

162
163
164
165
166
167
Hear, hear! long and descriptive assertions may
be more effective than short and crispy slide titles
Posted on September 6, 2017

I am busy preparing a new presentation and while crafting my slides, I

(almost naturally) started writing full sentences in the title area. Up to
recently I’ve always stuck to the principle that slide headings should be
short, sweet, and tweetable – although I never use topic headlines like
“Background”, “Our products”, or “Conclusions”. These are meaningless
and, no matter how short they are, a waste of slide real estate.
But reading a twelve-year-old research paper by Michael Alley, “How the
Design of Headlines in Presentation Slides Affects Audience Retention”,
made me change my mind. The article challenges the efficiency of short
catchy headlines and suggests that full-sentence assertions increase both
the audience’s attention and the retention of information. His research
showed that students performed better after receiving presentations
designed using an assertion-evidence approach, which combined sentence
titles (the assertion) with visual elements like photos, charts, and
diagrams (the evidence) instead of boring bullet lists.
The image below gives an example of how a dull, bullet-ridden text slide
may be converted in a more attractive one (that tells and shows exactly
the same).
I must admit that the presentation that I’m currently preparing targets a
relatively small and specialized business audience (and, no, it’s not about
childhood obesity). I’m also aware that Alley’s principles may not apply to
every single PowerPoint deck you build. But while crafting my visuals, I
found out that these wordy and assertive headlines kind of enrich the
highly graphical content I tend to create.

168
169
They help me to develop my ‘story’ and let my audience keep track of the
‘plot’. As the title will be the first thing the people in the room read when I
put up a slide, it will orient them to the upcoming content. And at the
same time, I’m giving them a clear takeaway message – just take the title
of this blog post as an example.

No more naked numbers

Posted on September 20, 2017

“When you have mastered numbers, you will in fact no longer be

reading numbers, any more than you read words when reading
books. You will be reading meanings.” – W.E.B. Du Bois, Afro-
American activist and writer

It’s often good to quote numbers in your presentation. They provide

powerful means to support the dialog you’re conducting with your
audience. But, beware: figures don’t always speak for themselves. In
science, naked numbers are numbers without units. Any scientist or
economist will tell you that numbers without labels and charts without
legends are meaningless and worthless. How would you feel about being
offered a salary of “25”, not knowing if you’ll get 25 euros, 25 cents, or 25
peanuts for your work? per hour, per day, or per week?

170
Also, in my job as a strategist and marketer, I’m frequently confronted
with naked numbers, industry analyst reports that contradict each other,
and quantitative claims that don’t seem to make any sense at all. As
Plato, the Greek philosopher, already said 24 centuries ago: a good
decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers. This is exactly why
you shouldn’t present naked figures but complement them by the sources
and the formulas you used to obtain them.
And still, even the most unprovable forecasts and improbable
measurements may yield good presentation material. Not because of their
objective value, but just because some people may agree, and others will
disagree with them. And that’s exactly the sort of conflict you need to
create for fueling a conversation with or between your audience. You’ll get
an opportunity to discuss the why and the how, explain the logic behind
your story, clarify the assumptions you made, bring additional facts and
figures, talk about use cases and customer references, and prove the
value of your products and services.

171
Finally, also remember what I wrote in my “ living by numbers” post on
this blog: numbers, particularly very large ones, don’t resonate with
people until they are presented in an appropriate format. So, it remains
essential to use good visualization methods for giving meaning to your
figures, and making your audience remember the data you quote.

As all of you will know, there are 10 phrases you

shouldn’t use
Posted on October 6, 2017

Over the past decades I have attended and presented at many business
meetings and public events. I’ve seen many good speakers, lots of
mediocre ones, and (unfortunately) even more bad presenters. All people
make mistakes, and sometimes we use words or say things that we don’t
intend to. In most cases this is really no problem. Just remember Dale
Carnegie’s observation – I’ve already quoted it a few times on this site –
that there are always three speeches for every talk you delivered: the one
you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.
But there are some phrases that sound wrong and unprofessional, each
time a speaker articulates them. Phrases that can easily be avoided when
you pay attention and anticipate, and if you invest that little extra time in
preparing and rehearsing your presentation.
There are already a number of such lists circulating on the web, but below
is my personal top 10 of speaker phrases that (in my humble opinion)
never should be used.

172
1. “This presentation is about…”
You may always assume that the people in the room are familiar with the
agenda of the meeting or the event. Even worse, simultaneously with
pronouncing this infamous phrase, you’re most probably putting up a title
slide that says exactly the same thing.
Most people in your audience will decide within the first seconds of a
presentation whether a speaker is worth listening to. So, you must take
this opportunity to grab their attention by intriguing, surprising or
provoking them – instead of telling them something they already know.

2. “I’m not really familiar with this subject.”

This phrase is often followed by something like “but I’m replacing a
colleague” or “but the organizers asked me to present this topic”. Well,
there are no “but”s and no excuses for not being prepared. Preparation
and rehearsal are key ingredients of any successful presentation. And,
obviously, you should never talk about things you don’t really know about.
This will only hurt your reputation, deny your ‘right to speak’, and prevent
you from being invited as a presenter at future events.

3. “I didn’t have much time to prepare.”

I repeat: there is no excuse for not being prepared. And admitting this
publicly only makes it worse for you.

4. “Can people in the back of the room read my slides?”

Unless you’re presenting to a group of visually handicapped people, there
should be no reason to ask such a question. If you don’t overload your
visuals with walls of text, endless bullet lists, or tiny fonts, even the back-

173
row seaters will be able to enjoy your slides. Use font sizes 28–36 for
titles, and don’t go below 20 points for the body text.

5. “On this slide, you can see…” or “The next slide shows…”
If you have used a font size large enough, people can – and will – read
what’s on your slide. These meaningless intro sentences are a waste of
time, and a lost opportunity to say something more interesting to catch
(or renew) the attention of the audience.

6. “I know this is a complex diagram, but…”

Confucius knew: “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it
complicated.” Most of the (sometimes complex) topics you present can
probably be explained in a plain and simple way that all people
understand.
Simplicity always works. There’s no need to overload your visuals with lots
of boxes, arrows and clouds. You’ll spend too much effort creating them
and too much time explaining them. Your audience will also spend too
much energy to understand them – most often, the accompanying text on
the slides will be too small to read by these people in the back of the room
anyway. And, oh yes, also refrain from using acronyms, difficult words,
expert jargon, and long sentences.

7. “As all of you will know…”

Don’t overestimate your audience. Never assume that everyone in the
room is as bright as (you may think) you are. Even if a few experts fully
understand the technical details on your slides, most of your listeners may
not. Remember that very often it’s not the engineer, but rather his or her
manager that attends a conference. And that it’s not always the person

174
that ask many ‘interesting’ questions who’s taking the (business) decisions
at the end of the day.

8. “Does that make sense?”

Although these words are commonly used by speakers to check if their
audience understands or agrees with what they’ve just said, this phrase
may also show a lack of self-confidence and even undermine your
authority. It may suggest that you have doubts about the credibility of
your story, or about your listeners’ capability to understand your content.
Note that this applies mainly to large and very large audiences. If there
are a manageable amount of people in the room and you’ve done your
homework, then you may build in more personal interaction and ask them
for their opinion.
In all cases, however, you may try to read the audience instead. If you’re
telling strange, stupid, or too difficult things, you will certainly get it from
their body language. And in case you still want to do the “does that make
sense?” test, then save the question for launching the Q&A at the end of
your talk.

9. “I’m running out of time, so I’m going to skip the next slides.”
Let me believe that all the visuals you prepare are made to be presented.
So, running out of time either means that you’re talking too much or too
slow, or that your presentation deck has too many slides. A simple root
cause analysis will tell you that in both cases something is wrong with
your preparation and/or your rehearsal.
It’s actually quite easy to calculate the number of slides you need to
prepare and want to present. You could simply apply Guy Kawasaki’s
10/20/30 rule, which says that a good presentation should have ten

175
slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than
thirty points (which is even larger than the 20 points I recommended
above). Or – if the time slot that has been reserved for you happens to be
longer or shorter than these 20 minutes – deduct 1/5 th from your speaking
time for Q&A, and divide the remaining minutes by 2 and by 3. The results
of this simple calculation will give you an upper and lower limit for the
number of visuals you can comfortably run through.

10. “That’s all I have to say. Thank you for listening.”

Never end your presentation with a dry “thank you for listening.” Finish
your performance on stage in a memorable way and dismiss your
audience with clear directions. Tell them what you want them to
remember (summarize your main ideas and key points), what they need
to do (give them some homework, or invite them to visit your webpage or
read a handout), and how they can get there (by engaging in a next step
with you or with your company – don’t forget to put your contact details
on the closing slide!)
That’s all I have to write today. Thank you for reading ;-)

The mysterious Mr Fubini

Posted on October 17, 2017

Several years ago, I came across a simple and compelling vision on the
adoption and evolution of new technologies, known as Fubini’s law:

1. People initially use technology to do what they do now – but faster.

176
 2. Then they gradually begin to use technology to do new things.
3. The new things change life-styles and work-styles.
4. The new life-styles and work-styles change society …
… and eventually change technology.

Since the lines above apply to many technology domains I worked on

throughout my career, I have cited Fubini’s law many times in my
presentations. Just think of how technologies like broadband internet,
digital TV, and mobile communications have changed the way people live,
work, and play.
In analogy with Moore’s and Metcalfe’s laws, about which I wrote in an
older post on this blog, I have always assumed that Fubini’s law was
invented by a person carrying the name Fubini. But, in fact, nobody seems
to know who Mr (or Mrs?) Fubini actually is (or was), for which purpose he
(or she) formulated this law, or when and where it was originally
published. I ran a Google search to find out more, but this only yielded a
handful of blog posts (the oldest ones date from around the year 2003)
and books that refer to each other.
I have always been convinced that Fubini’s observations are spot on. And
even if it’s not my style to quote anonymous or unverified sources, I will
keep on using his wise words in my presentations. To illustrate the
transformative power of technology and to celebrate human inventivity!
Note: Fubinis law, as described above, shouldn’t be confused with Guido
Fubini’s theorem that dates from 1907 and describes how to compute a
double integral using iterated integrals.
Another note: after reading this this post, Ron Murch from the University
of Calgary pointed me to the fact that the observations in Fubini’s law are

177
quite nicely aligned with Marshall McLuhan’s work on the evolution of the
adoption of new media technologies. McLuhan’s work was done in the
1960s and one of his propositions was that when a ‘new’ medium for
communication is introduced, it’s initial content is the ‘old’ media that it is
replacing. Then, as society uses the new medium more and more, we
start to do things with it that the old media were incapable of doing.
Thanks Ron, much appreciated!

An empirical evidence of Fubini’s law

Posted on October 24, 2017

In the previous post I wrote about the mysterious Mr Fubini, who created
a law that describes the adoption of new technology. A faithful reader of
my blog, however, remarked that it’s easy to formulate a theorem without
any further proof. As a scientist by education (and a blogger only by
vocation) I couldn’t ignore such a righteous remark. So, here comes an
empirical evidence of Fubini’s law.
Maybe some of you remember my 2013 posting, “inspiration and
perspiration”, in which I described the way my blog was getting shape at
that time. How the topics to write about usually came while commuting to
work on the tramway. And that, when an idea for an article popped up, it
took me less than 10 minutes to create an outline on my Blackberry.
Well, in the meantime, technology has evolved, and my good old
keyboard-operated device has been replaced by a full-fledged
smartphone. Yet, I still take the tram to work. My cell phone may have
improved, but the traffic to and in Antwerp certainly got worse in the past
years. If the weather allows (I’m not a big fan of turning up soaked at the

178
office) I even get off the trolley car 2 or 3 stops too early and walk the
last mile – my fitness tracker corrects me that it’s about 3,000 steps – to
work. That’s good for my physical condition, helps me think more clearly,
and lets my creative juices flow.
There’s one big difference compared to 2013 (apart from me carrying a
step counter): instead of typing down my thoughts, I simply record them
now with the voice-recorder app on my phone, and write out the
transcript when I arrive at the office…
Fubini’s law. Quod erat demonstrandum!

Please, note that I self-dictated a rough version of the above text on my

phone while commuting this morning, then polished the transcript, and
published it on WordPress. The whole process, including a healthy walk,
took me a little less than two hours.

179
Marketing, promises, and real products
Posted on November 7, 2017

How creative can (or may) a company get with making marketing
promises?
You may have read this article in the Inquirer about how a small Chinese
smartphone vendor failed in delivering on its marketing promises. The
world’s smallest 4G Android smartphone was announced to have a battery
life of three days, and to weigh as little as 60 grams.
Unfortunately, some of the promising specs turned out to be no more than
marketing talk. In a BBC interview, the company’s CEO admitted that the
handset’s performance might “fall short of expectations in certain
circumstances” and that “heavy use” could reduce the 950mAh (!)
battery’s life to three or four hours instead of days. To be noted that the
exec’s definition of heavy use includes keeping Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
switched on all the time. Say no more. Who of us still bothers about
turning off these functions when not in use? The phone’s declared weight
was about right – the only detail that the marketing department forgot to
mention is that that’s without the battery…
Of course, as I wrote in one of my older posts, there’s no single truth.
When it comes to product specifications and performance numbers,
however, the variation and interpretation margins are extremely small.
The primary aim of any marketing professional is to make a product look
attractive and useful and persuade potential buyers. But persuasion is
never about telling lies, cheating or fooling your customers!

180
Shhh, this is confidential information — or not
Posted on November 10, 2017

This is going to be one of my shorter posts on this blog. Or, maybe I

should call it rather a rant than a post. I’m writing this on a Friday night,
while still on a business trip abroad. I was inspired for it earlier today,
while I was listening to a public keynote presentation at technology
conference.
The content of the talk was actually quite interesting. Even so interesting
that the speaker had put “CONFIDENTIAL” on each of his 20+ slides.
OMG, this guy was showing company confidential content to 250 people,
with probably a few tens of competitors in the room! Or was he not?
Either the presenter must have been well aware of the importance and
secrecy of his content, or he was making a notorious layout blunder.
Considering the material on the slides, I can only assume that the latter is
true.
How can a professional B2B presenter, who takes himself seriously, do
such a thing? Either he didn’t create his own visuals, and just
copy’n’pasted existing corporate material, or used a wrong presentation
template. Or he neglected reviewing and rehearsing his presentation, and
as such overlooked the security classification at the bottom of the slides.
Or (probably most unlikely) he was really violating his company’s
information security rules by showing classified information to a non-
trusted audience.
Putting a “COPYRIGHT” notice on your slides is a good practice, however,
because (if you’re lucky) it may protect your intellectual and creative
property from unauthorized reuse. But, personally, I would have made a
bit of an effort in removing the confidentiality classification from my

181
company’s presentation template. Writing “CONFIDENTIAL” on a public
presentation is just useless and it makes the speaker look silly.

About white shirt, black shirt, and tee-shirt gigs

Posted on November 18, 2017

“Clothes and manners do not make the man; but when he is

made, they greatly improve his appearance.” – Arthur Ashe,
American tennis player and winner of 3 Grand Slam titles

I may remember that I used the above quote in an older post, “ Dress to
impress,” in which I wrote about how your attire can change your image
or enforce your message as a public speaker.
Just like people use the metaphor of white vs. blue collars to classify
jobs, segment workers, or even describe different social classes, I started
thinking of public speaking engagements in terms of white shirts, black
shirts, and tee-shirts.

182
Different audiences require different vestments, and very often a different
presentation style.
 White shirt. I (almost) always wear a white shirt when
representing my company in front of a business audience or when
speaking to government officials. As I’m a marketing guy, I don’t
consider wearing a tie a must. Only when the event is so official or
when my audience is really executive or exclusive, I’d take the
challenge and the effort of knotting my tie property.
 Black shirt. A black shirt is certainly less formal and (IMHO) looks
trendier on stage than a white one. I reserve my all-black garb for
when I’m giving thought-leader-style keynotes or when I’m
delivering a corporate innovation pitch. Note that a black
turtleneck might be a good alternative for a collared shirt. But
keep in mind that this outfit (combined with blue jeans and a pair
of grey sneakers) has been worn before by – and was part of the
personal brand of – a person called Steve Jobs. A technology and
business icon with great charisma and an unprecedented speaking

183
 talent. Well, personally, I don’t have the ambition to and won’t
take the risk of being compared with the late Apple CEO.
 Tee-shirt. The people who know me personally will tell you that I
don’t have the physics for wearing a tee-shirt in front of a large
audience. Or more simply said: my belly is in the way. Still, a
plain-colored or printed tee-shirt (mind the images and/or texts
that you’re displaying!) can be an ideal outfit when addressing
technology innovators, business disrupters, and other lean & mean
startups. Wearing a tee makes you look like an “equal among
equals” and may facilitate informal conversations with your
audience.

184
All stories deserve embellishment
Posted on December 5, 2017

“Well, all good stories deserve embellishment. You’ll have a tale

or two to tell of your own when you come back.” – Gandalf the
Grey (in a conversation with Bilbo Baggins)

Merriam-Webster defines to embellish as “to heighten the attractiveness

of by adding decorative or fanciful details.” Gandalf was right. Every story
– and to an extent, every presentation – will benefit from embellishments.

185
Here are a few tools you may use:
 Bring in (one or more of) the typical elements of a story: character,
setting, plot, theme, and style. Many (if not all) novelists and movie
directors rely upon these to ensure a consistent narrative, allow the
action to develop, and let the audience emotionally engage (learn
more about them in my post about the “five elements of a story, and
how to use them in a business presentation”)
 Give it a personal touch: when telling a personal story, you share an
authentic part of yourself that may inspire, connect, and engage
people. You could e.g. start your talk by “On the way to this event, I
…” or “Lately, my X year old son/daughter asked me …” Or tell an
anecdote about a real-life moment, encounter, or incident.
 Enrich your story with facts, figures, and trivia: crafting your
presentation for creating an emotional connection with the people in
the room doesn’t exclude using hard, soft, or fun facts. They help you
to make your point and persuade your audience. Just make sure to
embed your data into a convincing narrative and visualize them
appropriately and creatively.
 Use metaphors: as they speak directly to our imagination, metaphors
bypass humans’ left-brain hemisphere and will help you explain and
explore ideas that lie behind rational thought – or that are too dry,
too boring, or too complex for your listeners (more about the
functioning of your audience’s brains can be found in my posts “Yin,
yang and your brain” and “Use your brain, you’ve got three of
them.”)
 Quote people, books, or movies: quotes may serve as a second voice
in your presentation. Use them to strengthen your arguments, to

186
 confirm your claims, or (most likely) to infuse your story with a
memorable or inspiring statement.
 Add a touch of humor: humor is subjective, but the principles
underlying humor are not. If you use the comic toolbox intelligently,
moderately, and appropriately – without hurting anyone’s feelings –
you have access to a set of non-threatening tools to make your point,
challenge incorrect assumptions, or help people remember your key
messages.
 Provide case studies: document your presentation with real-life
examples to make your story more credible and show that you’ve
“been there, done that.” Embellishing case studies with a protagonist
or antagonist character makes them even pleasant to listen to. The
hero could be you, your company, or your product, while the
adversary may e.g. be a competitor, a demanding customer, or an
unfavorable market condition.
 Enhance the look and feel of your slides: in one of my older posts, I
compared a good presentation with a tasteful dish. Great food is
enjoyed through many senses. Taste, smell, and colors do matter.
And so, do the look and feel of your presentations. Your slideshows
will derive great benefit from creative layouts with images, video, and
multimedia.
One more thing: exotic fonts, in-slide object animations, and click and
whoosh sounds aren’t embellishments. They are annoyances. You’re not
Gandalf, you don’t need a magic wand, and as a business presenter you’re
not competing for the special effects Oscar.
Also note that the quote on top of this article only appears in in Peter
Jackson’s movie; you won’t find it back in J. R. R. Tolkien’s original

187
publication of The Hobbit. The photo above is showing Ian McKellen as
Gandalf in the Warner Bros. picture.

Not every picture tells the story

Posted on December 10, 2017

Just before the weekend there was a @WEF tweet that pointed to a post
on the World Economic Forum blog. The article, which is quite interesting
(at least for a tech guy like me,) explores how the internet looked like in
1973. In these early days, the entire net consisted of just 45 computers
and could be mapped out on the back of a napkin.

188
But what struck me most when I saw this tweet passing by, was the
contradicting information in the twitter message and the image attached
to it. The picture shows a Macintosh, a Macintosh Plus, and a Macintosh
SE. As I was working with Apple Computer during the second half of the
eighties, I know for sure that the latter was only launched in 1987, and so
there’s a fourteen-year lag between the hardware shown and the 1973
internet of the WEF post…
Whether used in a tweet, an article, or a PowerPoint presentation, such a
discrepancy between the text and the image creates a conflicting situation
in the reader’s or listener’s brain. This doesn’t mean that one should
systematically duplicate the content in the visual and textual or auditory
messages he’s delivering. As I wrote in one of my older posts, “What you
say and what you show,” an image can help you present your message
simple and sweet, and make what you show complementary to what you
say.
And, while writing the above, I started thinking of what alternative image
I would have used instead of the Macs. Mmmmm, forty-five years ago, the
internet was probably not that very visually exciting. Therefore, I was
thinking of showing a more compelling picture (or even a piece of video.)
And, well, a quick Google search taught me that the UK singles top-50 of
8 December 1973 was topped by Slade with “Merry Xmas Everybody.”

189
If that isn’t a nostalgic piece of seventies eye – and even ear – candy! And
it gives a good message for this time of year too. Happy holiday season,
dear readers.

The 4th P
Posted on January 2, 2018

Although the title of this post would make a great title for a crime novel,
it’s actually a follow-up on the most visited article that I have published on
this blog to date. In “The 3 p’s of a professional public presenter” I argued
that in this era of content, communication, conversation, and customer
experience, a marketer’s capability to create a decent message house,
translate it into a captivating story, and use it to engage with a specific
audience is probably more essential than mastering Jerome McCarthy’s 4
P’s: price, promotion, product and place.

190
And then I introduced an alternative “3P” model that summoned business
presenters to take control of their pitch, their preparation, and
their presentation. Well, I was wrong or, rather, incomplete. The desirable
speaker’s mix consists of four P’s – not just three. I realized this when
reading a biographical article about Beethoven, in which I found this quote
attributed to the German composer:

“To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is

inexcusable.” ― Ludwig van Beethoven

You may now have guessed that the 4th P stands for passion. And though
it’s less tangible than the 3 other ones – a skill that can’t be acquired by
training and a genuineness that can’t be rehearsed – it’s probably the P
with the biggest impact on the outcome of your presentation. Passion is
the x-factor that sets you apart from the average speaker, that leaves
your audience with an authentic impression, and that creates an incentive
for them to engage with you.

191
 photo: John Belushi as Beethoven

Just like enthusiasm, passion is contagious. Combined with an appropriate

pitch, a thorough preparation, and a well-rehearsed presentation, it
provides you with a unique set of chords to compose, conduct, and
perform your next master piece.

“From the glow of enthusiasm, I let the melody escape. I pursue it.
Breathless I catch up with it. It flies again, it disappears, it plunges
into a chaos of diverse emotions. I catch it again, I seize it, I
embrace it with delight… I multiply it by modulations, and at last I
triumph in the first theme. There is the whole symphony.” – Ludwig
van Beethoven

192
The ethos, pathos and logos in Oprah’s #metoo
speech
Posted on January 9, 2018

On Monday, I woke up with a sound bite from Oprah Winfrey on my clock

radio. An excerpt of her acceptance address for the Cecil B. DeMille Award
for outstanding contributions to entertainment at the 2018 Golden Globes
awards ceremony, which will most likely be known in history as
her #MeToo speech. I must admit I wasn’t at full consciousness that early
in the day yet, but WOW! what an amazing storyteller Oprah is, and what
a memorable performance she delivered. Some commentators even called
her discourse presidential. Just watch the video at the bottom of this
page.

193
In the past, I have published posts about Barack Obama’s second term
acceptance speech (“Obama and the rule of three”) and about Donald
Trump’s communication capabilities (“Trump and the rule of one”,) so why
not write a few words about this presentation of a still-very-maybe next
president of the USA.
As you may have observed, Oprah’s speech is loaded with ethos, pathos
and logos. Using a good mix of Aristotle’s persuasive appeals, the media
diva succeeded in winning the hearts and the minds of millions of women
and men sitting in the auditorium or in front of their TV screens (for more
background on ethos, pathos and logos, you may read my article “About
rhetoric, storytelling, and persuasion”.)

194
Ethos
Of course, the current scandals in the entertainment industry, misogynist
power relations, and sexual misbehavior are a more than ethically loaded
topic. Dressed in all-black –emphasizing her support for the #metoo
movement– Winfrey took on the predators and paid honor to their victims.

“Tonight, I want to express gratitude to all the women who have

endured years of abuse and assault because they, like my mother,
had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue. They’re
the women whose names we’ll never know. They are domestic
workers and farm workers. They are working in factories and they
work in restaurants and they’re in academia and engineering and
medicine and science. They’re part of the world of tech and politics
and business. They’re our athletes in the Olympics and they’re our
soldiers in the military.”

“[Recy Taylor] lived, as we all have lived, too many years in a culture
broken by brutally powerful men. For too long, women have not been
heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of
those men.”

But she also bravely expressed her support for the free press, that is
currently under attack by alternative facts and fake news allegations.

“I want to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, because we

all know the press is under siege these days. But we also know it’s
the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth that keeps
us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice, to tyrants
and victims, and secrets and lies. I want to say that I value the press

195
 more than ever before as we try to navigate these complicated times,
which brings me to this: what I know for sure is that speaking your
truth is the most powerful tool we all have.”

Pathos
Oprah’s presentation was loaded with stories, inspired by the
entertainment industry and by the lives of fellow African-Americans.

“Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories that we

tell, and this year, we became the story.”

During a no longer than 9-minute performance on stage, she brought

three personal, emotional, and engaging stories. The opening about
herself, the little girl on the linoleum floor who’s watching Sidney
Poitier becoming the first black Oscar winner. Her testimonial about Recy
Taylor, who was abducted, gang-raped, and left blindfolded by the side of
the road coming home from church. And the story of Rosa Parks, the lead
investigator on the Taylor case, who refused to give up her bus seat to a
white passenger.

Logos
Although you won’t find many hard facts and figures in the transcript of
Winfrey’s speech, be sure that every single man or woman in the audience
was linking her words to the scandals that recently unfolded in Hollywood.
So, logos was all around. In stories about gender, racial, and income
inequality. And, not at least in the character of the narrator: women,
colored, and of poor origin.

196
 “And I have tried many, many, many times to explain what a
moment like that means to a little girl, a kid watching from the cheap
seats as my mom came through the door bone tired from cleaning
other people’s houses.”

“In 1982, Sidney received the Cecil B. DeMille award right here at the
Golden Globes and it is not lost on me that at this moment, there are
some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be
given this same award.”

“… the incredible men and women who’ve inspired me, who’ve

challenged me, who’ve sustained me and made my journey to this
stage possible. Dennis Swanson who took a chance on me for A.M.
Chicago. Quincy Jones who saw me on that show and said to Steven
Spielberg, ‘Yes, she is Sophia in The Color Purple.’ Gayle, who’s been
the definition of what a friend is and Stedman, who’s been my rock.”

Finally, the epic “their time is up” theme – probably as memorable as

Obama’s “yes we can,” – combined with a strong ending gives a message
of hope to the abuse victims, and to all magnificent women and some
pretty phenomenal men in the world.

“So, I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new
day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be
because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here
in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard
to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time
when nobody ever has to say ‘me too’ again.”

197
My design agency is called none
Posted on January 21, 2018

Following a conference talk, one of my fellow keynote speakers once

asked me which agency created my slides, because he “liked my visuals
more than his”. My answer was straightforward and simple: I always
create my own materials.
For sure, crafting a nice-looking PowerPoint takes a good chunk of your
time, but IMHO it’s always worth the effort. Of course, there are graphic
design agencies, who are more than happy doing the work for you. There
are many good such agencies, but also mediocre ones. No offence to the
good ones, but I had a not-so-positive experience working with a graphic
(re)designer in the past. That’s an understatement, as he totally ruined
the concept behind my presentation when he neglected and overrode
some (implicit) color coding I had built in.
At another occasion, another graphics guy introduced an overload of
visual effects and animations to my slideshow. I had to tell them that such
animations distract the audience from my key messages, and force me to
concentrate on timing and control instead of on my narrative.
Furthermore, animated slides are often hard to edit and/or update,
because of duplication and non-accessibility of grouped and hidden
objects.
For a colleague’s presentation, another designer (?) created a single slide
with 133 (!) words, written in 10 point (!) font size. I’m aware that not
everyone is a follower of Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 rule, but this specific
visual was unreadable, unpresentable, and thus unacceptable.
Here’s another piece of advice: always double-check your original
messages after bullets or handout texts have been rewritten. Particularly

198
in the case when you’re using technical language or subject specific
jargon – I once discovered that my Linux kernelwas faulty replaced by
a nucleus. If content needs to be translated to a foreign language (even if
it’s one you’re more or less familiar with) it may be a good idea to have
the presentation reviewed by a native-speaking colleague.
Finally, like every father who thinks his kids are the most beautiful
children on earth, I often prefer my original slides over the revamped
ones. They contain my visual signature and they’re part of my personal
brand. That’s why my graphic design agency is called None. And when I
asked the other speaker about how much he had paid the design company
for authoring his presentation, I was flabbergasted by the amount of
money he spent per slide. Well, if I ever lose my voice, I know a lucrative
alternative to public speaking: creating or remaking other people’s slides…

If you’re looking for slide design tips and some do’s and don’ts for using
fonts, color, images, bulleted lists, multimedia, and templates in your

199
slides, you may read my article “Why look and feel matter in business
presentations“.

A (wo)man needs a plan

Posted on January 31, 2018

Yesterday I saw the following tweet from J.K. Rowling passing by on my

twitter feed:

The tweet was part of a conversation about her upcoming crime novel
“Lethal White” that is to be published under the British writer’s Robert
Galbraith pseudonym.

200
Although January is just ending, Rowling’s observation already gets my
“quote of the year 2018” award. The glass is never full or empty. Each
challenge holds an opportunity, and vice versa. Whether you are writing a
book, preparing a business presentation, or building a house, nothing
comes without effort. All these activities require reflection, planning, and
preparation.
As such, I was also not surprised to read in related @jk_rowling tweets
that she plans a lot.

I wrote in one of my older posts about “inspiration and perspiration” that

it’s the mere 10% of upfront creativity that’s shaping success, while one
needs a good dose of self-discipline to keep the following 90% of the
process flowing. And, whether your blank page comes from a
notebook, the back of a napkin, a roll of wall paper, or a Microsoft Office
file, a good storyboard, a mind map or a (color-coded) table will help you
to light up your mind and fill that sheet.

201
Doing a bit more research, I stumbled upon this picture of
Rowling’s spreadsheet plot for “Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix”:

(Image source: Mental Floss)

Ever since I read the first episode of her Harry Potter septology, I’m a J.K.
Rowling fan – with great respect for the author as a writer, a storyteller,

202
and an engaged human being. Yesterday’s tweet sequence is yet another
confirmation of that for me.

Entertain. Educate. Engage.

Posted on February 28, 2018

In an older article about “five do’s and don’ts for speakers at B2B events,”
I briefly touched upon organizers and audiences’ expectations of
presenters at public events. I identified them as the 3
E’s: entertain, educate, and engage.
Well, I’m once again at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and as
with previous editions I attended, I’m dedicating a blog post to my
impressions, learnings, and experience from/at one of the biggest
technology shows on earth.
This year I’m at the Nokia booth again, delivering a presentation about
the future home entertainment experience. I’m talking about how new
technologies, new business models, and evolving consumer behavior are
changing the nature of, and the way we consume video content. I’m
performing in a quite spectacular setup, that we nicknamed our video
cave.
This brings me to the first of the 3E’s:
 Entertain: while preparing for the event, I have intensely worked
together with the creative agency that built the booth and created
some exclusive video content for the demo. And IMHO the result is
amazing. My narrative – a mix of trend watching, storytelling, and

203
 use case examples – is supported by spectacular 180° surround video
images that occupy 3 walls and 33 display monitors.

My company is in business, and so am I. As such I, am expected to be

more than just a booth entertainer. That’s why my demo also educates
and calls for engagement.

 Educate: I’m talking about our vision on how video, AR, and VR
content will be produced, distributed, and consumed in 2025. What it
means for service providers and their customers. I’m talking about
the “why” and the “how,” and not about the “what” (do you still
remember my post about the golden circle?). I’m showing a short
video about our vision, and then I explain the role of technology and

204
 my company’s products, but I don’t go into the details and neither do
I push a hard sales message.
 Engage: I always try to keep my talk conversational and adapt it to
each session’s audience (I’m giving 15-20 presentations each day,
and MWC visitors are a mix of international telecom executives,
service marketers, and technology experts.)

Those are often the best moments of the day, when I just sit down and
have a good conversation with people about the things I’m telling and
about their daily and future business – while collecting business cards and
taking lead information.

205
And when I receive positive response from my audience or when our
Chinese competitors nod approvingly from behind their camera phones, I
feel that I’ve done a good job.
But, of course, spending a whole week at a big event like the Mobile World
Congress is so much more than giving presentations and demos. It’s also
reconnecting with colleagues and friends you haven’t seen for a year, and
enjoying tapas and a good glass of wine with them at night.

206
Six minutes and twenty seconds
Posted on March 26, 2018

Does it require a trained, accomplished, and experienced speaker to move

an audience?
Well, this past weekend, an-18-year old student silenced the world by
delivering a chilling speech to an audience of more than a half-million
people in Washington D.C. Her name is Emma González, and she’s a
survivor of the February 14, 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

(image courtesy CNN)

207
Just watch the video recording of her 6 minutes and 20 seconds March For
Our Lives address below. Six minutes and twenty seconds loaded
with ethos, pathos, logos (yes, gun control is about common sense),
and… bloodcurdling silence. Six minutes and twenty seconds was exactly
the amount of time it took a shooter to steal the lives of 17 of Emma’s
classmates.
This young adult — together with her Gen-Z peers — has taken the gun
control conversation to, let’s hope for my American friends, a point-of-no-
return. Emma’s speech will go down in history for her emotional words,
her tears, and also for her defiant silence.

We’re still closing the first quarter of 2018, but take note that I have
already nominated my candidate for Time Magazine’s person of this year…

208
From accumulation to understatement
Posted on April 10, 2018

Figures of speech can help listeners and readers understand what we say
and write. But they also help make our language more colorful and make
our stories more engaging (hey, wasn’t that an anaphora?) As I use them
frequently in my presentations and my blog posts, here’s a (non-
exhaustive) list with 10 of my favorite rhetorical figures…
Accumulation = gathering, repeating, and recapitulating previously stated
arguments. It may be used to simply summarize your key points (as I’m
often doing at the end of a presentation), but also to re-emphasize your
message in a forceful way. Here’s an example of how I used accumulation
to conclude my old-but-gold “Don’t feed the chameleons” article: “So next
time you need to build a business presentation, start well in advance and
take your time to tune each slide. Don’t take existing material for granted.
Be creative. Be consistent. Be professional.”
 Alliteration = the repetition of an initial consonant sound. This works
extremely well to make your blog/presentation/slide headlines stand
out. Just think of the post on this site that I titled: “Proudly
promoting my president’s presentation pizzazz.”
 Anaphora = a technique where several phrases begin with the same
word or words. I often use it in combination with a rule of three, like
the “Be creative. Be consistent. Be professional.” in the accumulation
example above.
 Antithesis = the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced
phrases. Take, for example, “women have not been heard or believed
if they dared to speak their truth” in Oprah Winfrey’s 2018 Golden

209
 Globes speech or “for those who still can’t comprehend, because they
refuse to” in Emma González’ March for our Lives address.
 Chiasmus = a verbal pattern in which the second half of an
expression or a sentence is balanced against the first but with the
parts reversed. John F. Kennedy’s “Let us never negotiate out of fear,
but let us never fear to negotiate” is a famous example of a
chiasmus.

 Hyperbole = using an extravagant statement or exaggeration to

emphasize a point or to evoke strong feelings. When I wrote
that Fidel Castro’s listenership may have called itself lucky after a 7
hours and 10 minutes speech, and that it may have taken the late
Cuban leader almost 54 working days to prepare his address, I might
have used a couple of hyperboles.

210
 Metaphor = an implied comparison between seemingly unrelated
objects and/or concepts offers a creative means to convey much
more content compared to only talking about the naked topic of your
presentation. Over the past years I have written several blog posts
about the metaphors that I have used in my presentations. Do you
remember what a highway junction, a cherry pie, or a volcano stand
for? If not, you may revisit these respective posts: “Highway 61
revisited”, “Easy as cherry pie”, and “Making the volcano”.
 Paradox = a statement that sounds like it contradicts itself, but which
often contains some kernel of truth or reason. A few years ago, I
closed my presentation at an Internet of Things conference with a
“the best things in life aren’t things” slide. Although I presented a
clear contradiction in terms, no single person in the audience
questioned the truth of my statement.

 Personification = giving human qualities to non-living things or ideas.

When, in one of my articles about the Internet of Things, I suggested
that enterprises should step through the mirror – like Alice [in
Wonderland] stepped through the looking glass – I was perfectly
aware that a company is not a human being.

 Understatement = when a writer or speaker deliberately uses words

that lessen or minimize the importance of an issue or a situation. The
presentation that I mentioned above in my paradox bullet, was titled
“The unbearable lightness or IoT forecasting”. I chose this title to
make a polite statement about the fact that industry analysts often
cite widely diverging figures about the same topic.

211
The bird watcher
Posted on April 22, 2018

This weekend, while I was walking in the park with my dog, I ran into a
guy taking pictures with a huge 600mm lens. Based upon the professional
look of the equipment he was holding — and even more upon the fact that
he was pointing his telescope at an apparently well-chosen spot in a tree
top — I concluded that I was facing a full or semi-professional
ornithologist who had spotted some rare species. When I posed him the
possibly most obvious question that one can ask at such moment, “What
are you targeting?” the man’s reply was straightforward but also
unexpected: “… Birds …”

212
 Photo: Mavani-Photography

As I implicitly assumed that the bird watcher in the park was a seasoned
expert, his word(s) sounded poor and disappointing. To be honest, I had
anticipated to hear him disclose that an exotic bird had visited my home
town, complemented by a myriad of details about the species, and why
this was really such a special encounter. Would you get excited when a
software designer reveals you that he’s writing “programs”, a Ferrari
dealer tries to sell you “a car”, or a tech company exec announces a
“machine that does ping”?
The guy in the park was either an over-equipped amateur, or a badly
communicating subject matter expert. In my personal logic, none of these
combinations makes good sense.
Post scriptum: about two minutes before I bumped into the (would-be?)
ornithologist, I heard a very nearby rattle in the woods. And now I’m still
wondering if I’ve missed a black, a green, or a spotted woodpecker…

Icarus
Posted on May 6, 2018

In this week’s post I am simply translating a column that appeared two

days ago in Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant (thank you, Hilda Boerma, for
letting me discover the article on Twitter). Because it’s one of the best
explanations I’ve ever read why people like stories about success and –
even more – failure.

213
The column, written by Philippe Remarque (all credit goes to the author)
is titled “Dreaming away with the successes and failures of Elon Musk”.

Why do the media keep telling about the gigantic losses and faltering
production of Tesla? It’s wonderful to dream away with Elon Musk, a
man who invents online payments, single-handed makes rockets that
beat Nasa’s, runs a plan to colonize Mars and en-passant transforms
the car industry with his sexy electric models. 450 thousand paying
customers for his middle class car, the Tesla 3, even before he has
produced a single one of it! But it’s just even more exciting when he
subsequently doesn’t succeed in building a properly working assembly
line. Too many robots, people need to join to make it work. Pride that
comes before the fall, as we know since Icarus, is the most beautiful
story for ordinary mortals.

You may read the original Stekel column (in Dutch) here.

214
 (image: The fall of Icarus by Pieter Paul Rubens, 1636)

Whistles and bells and spoke cards

Posted on May 21, 2018

I remember that, when I was a kid, we used to place playing cards in the
spokes of our bicycle wheels. As the cards made quite some noise when
they flapped against the spokes, they created a false perception of speed
(just like some motor bikers or car freaks believe the more racket their
engine produces, the faster the vehicle will go.)

215
Well, from experience I can tell you that these spoke cards where nothing
more than whistles and bells. My bike didn’t run any faster. But, the idea
that an object that makes a lot of noise or reflects a lot of light must be
very impressive, very powerful, or very expensive still exists. Take, for
example, the average boom box kid who thinks he’ll rock everyone who
passes by. Or the gold-colored smart phone owner who wants to
make his/her cheap phone look kind of premium. Or even worse, those
people who buy a bling bling case to pimp up their mobile device to a
pocketful of glitter and glamour.

216
A similar syndrome also exists with certain speakers at public events. I
still remember the guy dressed up in a three-piece black suit talking to… a
geeky audience at a software developer conference (you may revisit my
“Dress to impress” and “About white shirt, black shirt, and tee-shirt gigs”
posts to read more about speaker dress codes.) Or with those business
presenters that create fancy slide decks, ornamented with comic
sans text, kitschy colors, or meaningless clip art (slide design topics also
covered by my “Don’t feed the chameleons” and “Why look and feel
matter in business presentations” posts.)
But, always keep in mind that whistles and bells are not half as bad
as smoke and mirrors – showing off with a gold-colored iPhone never
compares to wearing a fake Rolex. Or to delivering a presentation that
you didn’t prepare yourself about a topic you hardly know anything about.
Or to telling lies to, cheating on, or fooling your customers… (as reported
on in my “Marketing, promises, and real products” post.)

The swan lake (re)visited

Posted on May 29, 2018

217
A lot has been said and written about millennials, the way they think, and
the way they communicate. For marketers and recruiters there seems to
be one simple rule: “if you want to attract millennials, speak their
language.” A 2015 survey conducted by Fraclt and BuzzStream concluded
that many Generation Y’ers are looking for short and concise content that
is presented in a way that makes it easy for them to find the main

218
takeaways and messages, and that they prefer entertainment over any
other genre.
Well, I have never believed in categorizing people based upon their age,
race, or gender. But today, I stumbled upon an amazing proof point of
millennial storytelling skills when UK-based millennial Thomas Ryalls
announced that he was going to watch a ballet performance for the first
time in his life: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s famous Swan Lake.
Have a look at the amazing report of the guy’s first ballet experience, that
tells the story of the Black Swan in a personal, funny, and authentic way.
With less than 1,000 followers on Twitter this young adult is neither an
influencer or a celebrity – but IMHO he may become one soon!
(please, read @BoyAndPen‘s whole thread on twitter if you want to know
why the audience applauded at the beginning…)

Everyone’s a winner, baby

Posted on June 11, 2018

The photo below, taken at last week’s G7 summit in Charlevoix (Canada)

and published on Instagram by German chancellor Angela Merkel, will
probably go into history as one of the most viral pictures of 2018, as well
as a good candidate for this year’s World Press Photo awards.
The picture (either in its original or in one of the many photoshopped
versions that are circulating on the web) got annotations ranging from
“renaissance art” to “a scene from the Apprentice.” I’m sure it will be used
as a scholarly example for discussing facial expression and body language.
Or for illustrating the problematic trade relationship between the EU and

219
the US. Or for promoting the German chancellor’s prominent role at the
G7 meeting.

But… as I wrote in an earlier post on this blog, “The right of being wrong,”
there is no such thing as a single truth. All depends on the observer’s or
the reporter’s perspective. Look at the other pictures, taken at the same
moment, and tweeted by the French, the Italian, and the American
players respectively…

220
221
222
It suddenly becomes less obvious telling which of the world leaders –
Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Giuseppe Conte, or maybe even
Donald Trump – really was the boss in Charlevoix.
Everyone’s a winner, baby. At least, that’s what their PR people will try to
tell us…

223
Spoiler alert!
Posted on June 24, 2018

I just finished the first draft of a sales PowerPoint for a new solution that
my company is developing. Following my own blog’s advice (see links to a
few relevant posts below) I crafted a compelling storyline, and structured
the presentation following AIDA and Golden Circle principles.
Then a colleague sent me this comment: “Maybe you should start with
an executive summary slide to set the scene…”
If you go to a movie theater, you don’t want the film to begin with a
spoiler, do you? You don’t want to be told during the very first
minutes who dunit, or which main characters will die in the next one and a
half hour. Unless, in the exceptional case, when the screenplay’s
structured as a flash back. As a marketer, however, I seriously doubt if it
makes any sense to tell the story of an exciting new product in the past
tense…
That’s why you’ll never see me start a presentation with an executive
summary. No sir, not even with a table of contents or an agenda slide!

This boy got a new toy

Posted on September 4, 2018

As part of my day job at Nokia, I act as a casual advisor to my business

division’s intrapreneurship program. Last week, the postman delivered a
nice gift as a thank you for my humble contribution. The parcel contained

224
a framed certificate of appreciation, accompanied by a scale replica of
a Lamborghini Miura sports car.

I can already hear you asking: “what’s this toy got to do with innovation
and intrapreneurship?” and “why is Marc putting such a banal fact on his
storytelling blog?” Well, if you read below what the text on the diploma is
saying about the history of this specific Lamborghini model, I’m sure you’ll
understand why I — both as an employee and as a storyteller — am so
charmed by this shiny red new toy on my desk…
Lamborghini’s first production car was the 350GT, a big grand touring
coupe with a V12 engine up front. Stylish and powerful, the 350GT was
enough of a hit to ensure that Lamborghini could keep making more than
just tractors.
But, while the 350GT was an impressive car, it wasn’t revolutionary.
Lamborghini’s next car, the Miura, would be the one to change things
forever!
During 1965, Lamborghini’s three top engineers put their own time into
developing a prototype car known as the Miura P400. The engineers

225
envisioned a road car with racing pedigree. One that could win on the
track and be driven on the road by enthusiasts. The three men worked on
its design at night, hoping to convince Ferruccio Lamborghini that such a
vehicle would neither be too expensive nor distract from the company’s
focus.
The Miura debuted at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show before a stunned
audience, and easily bested it’s Ferrari competition, to become the fastest
car in the world.

It takes more than a template

Posted on September 19, 2018

Recently, a colleague sent me a template file for a presentation we’re

working on together. Meh, it was merely one single slide, with our
company logo on it, a title placeholder, and five pre-defined text fields
(12-point font each. But, well, I’ve already given my opinion about too
small presentation fonts in an older post).
To make things clear, I have no intention to format the visuals I’m
creating for this joint presentation with a – or particularly this – single
slide layout. A presentation template should provide a common look and
feel, NOT a uniform one. It’s a guidance for the author, rather than a
prescription. A key purpose (maybe even the most important one) of a
template is to create and enforce corporate brand identity. Making sure
the audience knows that’s your company’s representative who’s speaking
(even without being presented with a logo on each slide).
Another motivation for distributing templates is to keep up visual
consistency by giving you and your colleagues a common structure, style,

226
and layout for creating slides. So, when you distribute a template, make
sure it offers several alternative layouts: one for the title page, for
bulleted text, for tables, for charts, etc.
Finally, there are use cases for spartan templates like the one I mentioned
above: e.g. data sheets, financial reports, or project plans. Though I
would hardly call these presentations, as their authors are only (mis)using
presentation creation software to quickly and easily craft beautifully
formatted documents – a.k.a. slideumentation.
But never forget that it takes more than a (even sexy) template for
creating compelling presentations…

Snap. Timing is everything.

Posted on October 16, 2018

“Timing has always been a key element in my life. I have been

blessed to have been in the right place at the right time” – Buzz
Aldrin, American astronaut and the second human to walk on the
moon

If you want to surprise or impress your audience, then do it right. Have a

look at this video clip from the 1978 BBC documentary Connections.
This is probably the best-timed shot in television history. And it’s 100%
real. Forty years ago, fake news was still an unknown phenomenon. No

227
video manipulation or chroma keying. Presenter James Burke had only
one chance to record this scene and to snap the rocket launch…

tl;dl
Posted on October 29, 2018

A widely quoted Microsoft study from 2015 tried to tell the world that the
time an average person is able to concentrate on a particular subject has

228
fallen to 8 (eight!) seconds. Which is less than the average attention span
of a goldfish.
Although the goldfish comparison has been recited by many media and
has been (mis)used by marketers to reduce their outreach to twitter-style
messaging, it makes little sense – IMHO even no sense at all. Because the
world of a goldfish ends at the rim of the glass bowl it’s floating in. Your
audience aren’t carp. They are real people with unmet needs and innate
curiosity. I know no single business person that would be satisfied with
only 140-character content or an eight-second presentation. My personal
experience as a public speaker actually tells me that you’ve got at least 15
to 20 minutes before you start losing (some) people’s interest. A number
that resonates with the ’20’ figure in Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule of
PowerPoint.
On the other hand, as observed by Nobel prize and Turing award
winner Herbert Simon: “A wealth of information creates a poverty of
attention.” It’s not the number of slides or the detail of the content that
determines their attentiveness to your audience. Human interest and
attention span are determined by their daily problems, their current
mood, and the persuasive power of the presenter. Nearly 9 respondents
out of 10 to a Prezi survey acknowledged that a strong narrative and the
story behind what’s being presented are critical in maintaining
engagement.
Here are a few practical tips to keep, refresh or prolong the attention of
your audience:

 Keep your talk short and crisp, and make sure that the first minutes
include any material that you want people to remember;

229
  Intrigue, surprise or provoke: ask questions, do a quiz or launch
a poll;
 Pause a few seconds before showing a slide or presenting a key
message, to create a sense of anticipation. Pause right after a key
point to allow it to sink in.
 Repeat the point for those who may have wandered,
and summarize your key messages at regular times (and certainly at
the end of your presentation);
 Do something emotionally relevant, e.g. tell a joke or bring an
anecdote;
 Switch the medium: draw on a whiteboard, show a video, run a short
demo;
 Change the speaker. If you really have so many important things to
tell, just consider bringing a colleague to offload part of your speech
to.

tl;dr is internet slang for too long; didn’t read. It’s often used on online
discussion forums or in the comments section of an article to say that
some text was ignored because of its length. A less diplomatic definition
on [Link] suggests that the acronym is frequently used by
lazy, ignorant people, when something exceeds their ability to read or
when they lack the semantic capacity to comprehend or respond to a post.
The title of this blog post, tl;dl, is a variant to the above letterword, and
stands for too long; didn’t listen. If you don’t want your listeners to be
goldfish, you’d better make sure that your presentations are not tl;dl.
Make sure that your presentation is to the point, that your words are
worth listening to, and that you present with passion and persuasion.

230
Three inspirational quotes from along the roads
Posted on November 13, 2018

Try searching Google for ‘inspirational quotes’, and you’ll get a gazillion
returns with meaningless celebrity quotes, cheesy images, and prosaic
memes. As you may remember from my ‘Cut the crap’ post, I’m not a big
fan of banal graphic material taken from the internet. But then I started
browsing my personal photo archive…
If you’re a frequent reader of my blog, you also know that I like travelling
– city tripping as well as nature hiking. While making this photo trip down
memory lane, I rediscovered the roads I walked along and the places I
visited before. And, I identified creative opportunities to combine the
power of an authentic picture with a sharp message into an inspirational
[Link] are my three favorite creations.
I shot the first picture almost 10 years ago along the landwash of the
French Île de Ré. At first sight, it’s a gloomy image. But when you put the
right words on it, the fish corpse suddenly gets (well, kind of) lively and
inspirational. In this case I added a quote by the English writer Malcolm
Muggeridge, “Only dead fish swim with the stream.” The text teaches us
that life is about taking risks, not about playing safe all the time. In a
business context, it expresses a similar message to Steve Jobs’ “Why join
the navy if you can be a pirate?” I just haven’t run into a buccaneer that
agreed to be photographed by me yet…
My second photo features a popular (though anonymous) Wall Street
expression: “Trees don’t grow straight to heaven.” It articulates that stock
markets are volatile. Or, more general, that there are no wins without
losses. No gains without pain. The picture dates from 2016, when my wife
and I were on a city trip in Copenhagen.

231
232
233
234
No need to explain the origin of this third quote. Everybody knows the
Lennon & McCartney song I borrowed it from. There’s no need to explain
the meaning of the words either. Or to tell you why they are inspirational.
“All you need is love, love, love is all you need.” We ran into this couple of
kissing trees in the woods of the beautiful Belgian Eifel region, near the
town of Sankt Vith. And my humble camera phone did the rest.
Feel free to reuse my artwork in your presentations. Or stick the posters
on your office or bedroom wall.

Stop Capitalizing Every Single Word In Your Titles

Posted on December 4, 2018

First, note that the statement in this blog’s title reflects my personal
opinion. Capitalization rules for (slide) titles do exist (see
e.g. [Link]). I simply prefer not to use them. Here’s why…
To me, projecting an over-capitalized slide is similar to using pluralis
majestatis, a.k.a. the royal we. It’s like speaking formal language rather
than prose. It may (or may not) make a presenter look more important,
but it will never camouflage bad content or a lack of presentation skills.
The situation becomes even worse when people start capitalizing all words
in bullet points or isolated words in the middle of a plain text (unless
you’re writing in German, of course). And I even don’t want to think of
people who use ALL CAPS on their slides (or in their tweets) If Capitalizing
Words Is Like Using The Royal We, then WRITING IN ALL CAPS IS LIKE
SHOUTING AT YOUR AUDIENCE.

235
So please use the shift key sparsely and thoughtfully. Always be
consistent in your style: don’t feed the chameleons. Vary your slide
templates and avoid wordy texts or long bullet lists. As I mentioned in an
earlier post on this blog, full-sentence assertions are often better than
short catchy or meaningless headlines. And, remember that it’s
sometimes also good to use a plain graphics slide with no header text at
all.

236
 To be continued on

[Link]

237
Marc Jadoul is a former marketing director at
Nokia, spare-time communications consultant,
and a passionate B2B storyteller.

Over the past decades, Marc has given hundreds

of business presentations to tech sector executives
worldwide. Author/co-author of nearly 200 papers,
magazine articles and conference talks, and a
frequent speaker and panelist at ICT industry
events, he has earned ‘best presentation’ awards
at different occasions.