Pacing in presentations

Spring is entering this living room; my Mexican Orange flower is throwing its first blossoms, blissfully unaware of the temperatures outside, which are still able to freeze my Martini glass in preparation, because, what else to pour yourself when the prime example of this week's edition is 007. Unlike him, I changed the Vodka back to Gin yet like him I shake, not stir, because although the critics rightfully claim that it dilutes the cocktail, this certainly is a plus when you still might have to aim at bad guys or write in complete sentences.

Pacing in presentations

Now that we defined our structural points, let’s discuss how we best move from one to the next. Accelerating the tension constantly seems like the natural thing to do. About a third into the presentation however, it will become as predictable as ‘Five little fish, swimming in the sea’. The audience will see through your method and the climax will ring hollow, its impact not caused by the nature of the matter, but an artificially generated effect.

A better way to approach the presentation is to alternate build-up and release: Follow up slides of compressed information to lead the audience with slides of lighthearted anecdotes so the audience has time to follow and digest the input; follow up analysis with anecdotes to emphasize or even better, vice versa, give an example, then follow up with facts and then another example, etc.

No matter which Bond is the best, none of them manages to defeat his enemies following a straight path. Along the way, they take the time to visit exotic places, seduce romantic interests and order weak martinis. Even in Casino Royal, where the most of the movie’s second revolves around a poker tournament, the movie switches pace significantly. In between games, Bond fights off machete-swinging warlords, comforts Vesper Lynd under the shower and survives a poison attack by defibrillating himself in his car. During the game itself, he also wins and loses, the chips in front of him piling up and shrinking down, back and forth, tightening and releasing like a hand pressing a rubber ball.

Nudges

• Review your presentation structure for its pace. Does it alternate between tension and relaxation, density and room to breath?
• Allow your most important talking points to breath and unfold. The more you spend on midpoint and theme, the clearer their significance.