Three presentation design lessons I learned from a walk in the woods

For decades, I would take an almost-daily walk near my old office. My office was located in an old-growth forest. I would walk on a sidewalk that cut though the forest; a pleasant walkway at the top of a steep, woodsy ravine.

One day, something new caught my eye. Someone had crawled down into the depths of the gully to place a red sign on a tree. The bright red spot caught my eye and raised my curiosity.

The sign, as seen from the sidewalk

Squinting, I gathered that there were words on the sign. However, the sign was too far down the hill for me to read. But I simply had to know what the sign was trying to communicate. The forest floor was filled with slick leaves, so I half slid down the gully to get a closer look. Halfway down, I snapped another photo:

Curses! I still could not read the sign. Determined, I continued to slide down the hill until I got a few feet away from the tree.

I felt entrapped. Twenty years, and I never once thought to slide down a steep hill to go into the forest. A bright sign inflamed my curiosity, and boom. I’m a trespasser.

Vexed, I trudged back up the slippery hill. A pileated woodpecker gave me a stern lecture, then banged his head on a rotted tree top. The judge banged his gavel. I had been dismissed. Case closed.

What three presentation lessons had I been reminded of from my foray into the forest?

The unexpected will rivet audience attention. Breaking a pattern is a basic way to grab attention. I had grown accustomed to seeing only forest: the red sign caught my interest because it was different than what I had expected to see. How can you break a pattern in your next presentation to grab attention and get your audience to take action?

Be careful with negative instructions. If you don’t want people to do something, don’t even put the idea into their heads. If I tell you to NOT think about woodpeckers right now, guess what you’re going to do? You’re visualizing woodpeckers right now, aren’t you? Yet, you had no intention of doing so… until I told you NOT to do it.

Be clear. Be up front.  If you want me to take your words seriously, how about making your font size huge and clearly visible? What about placing your sign (or your PowerPoint slides) almost smack in front of me, instead of making me crawl down a gully? Or around a post? Or through someone’s head from the back of the room?

I’m pleased to report that the woodpecker let me off with only a warning. I did no serious time for my trespass  — other than scraping what appeared to be an unpleasant mix of mud and coyote dung off the bottom of my shoes.