Dan Roam’s book Show and Tell offers some plain insights to help us tell a better story!

Always remember:

• Tell the truth
• Tell it with a story
• Tell the story with pictures

The Three Rules

As presenters, our goal is simple: To help others see what we see. To do this, we:

• entertain
• educate
• persuade
• motivate, and ultimately
• change our audience

The 3 Rules:

• Lead with the truth and the heart will follow
• Lead with a story and understanding will follow
• Lead with the eye and the mind will follow

RULE 1: TELL THE TRUTH

There is no faster way to establish trust with our audience than to tell the truth. There is no faster way to lose them than to B.S. That said, there is more than one kind of truth.

Head: Our head says ‘I think this is true.”.
Heart: Our heart says: “I believe this is true.”
Data: Our data says: “The facts tell me this is true.”

All three truths live in us all the time. Which one of these is correct? They all are. Which one makes a better presentation? That depends.

A good presentation shares new data.
A great presentation changes what we know.
An extraordinary presentation changes what we believe.

As a presenter, ask yourself: For this topic, for this audience, and for myself, which truth should I tell? There is a simple way to answer that question.

The Bucket Rule.

For example, imagine we wanted to pitch our new social media app to a venture capitalist. Here’s how we would organize our buckets.

Filling the buckets with truth helps us to:

• Pull together the pieces of our idea
• Have confidence in ourselves
• Get to know our audience

Now it’s time to craft our story.

RULE 2: TELL IT WITH A STORY

Lead with a story and understanding will follow.

There are all kinds of presentations.

• The Report. Presentations that change the audience’s INFORMATION.
  Team status meetings. Financial update. Project review.
• The Explanation. Presentations that change the audience’s ABILITIES.
  Academic paper. Cooking show. Class lecture.
• The Pitch. Presentations that change the audience’s ACTION.
  Job interview. Sales pitch. Product launch.
• The Drama. Presentations that change the audience’s BELIEFS.
  Commencement address. Sermon. Ted Talk.

A good presentation has a clear storyline. A storyline is the backbone of any presentation.

• The Report brings data to life. With a report, we change our audience’s INFORMATION. A good report delivers the facts. A great report makes the facts insightful and memorable. Fastest insight and greatest retention!
• The Explanation shows us how. With an explanation, we change our audience’s KNOWLEDGE or ABILITY. A good explanation takes our audience to a new level. A great explanation makes it effortless.
• The Pitch gets us over the hurdle. With a pitch, we change our audience’s ACTIONS. A good pitch gives our audience a solution to a problem. A great pitch makes that solution undeniable.
• The Drama breaks our heart. Then mends it. With a drama, we change our audience’s BELIEFS. A good drama makes us feel someone’s struggle. A great drama makes us feel the struggle is our own.

The CHANGE we want our audience to experience at the end will determine which storyline we choose.

All storylines, however, share the same components.

RULE 3: TELL THE STORY WITH PICTURES

Lead with the eye and the mind will follow.

More of our brain is dedicated to vision than to any other thing that we do. The latest estimates put visual processing (including visual memory and dreaming) at anywhere between one-third and one-half of our entire brain’s activities.

We are essentially walking, talking, vision-processing machines. If we have something interesting to look at, our mind can stay focused forever.

In order to illustrate any story, we need only six pictures.

Below is a close illustration to what the author suggests in the book:

We bring our storylines to visual life when we add two, three, four (or all six) of these pictures. And using 6-Mode Thinking, we identify the essence of the main verbal ideas we’ve written down in our storyline … into what we SHOW. And then we translate those verbal ideas into their corresponding visual representations.

We typically start by drawing the main characters of our story line (the Who/What) and then work our way down, drawing as we go. By the time we come to the bottom, we’ll have every picture we need for our presentation.

Portrait

When we describe people, objects, and things, we show a portrait.

1. Whenever we introduce a new character, group, or object
2. Whenever that character appears again, especially in a different context. For example, a portrait appearing as part of a map
3. When it is important to make each person or object distinct from all others

How do we create a portrait?

1. Think of the most essential people and objects that appear in our presentation
2. Write them down
3. Find or draw the simplest possible picture that identifies each person or thing
4. Do not worry about placement, overlap, or influence (Those come later)

Charts

When we describe quantities, numbers, and values, we show a chart.

During our presentation, when should we show a Chart?

1. Whenever we introduce a measurement, a quantitative comparison, or a set of numeric data
2. Whenever it is important that our audience see a measurable change or trend
3. When we have quantitative evidence to share
4. Whenever we wish to clarify or defuse an emotional argument

Maps

When we describe location, position, and overlap, we show a map.

During our presentation, when should we show a Map?

1. Whenever we wish to focus on the position of our characters and ideas relative to one another
2. Whenever we wish to show where we are
3. Whenever we want to see the overlap between people, objects, or ideas
4. Whenever we want to put a long list of people, items, or ideas into a more memorable context

Timelines

When we describe time, sequence, and order, we show a timeline.

During our presentation, when should we show a Timeline?

1. Whenever we wish to focus on the position of our characters, ideas, and events in time
2. Whenever we want to summarise a sequence
3. Whenever we want to show the time dependencies between characters and their actions
4. Whenever we want to put a long list of events into a broader context

How do we create a Timeline?

1. Identify our milestones (What events take place during our sequence, plan, or idea?)
2. Create a PAST > PRESENT > FUTURE coordinate line
3. Plot our milestones onto the line in sequential order, from beginning to end
4. See if a realistic sequence emerges

Flow Charts

When we describe caused and effects or process, we show a flowchart.

During our presentation, when should we show a flowchart?

1. Whenever we wish to clarify cause and effect
2. Whenever we want to understand the influence of one character or object upon another
3. Whenever we want to see the flow of money, information, or influence
4. Whenever we want to illustrate why something broke — or how to fix it

How do we create a flowchart?

1. Identify the process we’d like to understand
2. Draw the first step HERE
3. Draw the final step OVER THERE
4. Trigger by trigger, map in the decision or action points in between the first and final steps
5. Review, test, revise

EQUATIONS (or) MVP

When we describe the moral of the story, we show a visual equation.

During our presentation, when should we show an equation/MVP?

1. Whenever we wish to convey the single most important insight or lesson from our entire presentation
2. When we want to leave our audience with an indelible image of meaning
3. Whenever we find ourselves tempted to say “The moral of this story is …”
4. When we want to laugh at the end of the long lesson

How do we create an equation?

1. Review our entire thought process in creating all of the previous pictures
2. Ask ourselves: “If I could help my audience remember just ONE THING .. what would that thing be?”
3. Draw that lesson using PORTRAITS connected by mathematical symbols .> + — = < >

Case Study

To show exactly what he means, author uses these 6 elements to explain chess. Below is a summary of the slides.

Learn More