Paint Pictures in Your Presentations

“You too can paint almighty pictures.”
--Bob Ross
 
Bob Ross was masterful at capturing the imagination, using his brushes to paint entrancing images that told a story.  While his artistic acumen was impressive, it was his penchant for narration that drew people in.
 
Great public speakers also paint pictures, but instead of brushes and a canvas, they use words and their audience’s imagination. 
 
To engage your audience, your words must help your listeners paint vivid mental images that bring your content to life.  It’s why you must always follow this simple rule:
 
Tangible and concrete > Abstract and intangible
 
To illustrate the power of the visualizable, let’s examine two different approaches that an executive could take to announce a major capital investment to shareholders.
 
Option A:
 
“We are going to initiate a bold new era of capital investment.  We are going to modernize our production, streamline our processes, and invest in 21st century technology.  Our production capabilities are outdated and a barrier to growth.  They hold us back.  They are the source of our delivery delays, and they are a hinderance to our quality control.  Through this new investment initiative in our production facilities we are going to leapfrog the competition and cement our status as the industry leader in price, performance, and reliability.”
 
Option B:
 
“Tomorrow won’t look like today.  Tomorrow will be shaped by an ambitious capital investment program that will transform our business.
 
Today is loud 1970’s machinery spread piecemeal across a 20,000 square foot production floor that smells like machine oil and is lit with rows of fluorescent tubes. 
 
Today is completing a step of our production process, taking the partly-finished product and walking it 100 steps to the next station, dumping it in a pile, and walking back.  From station to station and pile to pile.  Hundreds of times a day.  No continuity.  No ownership.
 
Tomorrow things change—fueled by an exciting new capital investment program. 
 
Tomorrow is high-tech production cells—small, clean, self-contained units that take in raw materials on one side and deliver finished products, packaged to ship, on the other.  No more piles.  No more walking.  Everything within hands-reach.
 
Tomorrow is a production floor entirely reimagined—powered by our bold new commitment to capital investment.  And from this transformation we will emerge as the undisputed industry leader in quality and capability.”
 
Both of these presentation options announce a new capital investment program that promises to transform the production capabilities of a company.  Option A sounds great and is an efficient presentation of information, but it doesn’t evoke any tangible mental images.  Instead, it provides a list of abstract concepts like “21st century technology,” “streamlined processes,” “barriers to growth,” and “hinderance to quality control.”  All catch-phrases, but all intangible.  Nothing with which to paint a mental picture.
 
Option B, on the other hand, evokes a mental image.  The executive has painted a clear picture of the existing production floor.  You know what it looks like.  You even know what it smells like.  You also know how it will be transformed by the capital investment initiative she is presenting.  And unlike the abstract concepts discussed in Option A, the mental picture conjured up by Option B will stick in the shareholders' minds.  That’s the power of mental pictures.
 
For your next presentation, honor Bob Ross’ legacy and be sure you are painting a vivid metal image for your audience and not just listing abstract information.