Your boss just asked you to send them “three to five slides” that they can use to present your idea to their boss. You now have two challenges: First, you must truncate your presentation to get to your point quickly, and second, you must prepare your story to be easily delivered by someone else. What do you do? (And no, the answer isn’t to decrease the font size!)
There are two good options for telling your story in three to five slides. Option 1: present your setting, character, and conflict (the WHY) verbally, or option 2: show your WHY visually on just one slide.
If your boss is presenting the story for you, you need to decide if you can rely on them to verbally establish the WHY or if they’ll need the visual cue of the one slide. In other words, how much of a control freak do you need to be about your story?
Option 1: Present your WHY verbally
In this scenario, you establish the setting, characters, and conflict (the WHY) of your story verbally and show your BIG Idea (the WHAT) on a slide. After the BIG Idea is presented, the resolution (the HOW) can be shown. Remember, you’ve only got a few slides, so be sure to keep the detail to a minimum. This option works best when you have confidence the storyteller can deliver your WHY effectively and stay on message the way you intended. If you’re in doubt, option 2 is a safer choice.
Option 2: Show your WHY visually
In this scenario, you will need to condense the setting, characters, and conflict down to one slide (yes, only one!) to visually show your WHY. We’re not going to lie… truncating all that context onto one slide is tough! You must only include the most relevant points that supports your BIG Idea.
Want to see it in action? Our self-paced, on-demand storytelling course has videos, quizzes, and case studies that will show you, step-by-step, how to tell your story in just a few slides. Register today.