Alexei Kapterev's "Presentation Secrets": Introduction

Alexei Kapterev's Presentation Secrets: Do what You Never Thought Possible with Your Presentations (2011) is one of several great newer books trying to change the way we make and give presentations. As Kapterev says in his preface,

This book is intended for those of you who disagree that contemporary slide presentations are the necessary evil. For those who believe that preparing and delivering presentations is something one might actually enjoy. For people who want more from their presentations: more fun, more adventure, more challenge, and more results. For people ready to explore, ready to stop being just "presenters" and become scriptwriters, graphic designers, and improv artists--at least to some extent.

Kapterev's book has three parts, and I will follow those parts in my review. Part 1 covers the content of the presentation with a focus on storytelling. Part 2 discusses slides and how to know what each slide should look like based on its purpose. Part 3 is about delivery, about public speaking, and about speaker authenticity.

Storytelling

Chapter 1 introduces the concept of storytelling, and Kapterev begins by introducing Aristotle's modes of persuasion: logos, ethos, and pathos. He doesn't concentrate on logos, or fact-telling, because his preferred term "storytelling" encompasses it anyway:

there isn't much difference between storytelling and fact telling anyway. Storytelling is and always was the essence of business presentations. Storytelling is nothing but putting facts in a sequence and making connections. 

But don't be confused here. Kapterev doesn't just mean telling stories or anecdotes; he wants the entire presentation to adopt the form of a story.

Slides

Kapterev is a slide geek. He's the kind of guy who piddles with slides for fun. That's the kind of guy I want to be. I want to be able to make good slides, just like I know you do, too.

He says there are two reasons why slides are good:

1. We no longer have to memorize our presentations. Slides keep us on track and let us know what to say. The problem is that people often use them as teleprompters instead of visual aids.
2. People remember visuals better than hearing words alone. But this same point doesn't go for text on a slide. We're talking visuals here, not text. 

We just have to learn about design to be able to make visuals that are professional and helpful.

Delivery

Actually giving a presentation is kind of scary, and Kapterev knows that, but he wants to help anxious presenters by teaching them to prepare and to improvise. Those are the keys.

He practices what he calls delivery 2.0, giving up control and reacting to the audience. That's what Kapterev means by improvisation.

Focus, Contrast, Unity

Kapterev's guiding principles are focus, contrast, and unity.

Presentations need focus. Slides need focus. The delivery needs focus. Focus is important because our brains can only handle so much information

Contrast is about conflict and comparisons. We understand only when we compare, and we pay more attention when there is conflict. Therefore, contrast is another of Kapterev's guiding presentation principles.

Unity is about structure, moving from randomness to understanding connections. It's also about creating slides that make unified sense and being your own unified self on stage.