The Three Essential Books on Presentation, Part 3: Made to Stick

My favorite read from the past year is undoubtedly Chip Heath's and Dan Heath's Made to Stick. Inspired by and very much in the vein of Malcolm Gladwell, the book explains what makes an idea or a story compelling and memorable. 

From urban legends (why is it exactly that everyone knows about the bathtub of ice kidney thieves?) to the deceptively simple mission statements of successful companies such as Nordstrom and Southwest Airlines, Made to Stick is about telling stories that people remember.

So how will this make your PowerPoint better? All presentations are, ultimately, stories. You're not presenting last quarter's sales figures, you're telling a story. Or at least you should be. You don't present data, you present the meaning of your data. People remember and are moved to action by stories--not by charts and bullet points.  Chip and Dan identify the 6 essential components of a sticky story, breaking down their analysis into the acronym SUCCESs:

• Simple  

• Unexpected

• Concrete

• Credible

• Emotional 

• Stories

Unlike Presentation Zen and Slide:ology, this is a book you can't just flip through, picking out sample slides and ideas. But it's also far from academic and dull. If you enjoy Malcolm Gladwell's writing, you'll appreciate this one.

The brothers also maintain a Made To Stick website and monthly column in Fast Company Magazine.

STICKY PRESENTATIONS

Chip and Dan don't specifically discuss on-screen presentations much in the book, but they have written a small document called "Making Your Presentations Stick."You can find it as an "extra resource" on their website.