So what you do once you've found a conflict?
You go and look for another one.
You try to dig deeper.
What is the real problem here?
So for example, we're always late for the meetings and this is the problem but
the core problem might be that the meetings are
dreadful and this is why people are always late.
They do not want to be there in
the first place because we do not know how to structure those meetings,
how to run them and this is what we really should be talking about.
And in your presentation,
you might want to start with a surface problem and then build up to the core problem.
So, the typical story structure by
Steve Jobs or Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos might look something like this.
You have a short introduction with some good news,
then you have a huge problem,
then you have a huge solution to the problem.
This is where the unveiling happens.
Right? This is where the veil is lifted off,
literally sometimes, of the product.
And then, you have several parts of the solution and each and
every part might have a separate little sub-problem in them.
Let me give you an example,
this is one more presentation by Steve Jobs.
I'm sorry, but he is just such a good example, I cannot resist.
And this is a presentation for the first iPod,
the very first iPod.
And the problem is,
nobody had a hit here,
there is no satisfactory MP3 player on the market,
even though we all secretly know that the future is there.
Well, we should have an MP3 player,
but they are all bulky,
they don't store enough information,
and they are troublesome to synchronize with a desktop or a laptop computer.
Now, this is the big problem and then
Steve decomposes this problem into three separate problems.
Problem number one, being portability.
Problem number two, being that well,
once you have lots and lots of files on a very small device with a small screen,
how do you manage files there?
And problem number three, being synchronization.
How do you synchronize things.
And for the portability problem,
he has this villain, Right?
An old MP3 player by the company called Creative Zen,I believe it was called.
How do you code 1,000 songs in your pocket?
Because this thing obviously doesn't fit in your pocket then,
OK, if you have- I'm quoting Steve here,
if you have ever used a portable music device or a portable digital device,
a camera or a VCR,
you know that consumer electronic devices are not known for their ease of use.
Right? And this is my illustration.
There's a very famous interface problem called the blinking 12:00 problem.
The controls are so complex that people were unable to set
time on their VCR and they were just blinking you know, 12:00 for eternity.
And we have, we meaning Apple,
we have the best team of
interface designers in the market and we are going to bring you something spectacular,
this is the solution.
And then there's another problem that devices do not sync
with the digital jukebox with software jukeboxes,
you have to manage files on those devices separately.
And, this is another problem and this is how I'm solving this.
There was a demo.
He was you know, manipulating files on his laptop computer and
then it synchronized flawlessly with the MP3 player.
So, the iPod is ultraportable with Apple's legendary ease of use and/or
saying that the problems are players that do not fit in your pocket.
The 12:00 blinking problem,
and file management issues.
These are some three big sub-problems.
But even if we go deeper,
even if we analyze his presentation,
you know word by word,
he is constantly oscillating between problems and solutions;
little problem, little question, little solution.
OK. The iPod doesn't fit in your pocket.
How do we make the device that fits in your pocket?
Well, we come with the ultra thin hard drive.
Now, how do we transfer 1,000 songs onto that hard drive?
Well, we use FireWire, no why FireWire?
Because the USB one is just way too slow.
It takes five hours to transfer 1,000 songs onto a hard drive.
And we don't want to wait,
and it takes just 10 minutes with FireWire.
So, you see, even on a very small scale on a scale of just one slide,
we have a little problem and a little solution.
Otherwise, nobody cares.
Otherwise, it doesn't matter whether you have FireWire or USB.
So, to conclude, you
start with introduction then you create a huge problem for the whole presentation.
But then, you do not stop there.
You oscillate all the time between problems and solutions,
between questions and answers.
And this is how you sustain the interest.
So, after you came up with a cool problem for your presentation,
you can formulate what I call the main point.
And as far as I'm concerned,
the best way to formulate the main point is as an 'if then else' statement.
If or after or when and then goes the event
'we' as speaker plus the audience need to do something.
Otherwise, some bad stuff happens.
For example, after you became aware of the problem of the global climate change,
we need to change the kind of a car that we drive.
Right? To switch to Tesla.
Otherwise, well, global catastrophe might happen,
this would be the main point of your presentation.
So, please expose problems.
This is what makes your presentation interesting.
Ask relevant questions for the audience and compare comparable alternatives.
These are all ways to make your presentation engaging. Thank you.
Alexei KapterevLomonosov MSU BS
