‘Writing’, explains Don Norman, ‘is a cognitive artifact’ – a man-made tool developed to aid memory and strengthen mental powers. In fact, writing is an example of a particularly good artifact: an Experiential one. Experiential artifacts can be easily understood, used or applied. We do not have to decipher the words or sentences used in order to understand their meaning. In this sense, the artifact is invisible: it does not get in the way of the transfer of information from author to reader. A presentation is another example of an Experiential artifact, where a good presentation can provide a space for the audience to think about the information being presented.
Yet this is not always the case. If a sentence is poorly written, or a presentation is badly constructed, it changes the nature of the artifact from an Experiential one to a Reflective one. Reflective artifacts require time and effort to understand and interpret. They become, as it were, visible – interrupting the transfer of information. Not what is needed when presenting information. Poor construction turns presentations into Reflective challenges, limiting the audience to simply trying to decipher the slides. It can convert what should be an easy Experiential task into a Reflective challenge.
Market research seems to have developed a particularly bad reputation for producing Reflective presentations, and draining the energy of the audience by forcing them to constantly grapple with complex data sets and confusing graphs. The reason for such a high incidence of ‘death by PowerPoint’ is that, in general, researchers are guilty of presenting raw survey numbers to an audience, thereby turning the presentation into a problem-solving exercise. This causes needless mental effort, taking needless time. Worse still, the attention of the audience suffers, as focused concentration is easiest to sustain when in an Experiential, rather than in a Reflective, mode.
In this sense, many Market Research presentations serve as a ‘data dump’, overloading the audience with mindless minutiae. To avoid this trap, we must think about the fundamental aim of a presentation: to persuade and inform. Therefore, it is essential for the information to be understood quickly and effortlessly by the audience. We must instead decide on a different type of representation than pure numbers, substituting them for a representation more easily understood by a business audience: frameworks.
Thus rather than copying and pasting Excel spreadsheets and data tables into a presentation, we must represent the same meaning contained in the numbers but within a business framework. Norman suggests the reason people produce Reflective presentations is, to some extent, due to technology. Less time than is necessary is spent on trying to make the information simple for the audience to understand. ‘The problem is it is easiest to present people with the same representations as used by computers: numbers. But this is not the easiest way for people to understand the information.’
The BCG Matrix, the Change Model, or the Profit Pool Analysis, are all fairly common frameworks which can be substituted in the place of pure numbers, thus presenting the audience with the information in the format most appropriate for their needs. Frameworks transform the information being delivered from a Reflective problem into an Experiential task, and so release the audience from trying to interpret a spread of numbers, and instead allowing them to think beyond the presentation and see how this new information connects with their business.
Knowing how to place data into frameworks in a presentation requires a particular skill, and takes time and thought to complete. It is a process that involves Slow, Reflective thinking, in order to take the mental pressure off the audience. Edwin Schlossberg, the international author and designer, once said, ‘the skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.’ Perhaps this is also the skill of a good presentation, and one that Market Research needs to learn.
Patrick Young
Tags: business frameworks, cognitive artifacts, corporate storytelling, data dump, Don Norman, DVL Smith, Edwin Schlossberg, Experiential artifacts, Market Research, PowerPoint, presentations, Reflective artifacts