Designing and presenting essentials- 2 creative zens

  Twisted 
  Originally uploaded by Conor Lawless

Janice Kirkpatrick wrote in Innovation—the politics of change, Sept, 1996

"The creative process, the process of designing, is an excellent ‘tool’ for analysis, synthesis and reconstruction of the world. It reveals the ideologies that motivate us and excite us. This gives us clues which we can then use in developing an innovative strategy which may yield a future which will be appropriate: familiar yet new, challenging yet supportive."

In his last book (of lectures to be delivered in 1984- he died in 1983) "Six Memos for the Next Millennium", Italo Calvino wrote of literature values he felt should be passed on to the next millennium:
1. Lightness- a reaction to the heaviness of life.
2. Quickness- should not be confused with measurable speed; it is about mental agility.
3. Exactitude - a planning process; creating a clear, memorable image; language with nuance.
4. Visibility- making complex relationships understandable and definable.
5. Multiplicity- a system of systems; interpretation at various levels
which he completed and left the title for the last:-
6. Consistency- clarity of content and aesthetics; holistic sustainability

Garr Reynolds writes on pages 31 & 32 of his book Presentationzen

"Creating presentations is a supremely creative process.....

...Once you realise that the preparation of a presentation is a creative act, not merely the assembling of facts and data in a linear fashion, you'll see that preparing a presentation is a "whole-minded" activity that requires as much right-brain thinking as it does left-brain-thinking......... the translation of your content into presentation form will require that you exercise much more of your so-called right brain."

On p.104 in the section on Simplicity Garr refers to the term being "essentially synonymous with clarity, directness, subtlety, essentialness and minimalism." which also maps onto the 6 Memos

If we pull all this together, we may see that the creative processes that gave us something to talk about are the very same ones that will enable us to create the story we wish to tell, and the audience want to hear! They both deserve the time to do a great job of designing the material, as in most presentations we are asking our audience to think innovatively and consider doing something differently. For as Bill Buxton says:

“You have to spend as much time directing your innovation and creativity to fostering a culture of creativity and a receptiveness to innovation as you spend on the ideas themselves.”


Picture link.
So we must remember to plan time and space into our schedules for the creation of a great presentation... as well as great products, services, experiences. Our audience deserves nothing less!