Presentations are only as good as the idea, visuals and delivery. Some visual thinkers challenged me to write a very short presentation about the power of visual thinking during these tough economic times. So I whipped out our presentation map and got to work. First, I considered my audience. I decided to gear my presentation toward managers in organizations that may be getting discouraged as leaders.

Once I’d developed the story itself, I felt it needed to all be one scene panned across with a “push left” transition to be perceived as one continuous thread. Instantly I was struggling to use the traditional storyboard templates we have because none of the frames are connected to each other.

Then, I remembered how I used to write my hubby love notes with cute glyphs in them on receipt tape. It worked perfectly! It really helped to ensure that the scenes could transition from one to another and look seamless.

Next, I ran the story by Tracy, and she had constructive and insightful feedback. Always, always run your work by someone whose perspective you respect.

The final storyboard was hand-drawn, then scanned and reviewed, to ensure that each scene connected to the next in a seamless manner.

We recorded audio, synced it up in and here’s the final result.

And here’s the PowerPoint file if you want to deconstruct it!

Download VizThink_Story.ppt

Enjoy! I sure did.