Scenario: You had a problem.
You’ve found a strange, but pretty amazing solution.
You have five minutes to present your findings.
You need a making-your-strange-findings-sound-normal presentation!
Kamal Meattle has researched how to grow your own fresh air using a particular combination of plants.
This is cool. And… unusual. Yet he makes it sound reasonable.
I also think it’s good for us to analyse a presentation that is slightly lower energy and unassuming, yet still reasonably effective.
His presentation:
How to deliver a making-your-strange-findings-sound-normal presentation like fresh air researcher Kamal Meattle
Start with your personal link to your topic
Some seventeen years ago, I became allergic to Delhi’s air, but my doctors told me that my lung capacity had gone down to seventy percent and it was killing me.
State who you worked with and the ‘headline’ of what you found
With the help of IT, Terry and learnings from NASA, we discovered that there are three basic green plants, common green plants, with which we can grown all the fresh air we need indoors to keep us healthy.
Add an additional relevant benefit
We’ve also found that you can reduce the fresh air requirements in to the building while maintaining industrial air quality standards.
Move on to the next level of detail, avoiding technical jargon
The three plants are: Areca Palm, Mother-in-law’s Tongue and Money Plant.
The botanical names are in front of you.
Move to first section, discussing reasons/implementation issues at a high level
Areca Palm is a plant that removes CO2 and converts it into oxygen. We need four shoulder-high plants per person and in terms of plant care we need to wipe the leaves every day in Delhi, and perhaps once a week in cleaner air cities. We have to grow them in WORD manure which is sterile, or hydroponics, and take them outdoors every three to four months.
Do the same with the second section
The second plant is Mother-in-law’s Tongue which is again a very common plant. We call it a bedroom plant because it converts CO2 to oxygen at night. And we need six to eight waist high plants per person.
And the third…
The third plant is Money Plant. This is again a very common plant. Preferably grows in hydroponics. This particular plant removes formaldehydes and other volatile chemicals.
Summarise the benefits of your proposition, in a startling way
With these three plants you can grown all the fresh air you need. In fact you could be in a bottle with a cap on top and you would not die at all and you would not need any fresh air.
Describe your implentation experience
We have tried these plants at our own building in Delhi which is a 50,000 sq ft, 20-year-old building and it has close to 1200 such plants for 300 occupants.
Lay out a clear benefit you’ve found
Our studies have found that there is a 42% probability of one’s blood oxygen going up 1% if one stays indoor in this building for 10 hours.
Mention a bit of external validation
The Government of India has discovered and published our study to show this is the healthiest building in New Delhi.
Give some stats – preferably setting the context for them…
And the studies show that compared to other buildings, there is a reduced incidence of eye irritation by 52%, respiratory systems by 34%, headaches by 24%, lung impairment by 12% and asthma 9%. And this study has been published on Sept 8, 2008 and it’s on the Government of India website.
Give a benefit/result from a different perspective
Our experience points to an amazing increase in human productivity by over 20% by using these plants.
And another from another perspective
And also an reduction in energy requirements in buildings by an outstanding 15% because you need less fresh air.
Talk about your future, bigger, better plans
We are now replicating this in a 1.7 million sq feet building, which will have 60,000 indoor plants.
Discuss wider importance and urgency of issue
Why is this important? It is also important for the environment, because the world’s energy requirements are expected to grow by 30% in the next decade, 40% of the world’s energy is taken up by buildings currently, and 60% of the world’s population will be living in buildings in cities of population over 1 million in the next 15 years.
And there is a growing preference for living and working in air conditioned places.
Finish with a quote
‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ said Mahatma Gandhi.
++++
Lessons to learn from Kamal Meattle
~ Top-down allows people to grasp your ideas: big-chunk to small-chunk gives a logical impression
~ Let us see your connection to the topic: starting with your personal story allows to connect with your topic more
~ Lots of stats together = this is good whereas I would ordinarily tell you to set the context for stats, I did notice that running a whole lot of numbers together at least creates some sort of positive impact on the audience
~ Keep vocab simple: Saying the simple words but displaying the technical ones allows everyone to access the info a their own level
~ Allow people to picture what you mean: Kamal’s use of ‘shoulder-height’, etc, allows us to create images of how his idea works
~ Approach from different perspectives: when giving benefits, appeal to people on as many levels as possible
~ ‘Borrow’ validation where you can: if an external authority validates your claims, say so
++++
Ok, so Kamal’s presentation isn’t perfect, but which presentation is?
Good to see that low-key can still be impactful, though, right?
Other articles you might be interested in:
- How to rock the boat in three minutes like mathematician Arthur Benjamin
- How to show you’re a genius in under five minutes like Kinect contributor Johnny Lee
- How to deliver a warning in three minutes like biochemist Gregory Petsko
- What do you do if you only have three minutes to make your point?
- How to invite people to follow your example in three minutes like Google webspam guy Matt Cutts