Thursday, January 21, 2010

Charts (and Graphs) vs. A Theme Model

Excel, PowerPoint and any number of applications will help any presenter create all kinds of charts and graphs; pie charts, bar charts, and splatter maps, etc.

Although such diagrams are easy to make, they are not necessarily the type of visual aid most speakers, trainers, teachers and consultants should be using every day.

You see, for the most part, charts and graphs are based on pure data.

They are looking back, , , at the past. They are a picture of what “has” happened. They are about the history. And in 2010, it may be “ancient history.”

If you are like most presenters, , , you are about the future, , , about where your audience is going, , , not where they’ve been.

You’re presenting to new leadership, with a new direction and a new strategy, new plans, even a new company, with new products, and yes, even a new nation. One with new ideals and goals.

You’re an optimist in a pessimistic time. You speak “to the future.”

For that you need a new kind of visual approach. One that pictures what is to come. You look to the past, only to best diagram the future.

That’s why you need to use a Theme Model (in stead of charts and graphs). My 2010 suggestion is that you chart a new pathway for you and your audiences and that you do it using the tool I call a Theme Model.

Wayne

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