Extreme Presentation Online Course
Now available!
The Extreme Presentation method is designed for market researchers, consultants, salespeople, managers, company founders — anyone trying to get others to act on complex but important information.
You spend countless hours gathering and analyzing data, formulating plans, costing out options. You squeeze it all into what you think is a reasonably good-looking PowerPoint deck with 30 (40? 50?) slides, and you present it well. But still your audience doesn't act on your information.
So you and your company lose opportunities, and your work has less impact than it deserves.
Start the Extreme Presentation Online course for free
A totally different mind-set and method for creating powerful, elegant, and brief presentations.
It's more than a course, it's a "just-in-time" presentation design tool, walking you through the 10 steps of the Extreme Presentation method as you create your own presentation
Particularly suited to the extreme challenge of engaging audiences remotely (e.g. over Zoom)
Fail-safe, 10 step process that integrates audience analysis, objectives setting, problem-solution, data, storytelling, charts, and slide layouts.
Based on over 200 empirical research studies in communications, psychology, advertising, consumer behavior, and semiotics, so that when we say “do this, don’t do that”, it’s not because we’re somehow smarter than everyone else, but because the research shows that "this" is effective, and "that" is not
Focused 100% on presentation design, not on delivery
An education in how to use storytelling on multiple levels: using individual stories to drive home your point, and turning your entire presentation into one compelling story that grabs your audience at the start and keeps them through to the end
Extreme Presentation training clients include leading corporations such as Exxon-Mobil, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Wal-Mart, 3M, AT&T, Abbott, Bank of America, BP, Burger King, Deloitte, Environmental Defense Fund, Kimberly-Clark, NBA, PayPal, Pfizer, Royal Bank of Canada, Starbucks, State Farm, TD Bank, United States Census Bureau, Unilever, Visa, and also Microsoft — the makers of PowerPoint
The online course is developed by Dr. Andrew Abela, creator of the Extreme Presentation method, who has been delivering presentations and teaching others to do so for over 30 years, based on his ground-breaking books Advanced Presentations by Design, The Presentation, and, with Paul Radich, the Encyclopedia of Slide Layouts
A small selection of the many companies we have worked with
80+ brief lessons covering the entire 10-step Extreme Presentation method
0-0 Welcome
FREE PREVIEW0-1 Let's begin
FREE PREVIEW0-2 Seven deadly presentation design mistakes
FREE PREVIEW0-3 Take Two
FREE PREVIEW0-4 The Extreme Presentation Method
FREE PREVIEW0-5 How to use this course
FREE PREVIEW0-6 How do I get started?
FREE PREVIEW0-7 Who else is taking this course with me?
FREE PREVIEW1-1 What do I need to know about my audience?
FREE PREVIEW1-2 What are some examples of Myers-Briggs types?
FREE PREVIEW1-3 What personality types are in my audience?
FREE PREVIEW1-4 How do different personality types like to receive information?
FREE PREVIEW1-5 What should I do if I have different personality types — with different needs — in my audience?
FREE PREVIEW1-6 How will MY audience members like to receive information?
FREE PREVIEW1-7 Why don't I always design my presentations to appeal to all personality types?
FREE PREVIEW1-8 Is there a really quick way to do audience analysis?
FREE PREVIEW1-9 Do I understand how to communicate effectively to my intended audience?
FREE PREVIEW2-1 What is wrong with this slide?
FREE PREVIEW2-2 Why is this the wrong way to set presentation objectives?
FREE PREVIEW2-3 How do I come up with effective objectives for my presentation?
FREE PREVIEW2-4 What should my objectives be?
FREE PREVIEW2-5 Do I understand how to set objectives for my presentation?
FREE PREVIEW3-1 What is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do to keep your audience’s attention?
FREE PREVIEW3-2 How do I decide which problem I should focus on?
FREE PREVIEW3-2A The Business Problem Tree
FREE PREVIEW3-3 (optional) What if I just can't figure out what problem to use?
FREE PREVIEW3-4 What business problem will I help my audience solve?
FREE PREVIEW3-5 How do I know if I've chosen the correct problem?
FREE PREVIEW3.6 (optional) What if I still can't figure out the audience problem?
FREE PREVIEW3.7 (optional) Is focusing on the audience problem also relevant for educational or training presentations?
FREE PREVIEW3-8 (optional) How do I make an "update" presentation more engaging?
FREE PREVIEW3-9 How much of the solution to the audience problem should I present?
FREE PREVIEW3-10 (optional) How can I be sure that the solution I'm offering is the right one for my audience?
FREE PREVIEW3-11 Just checking: what is the single most important thing to know about designing a presentation?
FREE PREVIEW4-1 What kinds of information should I include in my presentation?
4-2 (optional) What is the difference between valuable information and random noise?
4-3 What are the most persuasive kinds of information?
4-4 What should go into my presentation?
4-5 Have I included all the right information?
5-1 What is the purpose of anecdotes, or short stories, in my presentation?
5-2 What kinds of stories should I use, and where can I find them?
5-3 What anecdotal evidence do I have?
5-4 (optional) What are the Seven Basic Plots and how can they help me become a better storyteller?
5-5 What do anecdotes add to my presentation?
6.1 What’s the key to holding my audience’s attention throughout my presentation?
6-2 Let's see some examples about this fundamental truth about all good stories
6-3 What is the role of examples in my story — and what is the S.Co.R.E. method?
6-4 Let's see an example of the S.Co.R.E. method in use
6-5 What is the big idea here?
6-6 What do I need to use the S.Co.R.E. method myself?
6-7 How does the S.Co.R.E. method work?
6-8 How do I use the S.Co.R.E. method right now?
6-9 Did I create a good story?
6-9A (optional) S.Co.R.E. method checklist download
6-10 Why is the S.Co.R.E. method so effective at keeping my audience's attention?
6-11 (optional) Why shouldn't I "fork" my presentation?
6-12 How else can I test my story?
6-13 Do I understand how to use the S.Co.R.E. method?
7-1 How do I decide which charts to choose to show my data?
7-2 Which charts should I use?
7-3 Should I take each of my S.Co.R.E. cards and turn it into a slide? (Why is having fewer slides better?)
7-4 Have I chosen the right charts?
8-1 How do I avoid "Death by PowerPoint"?
8-2 What are the differences between Conference Room and Ballroom Style presentations?
8-2A (optional) What are some simple rules for making better Ballroom Style presentation?
8-3 Why am I likely to be using Conference Room Style most of the time?
8-4 Why should I be concerned about details?
8-5 Why shouldn't I KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid)?
8-6 What kind of detail I should absolutely avoid?
8-7 Why shouldn't I try to pretty my slides up with animations, transitions, and so on?
8-8 Should I use color?
8-9 Won't color and other attractive graphics make my presentation more engaging?
8-9A What kinds of detail should I include in my presentation?
8-10 How do I use the Squint Test?
8-11 Won't emailing the deck out in advance mean that I lose control over the presentation?
8-12 What is the theoretical, ideal number of slides in a presentation?
8-13A The Extreme Presentation makeover, Part I: "Before"
8-13B The Extreme Presentation makeover, Part II "The Makeover"
8-13C The Extreme Presentation Makeover, Part III "After"
8-14 How do I make sure that the layout of the page reinforces the main message of the page?
8-15 How do I decide how many slides I need?
8.15A How many slides do I actually need?
8-16 How do I start drawing my slides?
8-17 How do I choose a good layout for each slide?
8-18 Which slide layouts should I use? (The Electronic Slide Chooser)
8-18A Where can I find examples of slides that pass the squint test?
8-18B Encyclopedia of Slide Layouts - Introduction (optional)
8-18C Encyclopedia of Slide Layouts - Table of Contents
8-18D Encyclopedia of Slide Layouts — Chs. 1 to 22
8-18E Encyclopedia of Slide Layouts — Chs. 23 to 42
8-19 Can I draw my slides now?
8-19A What else should I include in my slides?
8-20 How do I "roadmap" my slide?
8-21 (optional) What if I need my slides to explain themselves after I give the presentation?
8-22 How do I use the Anatomy of a Conference Room Style Slide to check my slides?
8-23 Where can I get feedback on my presentation?
8-24 Which of these are important for designing effective slide layouts?
9-1 Is there anyone outside my audience who could get in the way of my presentation's success?
9-2 What is my plan for handling them?
10-1 How will I know if my presentation is successful?
10-2 How much effort does it take to achieve simplicity of design and complexity of detail?
10-3 Can this whole course be summarized on one slide?
A0: Download a new Workbook
A1: Audience
A2: Objectives
A3: Problem-Solution
A4: Evidence
A5: Anecdotes
A6: Sequencing
A7: Charts
A8: Layouts I
A8: Layouts II
A8: Layouts III
A9: Stakeholders
A10: Measurement