Moving from Data to Meaning: Communicating Effectively in

Technical Presentations Melissa Lynne Murphy, M.A.

PhD Candidate, Communication Coach at The University of Texas at Austin

There are 6,347,856,907 ���human beings in the world

4 will die in shark attacks

This year…

79 will perish from avian flu

965 will die in airplane crashes

14,600 will lose their lives in armed conflict

5,000,000 will die from water-related

diseases

That’s a tsunami twice a month ���

Or 5 Hurricane Katrinas a day���

A World Trade Center every 4 hours

Move Data to Meaning

Quality of Idea���Poor Good

Lucky Break Lost Opportunity

Wasted Investment Success !

Adv

ocac

y fo

r Id

ea���

Effe

ctiv

e In

effe

ctiv

e

Source: John Daly, Advocacy

Simplify

Move from Data to Meaning

“We are selling over five million songs a day now. Isn’t that unbelievable?

Five million songs a day! That’s fifty-eight songs every second of every minute of every hour of every day”

–Steve Jobs

Move from Data to Meaning: Good

“Today we have the industry’s first-shipping 32-nanometer process technology. A 32-nanometer

microprocessor is 5,000 times faster; its transistors are 100,000 times

cheaper than the 4004 processor that we began with.”

Move from Data to Meaning: Better

!“With all respect to our friends in the auto industry, if their products had

produced the same kind of innovation, cars today would go 470,000 miles per gallon and they’d cost three cents. We

believe that these advances in technology are bringing us into a new

era of computing”

How it Works: Make Analogies Like a giant washing machine?

Like cutting the grass?

Like doing your taxes?

Like snaking a drain?

Like the NY subway system?

Like the US postal service?

Going on a first date?

Hiring an accountant?

A marching band?

Like Amazon?

Like the movie Honey I Shrunk the Kids?

Features Benefits

How it Works, Features, Benefits

Plastic Handle Square Shank Brand Name

Avoid Injury / Death Does Tough Jobs faster

Low, cost 100% guarantee

1,000 gigabyte hard drive Micro processor

calculator

Work better, faster Reduce risk of IRS audit Avoid possible overdraft

penalty

Research Findings Financial

Product Launch

Product Mgmt VC Pitch Keynote

Address

Find the perfect mix of data & narrative

Report Literal

Informational Factual

Exhaustive

Story Dramatic,

Experiential, Evocative, Persuasive

Adapted  from  Nancy  Duarte,  HBR  2013    

The Perfect Mix of Data & Narrative

•  Instead of specs & features focus on VALUE product brings to the World

• Tell stories that show how real people use it & why it will change their lives

Product Launch

• For 30 minutes, prepare crisp well-structured story that coveys idea compellingly in 10 min

• Q&A will drive the rest, anticipate/rehearse clear concise answers

VC Pitch

10% 20%

90% 75%

50% 30%

What we

read

What we

hear

What we see

What we see & hear

What we say

What we learn when talking and interacting

Source: Johnson & Johnson Retention Study cited by Dell Global Training

People retain more information when they are engaged

Are you excited about it?

Vocalics & Non-Verbals

Now, pass the toddler test

Recommended Resources John Daly, Advocacy

Norbert Aubuchon, The Anatomy of Persuasion

Nancy Duarte, Harvard Business Guide to Persuasive Presentations

Nancy Duarte, Slide:olgoy

Bill McGowan, Pitch Perfect

Carmine Gallo, Talk like Ted & The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

Chip Heath & Dan Heath, Made to Stick

Jeffrey Gitomer, The Little Red Book of Selling *All titles available on Amazon

Website Coming Soon! Best contact info:

#513-600-8585 melissa.murphy01@gmail.com

Website Coming Soon! Best contact info:

#513-600-8585 melissa.murphy01@gmail.com