Is it possible that a photo of springtime in the orchard can be used to excite conversation on planning, anticipation, and patience? Abstractions can come alive and start engagement if connections can be visualized.
What are we looking at here? Is this simply a pastoral scene of springtime blooms? Is it too big a leap to suggest that we are seeing the future. In springtime, this fruit is in a sweet-smelling, delicate but inedible state. Not only are we teased by what the blossoms promise, but the signs promise sweets that will be made from the fruits. After they ripen, as the sign implies, they will be processed into man-made sweets that some of us will crave even more than the apple, the pear or the grape. Not only does this orchard produce the raw material, it holds the promise of something more. This is a photo that tells of the power of time and patience and potential to ignite the imagination. But in a presentation, this photo can do more…
What if you are presenting a marketing or sales plan to your team. Could this photo ignite some interesting conversation? For example, let’s talk about the proper timing of a marketing campaign. When should we begin selling the future? Can we make a connection between present potential and future sales? Is a sweeping vista of springtime blossoms a potent and memorable calling card for sweets to be sold in the fall or is the connection too ephemeral and too distant to have an impact on 3rd quarter sales?
Use an Image to Break the Traditional Information Flow
Presentations are often assumed to be a one-sided conversation. Information flows only one way. You speak, your audience listens. There is no law that says that must be the way. If you want to break through that fourth wall, think about using an image to do it. Anything that improves audience engagement is a valuable asset to a presentation. There is really no reason why, in the proper setting, dialogue between presenter and audience shouldn’t occur. This is the kind of engagement that, more than any other, cements ideas and takeaways into the audiences’ mind.
