Productivity Tutorial - How to create a storyboard for presentations

Summary

The video script emphasizes the importance of creating a storyboard when preparing a presentation. It explains that a storyboard is a visual tool that helps in structuring the presentation by allowing the presenter to arrange and rearrange elements without altering the actual content. The process of storyboarding aids in visualizing the storyline, mapping out slides, and maintaining the audience's attention through a compelling narrative. The presenter suggests using basic tools like whiteboards, napkins, or tablet apps for initial sketches to keep the focus on ideas rather than the tools themselves. They also propose a workflow that starts with a rough sketch, followed by refinement in a design application, and finally, compiling the presentation in a platform like Keynote or PowerPoint. The script encourages finding a personal workflow and highlights the value of saving storyboards for future reference to ensure a well-structured presentation from start to finish.

Takeaways

• 📈 **Storyboard Creation**: Start by creating a storyboard to visualize the presentation structure, allowing for easy rearrangement of content.
• 🧠 **Brainstorming Tool**: Use the storyboard as a sketch pad to let ideas flow out freely, focusing on the thought process rather than the tools used.
• 🔍 **Visual Mapping**: Map out slides visually, using physical or digital methods like separate sheets of paper, magnetic templates, or whiteboards.
• 📋 **Basic Tools Suggestion**: Keep the storyboarding tools simple, such as whiteboards, notebook paper, or tablet drawing apps, to maintain focus on ideas.
• 📝 **Iterative Process**: The storyboard serves as a starting point for refining the presentation in design applications like Keynote or Photoshop.
• 📉 **Storyline Development**: Develop a clear storyline with a beginning, middle, and end to maintain audience engagement throughout the presentation.
• 🚀 **Flexibility**: There is no right or wrong way to create a storyboard; find a method that works best for you and your presentation style.
• 📌 **Physical Manipulation**: The ability to physically move and rearrange slides during the storyboarding process helps in crafting the presentation's flow.
• 💡 **Idea Generation**: The storyboarding process is crucial for generating and organizing ideas before diving into the design and production of the slides.
• 📁 **Save Your Work**: Saving your storyboards is essential for reviewing and refining your presentation, ensuring consistency and clarity in your message.
• ➡️ **Workflow Efficiency**: Use a workflow that starts with a basic sketch, moves to a design application for refinement, and finally compiles into a presentation software for the final product.

Q & A

Why is creating a storyboard important before assembling a presentation?

Creating a storyboard is important because it allows you to visualize the structure of the presentation, move pieces around, and change things without damaging the presentation itself. It helps in determining the storyline, setting the beginning, middle, and end points, and is crucial for keeping the audience's attention.

What does the speaker suggest for visualizing the presentation structure?

The speaker suggests using a storyboard to visualize the presentation structure. This can be done by mapping out slides on separate sheets of paper, using magnetic templates on a whiteboard, or even sketching on napkins.

How does a storyboard help in crafting a presentation?

A storyboard acts as a sketch pad where ideas flow out and are arranged until they make sense. It helps in getting ideas out in the open for crafting and constructing the presentation's narrative.

What tools does the speaker recommend for creating a storyboard?

The speaker recommends using basic tools for creating a storyboard, such as whiteboards, notebook paper, tablet drawing apps, or even sketching on napkins. The focus should be on the ideas rather than the tools.

Why should the storyboarding process be kept simple?

The storyboarding process should be kept simple to allow for easy refinement later in design applications. It serves as a skeleton that can be fleshed out and turned into an actual presentation with the addition of images, text, and design elements.

What is the proposed workflow for creating a full-fledged presentation after developing a theme?

The proposed workflow starts with sketching on a whiteboard or napkin, then refining in a design application, and finally aggregating all information into a presentation application like Keynote or PowerPoint.

Why is it important to save your storyboards?

Saving your storyboards is essential as they serve as a review point, allowing you to understand your initial thoughts and intentions. They help in maintaining a structured presentation from start to finish and provide a basis for making informed adjustments during the review process.

How can the process of creating a storyboard be personalized?

The process of creating a storyboard can be personalized by finding a method that works best for the individual. This could involve sketching on paper, using digital apps, or even creating the storyboard directly in a design application.

What is the role of storytelling in a presentation?

Storytelling in a presentation is very important as it helps in keeping the audience's attention regardless of the subject matter. It provides a narrative structure that makes the presentation more engaging and memorable.

How can moving slides around physically during the storyboarding process benefit the presentation?

Moving slides around physically during the storyboarding process allows for a visual and tactile way to change the structure of the presentation. It makes it easier to experiment with the flow and arrangement of information before finalizing the presentation.

What is the significance of having a clear beginning, middle, and end in a presentation?

Having a clear beginning, middle, and end in a presentation helps in setting the pace and maintaining the audience's interest. It provides a logical flow of information and ensures that the key points are communicated effectively.

How can the use of a whiteboard or similar tool facilitate the storyboarding process?

Using a whiteboard or similar tool facilitates the storyboarding process by providing a flexible and easily modifiable surface. It allows for quick changes and rearrangements, making it an efficient way to visualize and plan the presentation structure.

Outlines

00:00

📈 Creating a Storyboard for Presentation Structure

This paragraph discusses the importance of creating a storyboard when assembling a presentation. A storyboard helps visualize the presentation's structure, allowing for easy rearrangement of components without altering the presentation itself. It facilitates the determination of a clear storyline with a defined beginning, middle, and end, which is crucial for maintaining audience engagement. The speaker also emphasizes the utility of a storyboard for mapping out slides, either on separate sheets of paper or using magnetic templates on a whiteboard. The process of creating a storyboard is likened to sketching ideas on a pad, where they can be rearranged until they form a coherent structure. It is noted that there is no single correct method for creating a storyboard; individuals should find an approach that suits them best. Basic tools such as whiteboards, notebook paper, or tablet drawing apps are recommended to keep the focus on the ideas rather than the tools. An example of a simple storyboard created for a sales presentation is provided, demonstrating how a whiteboard can be used to outline the presentation's flow with boxes representing slides and arrows indicating the narrative direction. The paragraph concludes by stating that storyboards should be kept simple and can be further refined in design applications later.

05:02

🎨 Personalizing Your Storyboarding Workflow

The second paragraph emphasizes the personal nature of the storyboarding process. It suggests that while the speaker's workflow might involve sketching on a whiteboard or napkin, others might prefer digital tools like Photoshop or Adobe Ideas. The speaker encourages finding a personal workflow that works best for the individual. Additionally, the paragraph highlights the importance of saving storyboards as they serve as a crucial reference point during the review process before finalizing a presentation. The saved storyboard, along with attached notes, helps in understanding the reasoning behind the sequence of slides and can assist in making informed adjustments. The speaker advises keeping the storyboard throughout the presentation development process to ensure a structured and coherent presentation from start to finish. The paragraph concludes by urging the audience to invest time in building their own storyboards and finding a workflow that brings them satisfaction.

Keywords

💡Storyboard

A storyboard is a visual representation of the sequence of events in a presentation. It helps to visualize the structure before finalizing the content. In the video, the storyboard is used to map out the slides, set the beginning, middle, and end points of the presentation, and to rearrange the slides without damaging the presentation itself. It is likened to a sketch pad where ideas flow out and are rearranged until they make sense.

💡Theme

The theme in the context of the video refers to the central idea or topic that the presentation is built around. It is crucial for providing a cohesive structure to the presentation and helps in maintaining the audience's attention. The video emphasizes the importance of deciding on a theme before starting to assemble the presentation.

💡Presentation Structure

The structure of a presentation refers to the organization of its content. It includes the arrangement of different sections such as the introduction, main body, and conclusion. The video discusses creating a storyboard to visualize this structure, allowing for easy modification and ensuring a logical flow of information.

💡Visualize

To visualize in the context of the video means to create a mental picture or a physical representation of something. The process of developing a storyboard is a form of visualization that helps in planning the presentation's flow and content before actually creating the slides. It is used to determine the storyline and to map out the slides.

💡Sketch Pad

A sketch pad, as mentioned in the video, is a tool for brainstorming and arranging ideas. In the context of creating a presentation, the storyboard acts as a sketch pad where all ideas flow out, are visualized, and rearranged. It's a place to freely express and organize thoughts before refining them in a more polished format.

💡Basic Tools

Basic tools refer to simple, readily available instruments used for creating a storyboard. The video suggests using whiteboards, notebook paper, tablet drawing apps, or even napkins for sketching out ideas. The emphasis is on focusing on the ideas rather than the complexity of the tools used.

💡Idea Flow

Idea flow in the video refers to the process of freely generating and organizing thoughts and concepts without being hindered by the medium. It is about capturing the essence of what one wants to convey in the presentation. The storyboard facilitates idea flow by providing a space to quickly jot down and rearrange thoughts.

💡Slide Mapping

Slide mapping is the process of planning and organizing the content of each slide within the presentation. The video discusses using a storyboard to visually map out the slides, allowing for the physical movement of slide representations to optimize the presentation's sequence and flow.

💡Storytelling

Storytelling is a technique used in presentations to engage the audience by presenting information in a narrative format. The video stresses the importance of storytelling for maintaining audience attention and using a storyboard to plan the story's beginning, middle, and end.

💡Design Application

A design application refers to software or tools used to create and refine the visual aspects of a presentation, such as slides. After the storyboard is created, the video suggests using a design application to put together images, text, and other visual elements to enhance the presentation's aesthetics.

💡Workflow

Workflow in the context of the video is the sequence of steps or processes involved in creating a presentation. The proposed workflow includes sketching on a whiteboard or napkin, refining in a design application, and then compiling in a presentation software like Keynote or PowerPoint. The video encourages finding a personal workflow that works best for the individual.

💡Saving Storyboards

Saving storyboards is emphasized in the video as an essential practice for reviewing and refining the presentation later. It allows the presenter to revisit the initial ideas and structure, ensuring that changes made during the design phase are intentional and aligned with the original vision.

Highlights

Storyboarding is a crucial step in presentation assembly, allowing for the visualization of the presentation structure.

A storyboard enables the presenter to rearrange parts of the presentation without damaging the content.

Storyboards help in determining the storyline, which includes setting the beginning, middle, and end points.

Telling a story during a presentation is essential for maintaining audience attention.

Storyboards allow for the visual mapping of slides, which can be physically moved around for structural changes.

Using basic tools like whiteboards or notebook paper is recommended to keep the focus on ideas rather than the tools.

Storyboards act as a sketch pad where ideas flow out and can be rearranged until they make sense.

There is no right or wrong way to create a storyboard; it should be personalized to the presenter's workflow.

Storyboards should be kept simple, serving as a skeleton that can be refined later in design applications.

The presenter's workflow involves sketching on a whiteboard or napkin, refining in a design app, and compiling in a presentation app.

Saving storyboards is essential for the review process, providing a reference point for the presenter's original thoughts.

Storyboards ensure a structured presentation from start to finish and offer a single review point.

The process of creating a storyboard and a presentation should be adapted to the individual's preferences and style.

Using digital tools like tablet drawing apps or Photoshop can also be effective if that's the presenter's preference.

The importance of sketching ideas out quickly and not getting bogged down in the technical details of the tools is emphasized.

Storyboarding is not just for visual presentations; it's a method for structuring and planning any type of presentation.

The presenter shares a personal example of using a whiteboard with markers to create a sales presentation storyboard.

The process of translating the storyboard into a design application is described, emphasizing the iterative nature of presentation creation.

Transcripts

once you've decided on a theme for your

presentation you've got everything ready

to go now it's time to actually start

assembling the presentation into its own

structure and for this we create a

storyboard and that's we're going to be

talking about in this movie how to

create a storyboard now there are a few

things that I want you to understand on

why we do this step because most people

would just say okay I've got all my

information I've got my theme

I just want to aggregate it all together

in one big pile well we do this so that

we can visualize the structure of the

presentation by developing a storyboard

you can actually move pieces around and

change things without doing any damage

to the presentation itself it's sort of

like visualizing before you attack it

also allows you to determine the

storyline for the presentation setting

the beginning middle and end point and

as we know telling a story during a

presentation is very important for

keeping the audience's attention no

matter what the subject matter it also

allows you to visually map out the

slides as I said you can actually move

these things around physically let's say

you do every different slide on a

separate sheet of paper or you have

different templates that you use that

are magnetic on a whiteboard or

something like that you can actually

just move things around changing the

structure visually making it easier to

just touch the information rather than

having to visualize it in your head this

helps get it out in the open where you

or someone else can help to actually

craft and construct this idea I want you

to think of storyboards as a sketch pad

this is where all of your ideas just

sort of flow out of your mind and they

hit the wall and on that wall you take

everything that's stuck to it and then

you just sort of rearrange it until it

makes sense that's what storyboards are

all about you just take whatever the

idea is for the intro slide for instance

okay I want my name here my picture here

etc and then you just cover sort of work

through that process and get everything

mapped out exactly where you want it it

should also be noted that there is no

right or wrong way to do this everyone's

going to have their own way I have a way

that works for me you should find a way

that works for you and make it so now I

also want you to understand that you

should be using just basic tools for

this storyboard you don't need to go

into Photoshop or illustrator or

anything like that although you could

you could absolutely do it in a program

like that but it sort of defeats the

this in this case we're talking about

whiteboards notebook paper even tablet

drawing apps if you have an iPad or

something like that

and of course the tried-and-true method

of just sketching stuff out on napkins

keeping things basic makes it easier for

you to focus on the ideas coming out of

your head not so much the tools that

you'll be using to do that you should

just grab whichever one of these or

whatever is closest to you in a room

when you have these ideas and just start

sketching them out that's the purpose of

the storyboard just to sort of say okay

I've got this sheet of paper here I'm

just going to go ahead and write down

what I want on this slide and then just

stick it up on the board on the

whiteboard or wherever it might be going

or you know you just grab a marker go to

the whiteboard and do it that way

just using basic tools keeps the ideas

flowing and like I said keeps your mind

focused on what you're doing not how

you're doing it here is an example of a

storyboard that I did recently for a

sales presentation so you can see here

that it says basically markers on a

whiteboard I've got a box simulating

each one of the slides and I just tell

the story through arrows so we've got a

title then we go to about me then we

give to an agenda then we go all the way

down okay we're talking about what

happened in q3 what do we do in q3 and

what type of goals did we set moving

into q4 targets okay here's our the

goals that we had sent okay here's our

results q4 results that flows down - all

right who was the top dog salesman

alright now that we've rounded that out

what do we want to see next year from

the company and then finally okay now

that we've done really well this year

and we've set our goals for next year

let's talk about how we're going to

relax at the company retreat and then

finally we conclude out with some sort

of conclusion so this is just a basic

outline of my presentation it's the

first step in outlining my presentation

and I've got the flow I've got the

structure I've got all of the key points

that I need to cover and so I got all of

that out right here in the whiteboard

and I can now translate this into some

sort of design application to start

putting these slides together I want you

to understand that story boards aren't

complex they need to be as simple as

possible as you saw before and also you

can refine them later in other

applications this should be just like a

skeleton that you're putting together

and then you're going to take them into

another application keynote Photoshop

Illustrator PowerPoint whatever

might be down the road to refine them

and turn them into an actual

presentation here is my proposed

workflow for you when you're actually

creating a full-fledged presentation

this is after you've developed your

theme and all that stuff we've been

talking about so far you start on a

whiteboard a napkin something like that

just sketch something out then you're

going to refine that in a design

application you're going to put the

images together the text together all

the stuff that needs to flow and look

pretty that's going to be inside of the

design application and then finally

you're going to aggregate all of that

information into an application like

keynote or PowerPoint or whatever the

case may be the big thing that you need

to take away from this is that this is

what works for me and you need to find

what works for you if you don't like

sketching out on paper then don't do it

do your sketching in an app like

Photoshop or using Adobe Ideas on your

iPad if you like to not sketch out at

all you just like to go off the cuff

that's totally fine - this is as I said

my proposed workflow and I encourage you

very much so to find what works for you

I also want you to save your storyboards

because saving your storyboards is going

to be essential to you down the road

because oftentimes when I'm building a

storyboard if I don't save it then when

I actually go and build the presentation

I start rearranging things based on what

I think at the time might look good or

something like that

but as long as I save that storyboard

especially with the notes that I have

attached to it it's very useful for me

during my review process before I

actually finish out the presentation

because of the fact that I can go back

to my storyboard read my notes about it

and say oh okay this is why slide X went

ahead of slide Y or vice versa

and so I can rearrange things based on

that storyboard or I can say you know

what that really wasn't a good idea in

the storyboarding phase it looks a lot

better this way so we just go from there

but keeping that storyboard all the way

through ensures that you have a nice

easily structured presentation from

start to finish and allows you that

single review point to understand

exactly what you were thinking before

hand all the way to the end of the

process so again take some time build

your own storyboards find your own

workflow you'll be really glad you did