Why?
“I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found.
By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well.
This to me is a miracle.”
The first sentence of this quote pretty much describes my inner motivation for starting this project. I love to write. A lot of thoughts and problems gain structure when I’m writing them down. With this structure, they’re easier to grasp for me. I’m not sure in how far this is an outing as a weird dude, but: While writing, I learn a lot about what I’m thinking.
My external motivation is neither wealth nor glory: I want to suffer through less really bad presentations, want to fight sleep and frustration attending a talk much less, being positively surprised, convinced, awoken more often. This is my humble contribution to enhance the world of oral and slide presentations.
Why for free?
This question could be answered very shortly and truthfully: Because no one will read it otherwise and I ultimately want people to read my texts. I want to reach you.
The official, a little more extensive and completely fake explanation would sound something like this: Due to my enormous wealth, I’m not dependent on the money from this project and in my self-assumed role as an altruist, I want everyone to be able to participate in my inestimable wisdom.
Why bit by bit?
Since the middle of 2013, the idea of my presentation novel is going around in my head. I did a lot of structuring, taking notes, planning, writing, editing, discarding, … and apart from a very detailed idea, I have nothing to show for.
With my schedule and frequent publications, I’m setting and announcing my own deadline. I tend to be good when it comes to deadlines and I’m hoping that I’m going to be able to correct errors and omissions at an early stage with the help of you, my readers.
The structure is clear and all the necessary ideas are jotted down. The only things that still need to be done are writing, editing and publishing. That doesn’t sound frightening at all.
Why on the internet?
In general: Where else?
I’m not famous, not even well known in the German speaking presentation community. Aside from the few people I met personally in my life, rarely anybody knows me. So, there’s self-publishing or some effort to find a publisher. For a strange guy like me, the internet is the perfect way to get a platform.
As soon as I have a little time on my hands, I’ll look for alternatives: i.e. a downloadable pdf, epub- or iBook-Format with the content of the novel.
Why bilingual?
One might assume, that the idea was born of pure masochism. But that’s only partially true: I really like writing in a foreign language (English). It somehow helps my creative process – maybe because my options are (more) restricted.
But the main reason is, that on one hand, I want to reach my own german-speaking environment, and on the other hand, the by far bigger english-speaking community of presenters and presentation-affecionados. This goal is well worth all the effort.
For whom?
I dedicate this project to my “Gang of Four”, I spent a memorable presentation weekend in Barcelona with: Nicole Gugger, Valentina Gateschi, Ross Fisher and Ricardo Bonis – four special people, who are an enrichment to the world of presentations.