This document outlines tips and strategies for effective presentations. It discusses structuring a presentation around 3 key messages to convey, using stories to engage audiences, and crafting elevator speeches. Design principles like contrast, repetition and alignment are covered. The document also provides advice on overcoming nerves, handling questions, using transitions like "for instance", and the importance of practice. The overall message is on distilling messages, engaging audiences visually and verbally, and feeling comfortable delivering presentations.
4. Learn from last time (preview) Think about what 3 things I'd like the audience to take away from the presentation and to incorporate a story to help convey my messages
5. Learn from last time (preview) Keep it simple and feel comfortable making one point -- but by repetition, making it well.
6. Learn from last time (preview) Think about the message you want people to hear and take away from the presentation FIRST - then use this information to create the presentation.
19. Audiences Do Not Want “mission statement” by Ecastro, from flickr
20. 6 Types of Stories Oh No!...disaster, tragedy, bad news Yes!...victory, agreement, improvement Wow!...extreme, unique event Hmmm!...thought-provoking, stimulating Rituals...opening days, funerals, birthdays News You Can Use...helpful information
21. Crafting An Elevator SpeechWho We Are, In A Minute Or So Hi! My name is _____ and I work with… You know how… (problem) Well, what we do is…(feature) So that …(benefit) We’re kind of like the…(metaphor) Feature: the physical traits or description of what you do Benefit: a feature translated into a member’s satisfaction. What do the members get because of what you do? Metaphor: a comparison that can be funny or startling; goal is to make your work familiar.
25. A little about PowerPoint “In a business setting, a PowerPoint slide typically shows… about 8 seconds’ silent reading material.… Audiences consequently endure a relentless sequentiality, one damn slide after another.” Edward Tufte
26. Structure: It’s Not What You Think Agenda: Greenbelt - Agenda doodles from thisisbossy @ flickr.com Stopwatch: stopwatch from wwarby @ flickr.com
35. See you tomorrow! Bring 2-3 slidesPlease Email gordon@newstips.org or bring on a thumb drive Come ready to be on cameraDress as you would for your big presentation Incorporate lessons from todayTime permitting--redesign, redraft, and practice
36. Design & Style “What the good presentations have in common is that they were created carefully and thoughtfully with the audience in mind and were delivered with passion, clarity, brevity, and always with "the story" of it (whatever it is) in mind. Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen blog
40. Help, I’m Nervous Steven Poff, “July 31st 2008 - I Aimed, I Pulled the Trigger, from flickr
41. Presentation Tips: Bridging If you are asked a question not on your agenda, bridging is the effective way to respond. Nikki Sixx, by Tawny Rockerazzi from flickr
Oh No!...disaster, tragedy, bad newsYes!...victory, agreement, improvementWow!...extreme, unique eventHmmm!...thought-provoking, stimulatingRituals...opening days, funerals, birthdaysNews You Can Use...helpful information
Most people use powerpoint, most people give handouts, most people talk for 20 minutes to an hour, not too many interact with the audience beyond q and a and less than 10% ask audience members to interact with each other in the course of a presentation. (his def. of a presentation).
Goal, Audience, Message: Who? How many? How long? The size will help to dictate something else you probably want to know: whether to be formal, semilformal , informal—we’ll talk more about this next week, but for now, the larger the group, the more formal.
http://norvig.com/Gettysburg3 parts of your presentation, Garry Reynolds sas: your notes, your slides, your handoutYour slides are for your audience: Do. Not. Read.Rules like no more htan 6 lines of text. No less than 30 point size. Yes, yes. Turpin Communicatoins: My slides Are Not A Script
Forget about “tell em what you’re gonna tell em, tell em, tell em what you told them. Efective presenters today think as much about story as they do about argument. So Vicki K talks about “blot it and plot it”—pick a theme, and hit that theme multiple times from multiple angles—your “main idea” – since we know that folks are only gonna remember a tiny fraction. Don’t be afraid to say things like “If you only get 1 thing from this presentation…”
GridsBleedsI think I know why we do it… it’s what we’re programmed to do: and it’s what we see. But now that we live in a multimedia world, there’s really no reason not to be more creative. Use a blank powerpoint sheet to organize your thoughts/presentationsContrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity (new ppt is great on grids)
Make things really different—black and white. Break the boundaries of the page.
A synonym is continuity—for example using the same fonts throughout, or if you see in a book, drop caps repeated throughout. Themes, backgrounds, font families and applying styles universally can help.
Not just center, left, right, or full justify. “Every item should have a visual connection with something else on the page.” In newspapers, ‘modular design” – fit it on the grid. It’s the stuff you don’t see, that guides the eye to the right spot.
Rearrange elements to get them visually connected to each other. (notice contrast repetition and alignment are also used here) Questions?
Rule of 3: you see it in jokes, writers use it, you should structure your presentation this way. 3% is how much of your session your audience is likely to retainAnd if your sessionis an hour, think of it as 3 discreet blocks of 20 minutes—which presentation experts tell us is also as long as adults can pay attention, so that’s another one of the laws of human nature that it helps to follow—think in terms of 20 minute “chunks” or blocks of info.
I added this slide at the last minute because it’s such a great way to make what I think is likely to be a controversial point. In effect, a point that says, you’re doing your slides ALL WRONG. Scott says this better than I could (although others make this point): Can you imagine if someone emailed you the screens that appear behind the evening news anchor person? … Good luck making sense of any of that without the anchor person to elaborate on the on-screen graphics…. If a presentation is effective with you standing there and delivering it, then it should not be able to stand alone without you. If it can stand alone without you, then what did you add by being there to present it?If all info is on screen, why are you standing there? If you’re there, use PPT to reinforce what you sayIf you want to leave behind notes, then write and design a comprehensive document that captures each salient message in more than bullet points. Paragraphs and bullet points, images and captions = an effective leave behind.I think I know why we do it… it’s what we’re programmed to do: and it’s what we see. But now that we live in a multimedia world, there’s really no reason not to be more creative. Use a blank powerpoint sheet to organize your thoughts/presentations
Special cases: more scripted. We already covered the open with a story—how I got this idea (tell stor of Garr Reynolds Presentation Zen book story); endings—it’s always nice to have a zinger at the end… like in this case… homework!
http://bit.ly/37CKJDescribes the 10 commandments of TED and also lists some of his favorites from among radically different styles—no slides, no notes; Isabel Allende reading at a lectern from a prepared text, Seth Godin, Al gore, “Presenting well in spite of superfluous, cruddy bulleted slides” etc.
Be ready for the worst—multiple redundancy--get there early--if it’s not your projector, have a copy on a thumb drive--have some paper in case of the worst--cell phones?--a copy online?
Yousendit=100 MB maxLinkedIn-slidehsare connectionPrint to PDFSave As … Jpgs is nice and small! (but not machine readable)PPT Package? Remember fonts and pictures.
Your point of view is the most important thing at the momentYou got here because what you know and think is of valueBeing nervous is normalChannel fear into excitement and enthusiasmUse breathing, centering—relaxation techniques that work for you
Plant a flag with words, gestures, quiet
Examples: Case studies, victim or expert stories to get a general point across.Colorful words, clichés, and contemporary references. Superlatives If the situation merits I statements: cite yourself as an expert.Recognize two sides to story and give a sense of the opposite side. Promote better understanding of complex issues & allow you to ‘spin’ the opposition before they get a chance to respond.
Christine story: a new yorker in rural michigan; “I have it down now” learn by doing (fail fast, don’t make the same mistakes twice)
Think talk radio—you won’t have much to go on, so plan to serve up good items Use the functionality (know what it is)