The Hall of Awesomeness

My car has gone in for a service today and I am still waiting for some important results to come back so I was at a loss what to do. I checked my delicious tag and a colleague have left me a great article about presentations. Consider I wrote an earlier article on the golden rules of presenting I thought I would do a rehash here today. In my line of work I have to lecture to people during semester and I have to present at conferences. In both areas I do very well. Recent I scored 6.2/7 on an evaluation and got a letter from the Dean telling me how good I am. Now, that really boosted my confidence. So what are the key things I learned?

1. Everything I learned about presentations I learned in theatre school

In this post darrenbarefoot.com talks about the key things he learned about presenting in theatre school. Can I say that the highlight in this article for me was remembering to keep the narrative arc? I mean it really is important to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Why? Well you could do an Inland Empire and make no sense and hope for the best. We like a good story. A high ranking academic who constantly scored well on his teaching evaluations said: tell them what you are going to say, say it and then tell them what you said. Sound advice.

2. Don’t patronise your audience

Remember they you are not superior to them you are equal and probably know more than you think they do. In my travails with digg (something I will talk about shortly) I came across this article. I liked the way the reviewer points out how well the movie maker know it’s audience. One of the key things you can learn is not to make fun of or poke fun at your audience unless of course you are Denis Leary. Once I remember having a roll of jokes ready for my class that had worked with people around my own age. It was great, they laughed and I felt good! When I used the exact same material we people that were ten years younger it bombed horribley and I ended up looking stupid. Yes, like a Dad in a disco wearing a knitted sweater saying, ‘this is a cool beat!’

3. Know your audience

It’s important to really know your audience. This isn’t very difficult… the government have it nailed even. Find out what they will like and what they won’t. If you are presenting to younger people, more pictures, more visual – less talking and debate. If they are older then present in a manner that’s appealing to them. Think about who you are speaking to you, what they like and don’t and especially pay attention to the problems and issues they are likely to have.

4. Speak to your audience

Even though I don’t really think a lot about George W. Bush, especially as not as much as some, I admire his presentation skills. He makes eye contact with his audience and never really reads from a script. Which some would argue he definitely should. Zig Ziglar is also very good at this. You lose credibility if you read too much and it shows that you are nervous. Which brings me to my next point…

5. This is not a memory game

Nobody is expecting you to remember everything. For goodness sake have a bullet point list ready that you can glance at (not read from) and set your mind on that throughout the presentation. You need to the set the priority of your talk down and make sure what you are saying is clear. In life you need to set your goals clearly or someone else (your audience in this case) will do it for you.  Remember: beginning, middle then the end.

6. Avoid information overload

I believe every speech or presentation should cover a single topic. If the presentation does not cover a single idea or concept then I think you are expecting too much of your audience. You must make sure that you clearly articulate the topic and break it down into the major parts. I once gave a lecture on problem solving where I work. I decided that I would focus on three things: 1. what is problem solving, 2. what types of problems are there? and 3. How do we solve them? In short omit needless words!

7. Avoid information underload

Say you were commissioned to talk about something you found to be of great interest to you. What would you say in the time you had. On the one hand you can go nuts and say far too much. However, there is the possibility that you can say far too little. If I gave my lecture on problem solving and decided to leave out point 3 you would be aware of problems but not able to solve them. You would still be left with your problems!

9. Learn from presentation masters

I have this great presentation from Lawrence Lessig.  Notice how he uses visual media to explain each key point and each picture is relevant.  Steve Jobs is another example of someone who gives a great presentation.  As you learn from the good, you can also learn from that bad (see point 11).

10. Use stories and parables

People think in pictures.  You can use pictures to get your point across a lot faster.  I am not just talking about using diagrams or models or anything like that.  I am talking about painting the pictures for the minds and hearts of your audience.  Stephen King is the master of this.  In his On Writing book he shows how become can share images and pictures through words.  Imagine a what a pink elephant would look like or perhaps a pink Ferrari?  Do I really need to explain what this is to you know?  I have mentioned this in an earlier post but it’s made the list anyway.

11. Use visual media appropriately.

Watch this video: avoid silly colour schemes, don’t overuse pictures or animations but remember to use the techniques the masters use which brings me to the most important thing I have learned about presentations.  Don’t over do it.  Video and visual are powerful ways to get your thoughts into the minds of the readers or viewers.  That said, you can over do it.

12. Inspire your audience 

Nothing works better when you tell the people you are speaking to than inspiration.  If you are doing a presentation on problem solving, explain how what you are saying works for them and how it can improve their lives.   People want to hear success stories.  Especially they want to hear how you are a success and how they can get there.  So many presentations are wasted because there is not impetus to action or inspiration.  Don’t fall into the same trap.

Remember that the bottom line for all presentations is that you get your message across the most effective way you know how.  Use pictures, movies and short sharp points to give the audience a set of ideas or a framework to leave with.  If you talk too much, they won’t remember… talk too little and they will also forget.  Talk to the topic and engage them properly, follow my advice and you will make great presentations.

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