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.

People have often made fun of me because I use pictures so much. However, I think that using pictures to say something is a much better way to communicate. Consider this picture below (courtesy of morgue file and Jusben):

This picture is called time warp. Now I can give you scientific information about time warps but why bother when I can show you a picture. This is not necessarily a description of how it works. It’s just a representation. It’s up to you to fill in the details . Now for another example consider for a moment the power of this picture:

This is New York city. Need I say anymore? I have shown this picture to heaps of people and some people say, ‘Yuck what a horrible place,’ and others will say, ‘cool look at all those buildings!’ We can also use pictures to represent ourselves… this is simpsons me:

It represents me in cartoon form. It also says a few other things about me… I wear glasses and judging by the photo I am happy. There are many things you could read into this… probably best not to. So in a short space I have communicated ideas in a much richer way that I normally would have if I had not used pictures. Do you get the picture?

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Have you ever been asked to give your boss a presentation or perhaps you are a university student and you often are asked to do them. In my experience people think that people actually want to hear what you have to say. Chances are unless paid for it … you got it wrong Jack. Here are five things I have learned from years of giving lectures:

1. Get to the point as fast as you can… but not too fast

Most people talk and talk until the audience wish they would stop. Some others read through the material so fast that you are left wondering what the hell was just said. Here is the middle ground: Make every part of your presentation short, sharp and to the point. Don’t waste time!

2. Present your talk as a story

When you have to give a presentation think: the Disney approach. There is start where you tell the audience what is you are talking about. There is a middle, where you tell them what you want them to know (again the core ideas). Then you finish with a conclusion saying what you have just said. Simple. Some people I have had the misfortune to listen to like to think they are Castro and talk for hours. We don’t need all the [tag]information]/tag] (see point 1 please) just enough to get the drift.

3. Break up the content and promote interactivity

I have found that I can talk for 10-15 minutes at the most before my students switch off. To combat this I have started using exercises, jokes, videos or group activities that break up the speaking parts. Sure, I have had to be more strategic in my thinking but it has paid off. My new approach saw my teaching approval rating go up 1.5 times when I stopped using lecture slides so much. I learned: less talking more interaction equals happier students. Consider the simple ideas of mind mapping. These maps are the most effective ways of taking notes I have found besides rich pictures. You can work out how you want to demonstrate your ideas through your activities.

4. Use videos and/or visual content where possible

They say a picture tells a thousand words. In my mind pictures and videos are the best form of information for sharing ideas. They give the audience the point and create an experience for them to link it to. I used a stack of youtube videos to great effect. Students enjoyed them… although at times my simpsons videos wore a bit thin. Remember you are entertain others… not just yourself!

5. Be prepared

Nothing stinks more than a presentation that is not prepared. Remember the audience is filled with intelligent rational human beings… if you don’t prepare and stumble through you are the one who loses credibility. Once I had the unpleasant duty of teaching statistics to undergraduates at a teaching college. One of the lectures I thought I had sown up, so I went in cold. That was a huge mistake. One of the students kept asking why I didn’t know the material and I had to bluff my way around their questions. I had no way out! It was horrible… don’t let it happen to you. Prepare or you will die a thousand deaths. Be ready for questions and play the devils advocate by asking what kind of things you think your enemies might ask you in your preparation time. What would they say to trip you up… be prepared!

You must also remember as a bonus point to always look at your audience when you are talking to them. If you don’t it betrays your nerves and they will know you are not confident. Talk to them. Even if you look just above their heads or at one poor victim most of the time (usually the best looking or tallest person in the room for me!). If you remember these five points I believe your presentations will improve dramatically. People will begin saying, ‘wow he’s such a good speaker’. They did for me!

Technorati Tags: presentation, university, Present, talking