Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Presentation Skills



Presentations should inspire... not just deliver information and facts. Here's 10 quick tips:

1. Plan it on paper first: not the PowerPoint software

2. Set the theme: a catch headline, title

3. Show enthusiasm: inject your personality into the talk

4. Provide a roadmap: number items verbally to tell your audience where you're going

5. Make the numbers meaningful: a 12 GB chip has enough transitors that if each transitor was an ant laid end-to-end, they would circle the entire Earth twice.

6. Deliver a Spielberg moment: a visual "wow"... an emotional connection to the audience

7. Keep slides simple: highly visual, yet only 1 image per slide and very little text

8. Sell the benefit: answer the WIIFM question for the audience (What's In It For Me?)

9. Rehearse the presentation: practice, practice, practice... out loud, standing up

10. Don't sweat the small stuff: relax, have fun, and enjoy the attention

1 comment:

Lee Potts said...

11. Show up early.

It's hard to be calm enough to give a good presentation if you're stressed out about something that went wrong moments before you're due to go on.

There's nothing like trying to figure out how to get a projector to show your slides with a room full of people watching (and waiting).

If you don't mind, I'd like to mention a blog I just started that deals with all the things that can go wrong when you're presenting, or when you're helping to support someone else's presentation. It's called Breaking Murphy's Law (http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com).

Thanks!