Presentation Zen

presentation zen

Good afternoon and welcome to “Presentation Zen”. I am Phil Toland I work in IT on Customer Portal I will be giving today’s Lunch and Learn presentation

meta presentation

This is a presentation about presentations A “meta presentation” I will talk about using slideware as a communication tool I will not talk about how to create a presentation in powerpoint

Bad presentation anecdote: Vendor presentation Presenter did not know the subject matter, was reading slides “I don’t know what this slide is trying to say”, “I think this slide is trying to say...” Typical of bad presentations, we left the room annoyed with the vendor

presentation styles

We will start out by looking at some new and different presentation styles Different ways to approach the problem Mine for inspiration and ideas

Masayoshi Takahashi

Takahashi is a developer who was asked to give a five minute presentation He didn’t have powerpoint or graphics software, yet he wanted to make a good impression He decided to put a few carefully chosen characters on the screen for each slide

The Takahashi Method

This style is known as the Takahashi Method The characters on the screen are carefully chosen to have the most impact Overlap of written language and art

huge characters

Uses very large fonts A few characters take up the whole screen Audience doesn’t have to spend a long time looking at the screen to understand

easy to see

The large characters are easy to see from all points in the room The simplicity of the slide does not distract from the speaker

Larry Lessig

Larry Lessig, attorney and law professor at Stanford Involved with the EFF and created the Creative Commons Advocate for “free culture” and copyright reforms

The Lessig Method

Similar to the Takahashi method

Lessig’s slides often contain a single word

quote

or photo

Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki, venture capitalist Gives a lot of presentations Listens to a lot of business pitches

The Kawasaki Method

top 10 format

Tired of boring presentations Top 10 format gives some idea of progress Kawasaki uses top 10 for all of his presentations

10 slides 10 major ideas

10 slides 10 major ideas helps keep things simple

10/20/30 rule

Kawasaki’s advice to people pitching business ideas to him the 10/20/30 rule Extension of top 10 format

10 slides

20 minutes

Gives time for question and answer Padding for, eg projector failure People show up late and leave early

30 point font

Easy to see c.f. Takahashi method

(minimum)

fonts should probably be much bigger I use 96pt in this presentation

a contrast in styles

Look at two very different presentation styles Consider the styles, not the individual presenting or the company they represent

Steve Jobs

Very dynamic and open style Known for his ability to hold an audience Every “Stevenote” is sold out

Simple...three main elements Immediately clear A prop, not the main message

Bill Gates

Is that litter? Too many different colors Information overload

Simple graphic Supports what Steve is saying Doesn’t take attention away from Steve

Takes attention away from Bill Too much...doesn’t support a single point well Is it raining on the iMac?

Steve is comfortable with himself on stage Comes out close to the audience Uses blank screen to focus attention on himself

Bullet points as a crutch Bill is not as comfortable...nervous gesture of bringing hands together Stays back from the audience At least move each bullet point to a different slide

what can we learn?

These are all examples to be learned from

top 10 list

(10)

have a clear goal...

...for the presentation...

...and each slide.

know your message

(9)

slides are a visual aid

slides are not the main event...

you are the main event.

(8)

know your audience

context matters

not “good” or “bad”

“appropriate” (or not)

(7)

be “open”

body language matters

attitude matters

connect with the audience

http://davidrodgers.us/blog/?p=21

face the audience

(6) Advice from Edward Tufte...

apologies are bad

Edward Tufte “Never apologize. If youʼre worried the presentation wonʼt go well, keep it to yourself and give it your best shot. Besides, people are usually too preoccupied with their own problems to notice yours.“

pauses are good

Edward Tufte: “Be sure to allow long pauses for questions.”

(5)

simple...

(no more than 6 to 10 words per slide)

...but not simplistic

bullet points are bad

m’kay

focus on clarity

(4)

use notes...

...but don’t use your slides as notes.

(3)

there is no #3

(humor is good)

(2)

powerpoint is not good for...

...complex concepts

...lots of words

...inspiring an audience.

(1)

DON’T

USE

BULLET POINTS!

(‘nuff said)

(0)

there are no rules

Remember...

only you can prevent bad presentations.

Resources

Edward R. Tufte

The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint

Beautiful Evidence

http://presentationzen.com http://garrreynolds.com/Presentation

finis