Presentation Zen

Donna Spencer recently put together her top ten tips for presentations and presenters. This made me reflect on aspects of what I do in my preparation, presenting, and what I like to see in presentations myself.

Preparation

In preparing, I draw my thoughts and ideas on the shower wall with some simple bath crayons. It helps to sort out the logic of my slides and key phrases I’ll talk to when presenting them.

Each morning, when I get into the shower, I try and talk through the presentation from memory. When I come up with new ideas I then just write them on the shower wall. Normally, I can get about 1/2 way through the talk in the few days leading up to the presentation without the need for prompting. If I can get that far I know I know my material.

Themes

I find that using a theme can help with the visual flow of things and lend consistency to a presentation. Using all Simpsons or Farside cartoons, for example, can lend both humour and the overall style.

Practice in front of loved ones

I always try to present my slides to a friend or loved one. They always tell me if the presentation doesn’t ‘feel’ right, or doesn’t quite flow as it should. In particular, they often note when my presentation isn’t circular, coming full circle back to the original premise so that the presentation feels complete. Even if I leave this til the night before, that still means I’ve got time to tweak bits here and there to get it just right. This also ensures that the timing is right.

The night before

When away from home, I like to sit in a hot bath in my hotel room and do a final run through the slides. I find this really relaxing, particularly before a big conference, and it’s become something of a tradition with me.

Delivery

Of great importance to me is to tell a story, to make it personal, to relate my experience, and to give everyone something to take home that they can put into practice themselves. Hopefully, I will have entertained them as well. A “geek” joke never seems to go astray, and a well-placed, well-edited, relevant video clip can help to articulate something that is difficult to explain, but due to pop-culture, seems to speak for itself.

In the audience — what I like to see

I love it when someone delivers a presentation that makes me think, shows me a new way of doing something, and makes it very apparent that they’re speaking from experience. It irks me, though, when I know someone is delivering a presentation and I know they have no actual experience — it’s like telling someone to do something when you’ve not done it yourself. It just feels … dishonest somehow.

What I don’t like to do

After seeing some really poor shared presentations in my life I just won’t do them. I find that the different styles of presenters on the stage at the same time just distracting. As a viewer, I would rather feel that the presenter is engaging with me, and not the co-presenter. This is not to say, though, that I’m not part of the brains behind someone else’s presentations. I actually contribute quite a lot of thinking to colleagues’ and friends’ prezos and am immensely proud when they pull it off themselves in the delivery. But I would rather them deliver and own the presentation than have me distract people and the two of us deliver potentially mixed messages at the podium.

I’m not perfect. Help me improve

In looking at Donna’s list I know I self-talk a little, I often I don’t know my material as well as I would like to, and sometimes don’t leave enough time for lots questions. But I do love constructive criticism. If you think certain parts didn’t work, or bits were a bit slow, then I’d love to hear from you. This makes me a better presenter and means people will get more out of my presentations.

Presenters that I admire

And lastly, who would I like to be when I grow up?

• Mark Pesce: I first saw him present this year at Web Directions South, Sydney. While our styles are very different I learned so much just by watching him on the stage.
• Karl Kruszelnicki’s: …. his head is just sooooo big!

M