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Open Thread: Your best tip on doing presentations
Merlin Mann | Nov 18 2005
As I mentioned yesterday, I'll be leading a discussion on Tinderbox and "the trusted system" tomorrow. Probably running a few Keynote slides, but mostly just casually chatting with a small group of enthusiastic Tinderbox fans. I'm not a seasoned public speaker by anyone's estimation, so I've made my share of rookie mistakes in the past (hint: avoid doing a rambling, overlong talk without slides at ETech; people get confused, hungry, and eventually want to defenestrate you). So, as I prep myself for tomorrow, I turn to you guys: What's your best presentation tip? What's the "never break it" rule for PowerPoint/Keynote decks? What's your favorite site, article, or link on great presentations? How do I get that Lessig-, Jobs-, or Veen-like fu that makes audiences so giddy? (Self-links are okay within reason here) I'll be over here imagining people in their underwear, but I'd love to hear your best advice on this stuff. Update 2005-11-19 21:37:26I've posted the slides from my talk today along with links to some of the posts and cool applications I mentioned. Summary: went well! Very enthusiastic group -- great questions and conversations. And no one threw rotten vegetables. Elin liked it, and that's good enough for me. :-) 79 Comments
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 I agree with those who...Submitted by heather (not verified) on November 18, 2005 - 7:43pm.
I agree with those who have pointed out that generic advice doesn't work; different audiences require different presentation styles. It is excruciating to sit through a talk in which the speaker reads off the slides. On the other hand, some people are visual learners and some are auditory learners, and if you put little/no text on your slides, you are effectively shutting out the former. In addition, if there is any chance that a significant fraction of your audience does not speak English on a daily basis, you will be helping these people out by putting enough text on your slides to allow them to follow you by reading instead of by having to listen to you. As with so much of life, you have to find balance. » POSTED IN:
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