Some musings I’ve had recently on presenting…

1. Questions
Questions after you’ve presented are good. It could mean a couple of things.
1. People are interested in finding out more because you’ve piqued their curiosity.
2. People do not understand fully what you just said and are keen enough to try and find out.

No questions could mean one of two things.
1. You were that awesome, really. Everything was covered.
2. They have no idea at all, what you just said. To the extent that trying to clarify it would be too overwhelming

2. Enjoy your X minutes of fame
Too many people are so relieved to have delivered their part of the presentation that they can’t wait to get off stage. Guess what? It shows. Either in your posture, or in the way your voice trails off as you begin to pass the floor to your next speaker….and the volume hits such low decibels that we never even get to hear their name.

3. Slides are not essays in presentation form
If we wanted microscopic details, we would read the report. Don’t try and cram it all into one slide. Pick the pertinent points and explain those, or dilute the information overload over a few slides.

And, if you’re not going to talk about it, why put all of it there and skip through? I especially hate the click through of slides that looks like a subliminal priming procedure gone wrong, aka it goes too fast to see what’s on the slide, too slow to classify as subliminal.

4. Content and Delivery
How many people actually remember all your content after you’ve said it? Most likely they will remember a take away point, or two. So why not make this clear and easy for them. What’s your key take away point? Up front too, please.

A couple of years ago I had the privilege of watching Alan Pease (of the book Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps fame, amongst other things), on stage, and I have to say, the man was dynamite. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be able to light up the stage with words and energy like he did. Up close and personal, he also has that twinkle and spark in his eye. I might not remember specifics about what he said so many years later, but his delivery was absolutely engaging. This is not to say anything about the content, it simply has been, almost half a decade.

The last point is the one I feel is one of the most important of all.

4. The issue of “So What?”
This is something you want to ask yourself before preparing for a presentation. It is the LAST thing you want your audience to be asking at the end of the presentation. Asking it before gives you a framework to orchestrate your argument or content around. If it has to be asked after, it means you’ve either lost your audience, or they’ve understood you, but can’t see any relevance in what you’ve just said in the last X minutes.

I am sorry to have ended my undergraduate life without having the chance to execute this style. Watch this keynote presentation by Dick Hardt, the presentation style is pretty refreshing. Not too sure how it would work on a live audience though! I am glad I finally did get to try out the single liner, intense graphic powerpoint slide format. Just for fun.

To sum up, I don’t believe there are hard and fast rules to an engaging presentation, because it really depends on context, your
audience and what you are trying to achieve, and I have so much more to learn.

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