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Open Thread: Your best tip on doing presentations

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 21:37:26

I'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. :-)

TOPICS: Off Topic, Tips
Doug Forrester's picture

I am a pastor, so...

I am a pastor, so I make a presentation at least weekly in addition to teaching anywhere between one to three classes a week. Here are my suggestions:

  • Know your material well enough to not need any notes.
  • Look at the faces of the people you are speaking to. If this is hard, look in between their faces.
  • Never look down or look at notes after asking a rhetorical question. Look at your audience and wait a couple of seconds. This little trick helps an audience feel as though they were personally asked the question.
  • Speak conversationally as though you were only talking to one person, but speak loud enough and annunciate well enough so that people can understand you. If not, they tune you out. (I subscribe to your podcast, Merlin, and this won't be a problem for you).
  • Don't talk to fast. Look like you are enjoying yourself. No one will ever feel better about a presentation than the person giving it.

Good luck. I hope this helps. 43F has been a huge help to me.

 
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