Life Changing Information for Presentation Creators (and Viewers)
Written on 12:04 PM by Ur English Teacher
If you are ever going to create a presentation again (and COME ON, you know you will!), you must read at least this article. Wow. My life will never be the same!
Here are some more quotes and reflections from several different articles on the same topic:
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Ideas about how to "Slick Up" or Modernize Presentations:
Use visuals on slides only as visual assists to viewers, very little text. Talk conversationally not about the text on the slide but let the content on the slide serve as a visual reinforcement to what you are saying.
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This:
This:
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Instead of this:
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Ultimately, we'd end up with the slide on the bottom right:
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"The best slides may have no text at all. This may sound insane given the dependency of text slides today, but the best PowerPoint slides will be virtually meaningless with out the narration (that is you). Remember, the slides are meant to support the narration of the speaker, not make the speaker superfluous."
"You know how Stephen Colbert does “The Wørd?” He directly addresses the audience while “slides” appear next to his head acting as a kind of Greek chorus. He not only doesn’t acknowledge the slides — they often contradict exactly what he is saying. (This is what makes this — as we say in the business — “funny”)
I’m not suggesting your slides should undermine you, but consider sometimes showing images and text that make an orthogonal point to what you’re saying aloud to the audience at that moment. Let them discover the point (or the joke) without you leaning on it."
I’m not suggesting your slides should undermine you, but consider sometimes showing images and text that make an orthogonal point to what you’re saying aloud to the audience at that moment. Let them discover the point (or the joke) without you leaning on it."
"Let the slide serve your message, rather than letting you (and your personality and timing) be governed by the slide. That’s ‘death,’ and that’s “The Wørd.”
"Many people often say something like this: "Sorry I missed your presentation. I hear it was great. Can you just send me your PowerPoint slides?" But if they are good slides, they will be of little use without you. Instead of a copy of your PowerPoint slides, it is far better to prepare a written document which highlights your content from the presentation and expands on that content. Audiences are much better served receiving a detailed, written handout as a takeaway from the presentation, rather than a mere copy of your PowerPoint slides. If you have a detailed handout or publication for the audience to be passed out after your talk, you need not feel compelled to fill your PowerPoint slides with a great deal of text."
Use high quality professionally edited graphics like the thumbnail slides below:
Use high quality professionally edited graphics like the thumbnail slides below:
Sample Presentation: Interesting perspective on how to organize and what to present. It's obviously meant for business but fits well with many presentations.
1. Problem
2. Your solution
3. Business model
4. Underlying magic/technology
5. Marketing and sales
6. Competition
7. Team
8. Projections and milestones
9. Status and timeline
10. Summary and call to action
Finally a reason to buy a Mac? We could use Keynote: http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/ Looks pretty cool.
What presentation skills can we learn from Stephen Colbert?: http://www.43folders.com/2007/08/23/better-presentations
"You know how Stephen Colbert does “The Wørd?” He directly addresses the audience while “slides” appear next to his head acting as a kind of Greek chorus. He not only doesn’t acknowledge the slides — they often contradict exactly what he is saying. (This is what makes this — as we say in the business — “funny”)
I’m not suggesting your slides should undermine you, but consider sometimes showing images and text that make an orthogonal point to what you’re saying aloud to the audience at that moment. Let them discover the point (or the joke) without you leaning on it."
I’m not suggesting your slides should undermine you, but consider sometimes showing images and text that make an orthogonal point to what you’re saying aloud to the audience at that moment. Let them discover the point (or the joke) without you leaning on it."
"Let the slide serve your message, rather than letting you (and your personality and timing) be governed by the slide."
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Hi. Thanks so much for the technology class yesterday. I learned a lot and am sharing everything I can. The whole family here is pretty tech savvy (half of them work at the Apple store). They thought the web apps were cool. I think I can teach the teachers at my campus how to use the collaborate feature on Googedocs to make doing newsletters for the LC's a snap.
Hey, if you're not careful you'll drink the Kool-aid and end up being a Mac fanatic! Keynote is AWESOME. We had a geek fest here for the last Steve Jobs keynote address (at which he uses Keynote!). Not only is the info he presents exciting and interesting, but he is also an amazing presenter. One can learn a lot from what he leaves out.
Thanks again for the very informative class.