Friday, October 15, 2010

the art of presenting

yesterday, I attended the RogenSi skills presentation training - an all day work session in my office aimed at helping people become better presenters. we learned my important things, but my key takeaways were:


* when referring back to a PowerPoint, follow the "touch-turn-talk" rule. glance at the screen (touch), face the audience (turn), and speak to them (talk)
* in presentation mode in PowerPoint, if you press "B" the screen will turn black and if you press "W" the words and images on the screen will disappear and the screen will turn white. simply press that button again to reactivate them. GENIUS
* there are 4 types of people you will present to in your life and you plan your presentations accordingly
Expressives - big picture. visionaries. high energy. dominant
Amiables - empathetic. team players. harmonious. uncomfortable with conflict.
Drivers - results oriented. BLOT (bottom line right on top). direct. concise
Analyticals - rational. pragmatic. data/detail oriented. risk averse. accurate
* when giving a conference call presentation, stand up and exaggerate your hand gestures to emphasize your words and relay your enthusiasm.


It was all very informative and i truly believe I am a better presenter because of it. in attempting to find a way to relate just how important being a good presenter was, i stumbled across this article from CNN.

Why we hate PowerPoints -- and how to fix them


Nancy Duarte, CEO of Duarte Design, a presentation design firm based in Mountain View, California explains the importance of a good presentation, why utilization of PowerPoint is important, and examples of how it's made or broken good and bad ideas. She brings up the examples of the army, Enron, and NASA. Re: the army, check out this infamous "presentation" of US strategy in Afghanistan. clear right?

A diagram on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, part of a government presentation, has become known as the "spaghetti slide."

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