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Anyone know what a "presentation deck" is? He says it's the most important thing it the world to have for a talk you give, but it's the first I've heard of it.
by spydez 18y ago
Anyone know what a "presentation deck" is?
He says it's the most important thing it the world to have for a talk you give, but it's the first I've heard of it...
- raganwald 18y agoThat would be a "deck of slides." Nowadays it's a keynote, open office, or that-other-thing file, but once upon a time it was a set of 35mm transparencies you would load into a carousel. Stacked up, they looked a little like a deck of cards, thus the nickname "deck." You can probably find one (and someone old enough to remember when they were called decks) in a museum somewhere.
- wanorris 18y agoI'm old enough to have presented from transparencies on an overhead projector, though I've never had occasion to present using an actual slide carousel. BTW, I'm not sure I understand why you think it's so important to present with a Powerpoint (or similar). I tend to think Powerpoints get overused, and I often like to present working just from notes (3x5 cards, since I'm bad at memorizing) or from a demo when appropriate. What's the win of working with a deck, in your view?
- raganwald 18y agoThere are two questions: what's the best presentation for a given subject and audience, and what's the best way to improve your skills. IMO, a good presentation with whatever-you-call-the-visuals is more difficult to do well, therefore that's what I think you should practice. Speeches and demos are always easier to give. They may be more appropriate for certain subjects, no doubt.
- notauser 18y agoSlides can help: - Add structure in a visual way. - Provide graphics to illustrate your points (including code). ...and really that's about it. I keep my slides to one graphic or max five words, plus a little flow chart of progress through the presentation along the bottom. Depending on what I am talking about I might use as many as 2 slides a minute, but usually one every 2-3 minutes. This is the same for monthly reporting (twenty graphs, with a page number on each) through to conference speaking (scripted and learned, lots of pictures, little navigation helper on each page).
- jlb 18y agoYou cut and paste from the article real good.
- raganwald 18y agoUh... could it be that the author copied this comment and pasted it into the article when he realized that the word "deck" isn't commonplace? If I see him, I will be sure to ask him which came first, the comment or the update to the article.
- jraines 18y agoIt's a slideshow.