4 ms·
This is a good primer for people who don't know how to present. It's very much the "intro paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, conclusion paragraph" kinda guidelines t
by jjcm 5y ago
This is a good primer for people who don't know how to present. It's very much the "intro paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, conclusion paragraph" kinda guidelines they teach you in school for writing papers - applicable only when you have no experience.
Once you gain some experience, 4 is the only one I would say is a hard rule. Experience will teach you how to break all of the other rules effectively, as every other rule entirely depends on context. The main reason why tech talks are boring are two reasons - inexperienced presenters, and that engaging talks take time to prepare.
One tip I'll give for people is don't rely a script. If you have a script, you're writing emotion and adaptability out of it. Teaching content is a dance with the audience - you have to adapt to how they respond in order to present effectively. Give yourself an outline, and in your head run through twenty different ways you'd present that information to people. Knowing how to dynamically present your slides means you can engage with your audience far better and you can take time to read the room. If you present a talk twice, it should be different each time as the context changes.
- jsmith45 5y agoIt does not help that there are two number 4s in the article, but I'm assuming you mean the "don't read text off a slide" one, which yeah has very few situations where it would make sense to break.
- bade 5y agoOooops!
- tomerv 5y agoI disagree, a script is a great tool, especially if you're not an experienced speaker. You just need to put emotions in it, and know how to act them out correctly, in many ways like an actor. The actor on a stage (or in front of a camera) doesn't react to the audience, but can still tell a compelling story. This takes practice, which takes time. Sadly, too many speakers don't even do a dry run before their presentation.
- feoren 5y ago> One tip I'll give for people is don't rely a script. I always write out a script before an important presentation. I number it with the corresponding slide numbers and read it out loud as I'm presenting. And now you're probably imagining falling asleep to the quiet droning of a disinterested high-schooler reading out loud in literature class, but that's only because most people never practice reading out loud effectively. I've practiced it a lot, and now my reading aloud sounds much better than me just speaking naturally. Practice it! You're right that it's important to be able to adapt a bit, but usually that just means answering a question or two and getting back to the script, or skipping around the script a bit.