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I strongly believe that there are only two true rules when it comes to presentations: (1) know who your audience is, and (2) tell something that the audience wi
by beryilma 2y ago
I strongly believe that there are only two true rules when it comes to presentations: (1) know who your audience is, and (2) tell something that the audience will find useful. Not eloquent, cute, clever, or impressive; but useful (to them).
All these theories, rules, and advice about giving presentations are just useless fads that are often impractical and unnatural for most people.
People often confuse an eloquent and natural speaker with having a "good" presentation. I have been to many talks (Tufte, for example) where the presenter talks smoothly for an hour, yet in the end does not say anything useful to me. Your are entertained, in a sense, but you don't actually learn anything.
To many presenters, the presentation is actually about themselves rather then giving something truly useful to the audience. A lot of people can talk well, but I rather have somebody that can teach me something, even if the delivery is not perfect.
- pjot 2y agoI’ve seen Tufte and learned a ton - the presentation was almost _too_ information dense (which is his intent). Curious why your experience was different.
- beryilma 2y agoAmong other things, passing around with white gloves Galileo's something something first edition book does not teach me anything. But in general he had a lot of one off examples and interesting pictures, but without a solid and applicable theory behind them. He was an articulate speaker but I did not feel like I learned anything from the talk. I have also "read" his books but the only thing that I remember and make use of is the idea of information density on charts.
- serial_dev 2y ago> the presenter talks smoothly for an hour, yet in the end does not say anything useful to me Why would you throw Kevlin Henney under the bus?