How to Give a Killer Presentation

A little more than a year ago, on a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, some colleagues and I met a 12-year-old Masai boy named Richard Turere, who told us a fascinating story. His family raises livestock on the edge of a vast national park, and one of the biggest challenges is protecting the animals from lions—especially at night. Richard had noticed that placing lamps in a field didn’t deter lion attacks, but when he walked the field with a torch, the lions stayed away. From a young age, he’d been interested in electronics, teaching himself by, for example, taking apart his parents’ radio. He used that experience to devise a system of lights that would turn on and off in sequence—using solar panels, a car battery, and a motorcycle indicator box—and thereby create a sense of movement that he hoped would scare off the lions. The story was inspiring and worthy of the broader audience that our TED conference could offer, but on the surface, Richard seemed an unlikely candidate to give a TED Talk.

Paula Davis-Laack: Life Is Too Short: 10 Things to Stop Tolerating What are you presently tolerating in your life? Are you a few pounds overweight? Maybe you’re at a job you dislike? Or so disorganized you can’t find anything, much less some time to sit and relax? Being Unhealthy. Inaction. Negativity. Disorganization. Chronic stress. Keeping up with the Joneses. Thinking that perfect exists. Everyone’s opinion of you. A job that you hate. Being financially illiterate. One of my favorite quotes is by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Americans’ job satisfaction falls to record low. (2010, January 6). Catalyst (2011, July). McGhee, P. (2010). Nickerson, C., Schwartz, N., Diener, E., & Kahneman, D. (2003). Robison, J. (2010, June 9). Paula Davis-Laack, JD, MAPP is an internationally published author and stress and resilience expert.

How Twitter Is Reshaping The Future Of Storytelling Every five days, a billion tiny stories are generated by people around the world. Those messages aren’t just being lost in the ether, like the imaginary output of monkeys randomly attempting to produce the works of Shakespeare. Instead, the tweets are being archived by the Library of Congress as part of the organization’s mission to tell the story of America. The archive now includes 170 billion posts and counting. The patterns of human life will be stored in this Twitter archive like a form of digital sediment. Every meme and revelation will leave an imprint in the record constructed of posts by half a billion Twitter users around the world (and over 150,000 more signing up every day). How has the future of storytelling been influenced by Twitter? Sparking the Imagination Writer and actor John Hodgman recalls how derisive many people were about Twitter when it first entered the public consciousness. A Future Biography Prolific novelist Joyce Carol Oates recently tweeted:

10 Best Powerpoint alternatives comparison by PowtoonPowToon presents No one can dispute that PowerPoint is the most popular presentation tool out there. In the Business world, Powrpoint is the absolute standard. Ever since Microsoft released PowerPoint businesses have used PowerPoint for sales presentations, idea pitches and even for webinars. 4 Reasons why your PowerPoint presentations suck and what you can do to fix it Our number one in our top 10 best PowerPoint alternatives is PowToon (no surprise here). The Pros: Free, super cool, easy to use, unique, great for linear story tellingThe cons: still in Beta mode, styles are still limited (new styles coming out in March 2013) This up and coming presentation software made it to our top 10 best PowerPoint alternatives because it’s a great tool for non-linear presentations. 10 Best PowerPoint Alternatives: Prezi is great for non-linear presentations The pros: Non -linear slide management, beautiful user interface, strong brand nameThe cons: Too much motion, getting a good looking presentation is very hard

Interview: Peter Hambling, CIO, Lloyd's of London - 20 Jul 2010 - Computing Feature Hambling: I found I was able to make things that businesses found useful Lloyd’s of London, one of the world’s leading specialist insurance markets, has been assessing new, unusual and complex risks in more ways than one as it continues to develop its expansion programme. With its grand ambitions for growth – both geographically and in terms of market share – come many IT challenges, and Computing spoke to the man the market has pinned its hopes to realise these, chief information officer Peter Hambling. “I was fascinated by mechanical and electrical things from a very young age – as a child I would make robots from cornflakes boxes with flashing eyes and beeping noises,” he said. Since then, Hambling has developed his curiosity further, beginning his career in research for defence systems before becoming a serial entrepreneur. “As I grew older I found I was able to make things that businesses found useful,” he said.

Cover Letter Help: 10 Cover Letter Don'ts Your cover letter is the first thing employers see when they open your materials. Avoid these 10 mistakes, and make your first impression a good and lasting one. Mistake No. 1: Overusing 'I' Your cover letter is not your autobiography. The focus should be on how you meet an employer's needs, not on your life story. Avoid the perception of being self-centered by minimizing your use of the word "I," especially at the beginning of your sentences. Mistake No. 2: Using a Weak Opening When writing a cover letter, job seekers frequently struggle with the cover letter's opening This difficulty often results in a feeble introduction lacking punch and failing to grab the reader's interest. Weak: Please consider me for your sales representative opening.Better: Your need for a top-performing sales representative is an excellent match to my three-year history as a top-ranked, multimillion-dollar producer. Mistake No. 3: Omitting Your Top Selling Points Mistake No. 4: Making It Too Long

Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany A whole new world of magic animals, brave young princes and evil witches has come to light with the discovery of 500 new fairytales, which were locked away in an archive in Regensburg, Germany for over 150 years. The tales are part of a collection of myths, legends and fairytales, gathered by the local historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (1810–1886) in the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz at about the same time as the Grimm brothers were collecting the fairytales that have since charmed adults and children around the world. Last year, the Oberpfalz cultural curator Erika Eichenseer published a selection of fairytales from Von Schönwerth's collection, calling the book Prinz Roßzwifl. Von Schönwerth spent decades asking country folk, labourers and servants about local habits, traditions, customs and history, and putting down on paper what had only been passed on by word of mouth. Eichenseer says the fairytales are not for children alone.

Chris Anderson shares his tips for giving a killer presentation Watching curator Chris Anderson in speaker rehearsals before a TED conference feels like witnessing the zen of a longtime coach who knows his sport both inside out and backwards. Whenever a trial run of a talk feels just a little askew, a few simple sentences are whispered. Magically, the next time the talk is given publicly, it is mesmerizing — and without a hint that it was ever anything but. In a new essay in The Harvard Business Review’s June issue, Anderson shares his fine-tuned advice for delivering a powerful talk. “We all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. “Many of our best and most popular TED Talks have been memorized word for word … Most people go through what I call the ‘valley of awkwardness,’ where they haven’t quite memorized the talk. “Perhaps the most important physical act onstage is making eye contact.

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