The Business Card Game - lifehack.org First of all, if you’re going to attend an event, have business cards that give people a way to contact you. If you’re not going as a representative of your current day job, make your own cards, and put your own sites and links and contact information on them. But then what? Or maybe you’re still stuck on “why?” Cards are Good Conversation Starters- If your card isn’t plain white or doesn’t look like you used a built in MS Word template, people will often look at your card the way one looks at a four-year-old’s rendition of a fire truck. Let’s talk for a minute. Send “Nice Seeing You at BarCamp Boston” emails to people, with clear subject lines, and then inside, start with telling them who you are again (you ALL met lots of people, right?) Finish this email with whatever “call to action” you’re hoping for. File the Cards- My current method of filing cards from events is that I gather them all in a binder clip and then toss them in a drawer.
Tom Peters on Presentations In May, Tom Peters gave his insights on what he calls "Presentation Excellence" on his website. Great, great, great stuff from a guy who knows a thing or two about speaking to a crowd. Tom also posted his tips — 56 in all — for Presentation Excellence. It's all great advice from someone who has a lot of experience speaking to groups big and small. Below I list what I believe are the "best 11" of Tom's 56 tips, just to give you a quick look. (Download the Presentation Excellence PowerPoint document from Tom's site). My "Best 11" of Tom Peters' 56 Tips (Tom's words in bold) (1) Total commitment to the Problem/Project/Outcome Authenticity. (2) A compelling “Story line”/“Plot” There's that word "story" again. (3) Enough data to sink a tanker (98% in reserve). Research. (4) Data are imperative, but also play to Emotion. The brain has a logical left hemisphere an emotional right. Absolutely crucial. (6) No more than ONE point per slide! Simple visuals for the screen, always. Right. (8) SMILE!
teasing the audience What was it the Army used to say were the rules for lecturing? Tell 'em what you're going to say, tell 'em, then tell 'em what you've told them. That worked in a certain age, but people's expectations have changed. Some radio journalists haven't changed with them. The start of the Da Vinci Code trial was a good example - made all the more memorable because the story was about a story, which had been turned into a thriller: what a great opportunity to talk about the case using the rules of good storytelling..... This is what the BBC broadcast on the radio that day: Two writers have begun an action in the high court in for breach of copyright against the publishers of the best-selling novel “The Da Vinci Code”. He’s reputedly the highest paid author in the world but today Dan Brown was in court to defend himself against a charge of plagiarism. It starts from the theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalen. This blog seems to have got the idea
Considering Presentations - lifehack.org Tomorrow, I will stand in a room of people at Bar Camp Boston and talk about content networks. The audience will be primarily really technical people, who know more about networking, hacking, developing, engineering, and everything than me. They will be looking at me with eyes that all engineering crowds give me at presentations: “Who are you? I owe them a good performance. Step One: Consider the Ending- When this presentation is over, I want the people in my audience to be energized, happy, engaged, and thinking about my material. With that in mind, I know this: I don’t have to SELL people anything. Step Two: Consider the Venue- There are 150 total attendees. The venue determines the toolkit. Step Three: Consider the Audience- Of course the audience is the most important part of the presentation. The presentation must fit the audience, and you have to really consider what their ears and eyes are trying to pluck from it. Step Four: Build the Presentation- I’m going to be nervous.
My Best Presentation Tricks - lifehack.org Giving presentations can be a complete and utter thrill. Too bad attending them can be a complete and utter bore. If you are on the giving side, I want to offer you up a collection of my best presentation tricks to date. I’ve written on presentation and the storyteller’s promise before at my site. I’ve written what has oddly become my top-rated post of all time, Bring out your inner David Lee Roth. Stories and Characters With few exceptions, a presentation is an opportunity for you to tell a story to an audience. A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. At the beginning, your character should have a problem. Ads are presentations. Touch Their Eyes Presentations are not opportunities for people to read in a group setting. Remember that a slide deck doesn’t have to equal the handout provided after the presentation. There are all kinds of great sources for interesting graphics and images to add to your slide deck. A Presentation Doesn’t Equal a PowerPoint Side Deck Wrong. Why Not You?
The Making of the Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation Why I did it "Doesn't he realize this presentation is a waste of time? Why doesn't he just tell us what matters and get it over with?" How many times have you heard (or muttered) that? How many of of us have been frustrated at seeing too many presentations where PowerPoint or other visual aids obscure rather than enhance the point? After one too many bad presentations at a meeting in January 2000, I decided to see if I could do something about it. How I did it Back in my hotel room I imagined what Abe Lincoln might have done if he had used PowerPoint rather than the power of oratory at Gettysburg. I wasn't a professional designer, so I thought I'd be in for a late night doing some serious research: in color science to find a truely garish color scheme; in typography to find the worst fonts; and in overall design to find a really bad layout. I posted the presentation on my web site that night and promptly forgot about it. Face to Face with Abe, Tufte, and the Ghost of Feynman More Press Email
Presentation Helper - How to give a bad presentation Here are the Ten Commandments of presenting or not..I. Thou shalt not be neat Why waste research time preparing slides? Ignore spelling, grammar and legibility. Who cares what 50 people think? II. Transparencies are expensive. III. Do you want to continue the stereotype that engineers can’t write? IV. You need the suspense! V. Be humble — use a small font. VI. Flagrant use of color indicates uncareful research. VII. Confucius says “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but Dijkstra says “Pictures are for weak minds.” VIII. You should avert eyes to show respect. IX. You prepared the slides; people came for your whole talk; so just talk faster. X. Why waste research time practicing a talk? Commandment X is most important. David A. 1 January 2012 Filed under Presentations , Hints and Tips , humour Related Pages We'd love it if you could link back to us on your blog. <a href=" >How to give a bad presentation</a>
How To Give A Great Presentation Public speaking can be very stressful. I know that whenever I get up in front of a crowd I go through a panic moment. It takes a lot of discipline, practice and preparation to put on a good presentation and even knowing what you need to know can be hard. A year or so ago I wrote on the subject of first time speaking. Now when I’m speaking, while not 100% comfortable, I do feel much better and I’m able to not only make it more fun for me, I think I pass along that good feeling a bit more to my audience. h3. I’ve found that the more prepared I am, the more confident I feel. If you’ve never spoken before a meeting with a speech coach can really help. * Speak slower. * Talk to individuals in the crowd. * Think before you speak. These things were (and still are) very, very helpful for me to remember when I’m speaking. A few other ways to prepare yourself: * Drink lots of water. * Get a good night’s sleep. * Avoid the urge to go out drinking the night before. h3. * Keep text to a minimum. h3.
Better Beginnings: how to start a presentation, book, article... « Dilbert and the zone of mediocrity | Main | Why does engineering/math/science education in the US suck? » Better Beginnings: how to start a presentation, book, article... You are in a dimly lit room. You are alone on a stage before an audience of 1,000. 10 minutes into your presentation, your hands no longer shake or sweat. This is going well, you think. What went wrong? Nobody knows more about the importance of beginnings than novelists and screenwriters, but too often we think their advice doesn't apply to us. Oh really? So, we took some tips on making a good beginning from those whose work depends on it. 1) Do NOT start at the beginning! Advice for first-time novelists is often, "Take the first chapter and throw it away. Yes, this means dropping the user straight in to the fray without all the necessary context, but if the start is compelling enough, they won't care, at least not yet. 2) Show, Don't Tell If you have to TELL your audience that they should care, you're screwed. TrackBack