Presentation Tips

Copyright © 1999 Patrick McDermott

College of Alameda

pmcdermott@peralta.edu

KnowKnow your AudienceKnow YourselfKnow your Purpose

– Inform or Teach?• Expository (present information)• Narrative (explain a process or sequence)• Descriptive (describe)

– Inspire/Motivate– Persuade (convince with logic and evidence )

• ALL business presentations should persuade– At minimum: I’m good, I should get a raise!

Inspirationalvs.

Instructional

Principles• Assert Copyright © Year Name

• Variety is the Spice of Life• Clarity vs. Precision

– “A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation”—Saki

• Match Formality to the Situation–Sales should be slick–Layoff Notice should not be

Copyright © 2010 Patrick McDermott

How to Make Music

“Mozart is said to have conceived ideas and immediately known how every note would fall in a symphony.

Beethoven, on the other hand, would write a theme and then sit down at the piano and play different variations until he had one he liked just right.”

Outline or Bricolage?1. Stephen J. Gould’s Outline [Mozart]2. Sherry Turkle’s Bricolage [Beethoven]

– Harder to estimate: ChaosSudden Emergence– cf. Refactoring

• Cary Pepper’s Russian Inn: People & Place• Random re-arrangement

– It might not matter as much as you think– CEOs, Mountain climbers, Tarantino & Juries

The bricole was a medieval machine for throwing stones [Bricks]

How Much Preparation

Ben Franklin (1706-1790)

5 Minutes All Day

The key to avoiding Nervousness:

Be Prepared

When to Get There

Aim to Arrive at the Presentation Venue

ONE HOUR

Prior to the start time

Show up early, something good is bound to happen. —Edward Tufte

The Eyes Have It• Find some Friendly Faces

– Center– Left Front (or back)– Right Back (or front)

• Go for it!• As you loosen up, find more faces

Never, Ever

Never Ever Say:

I Know You can’t Read This

Don’t Admit Nothin’• If you make a presentation error, simply correct it.• Don’t accentuate the negative

– “I forgot to tell you”– “I already told you”– “I’m really nervous”– etc.

• They don’t know what you were going to say– They won’t know you forgot– If it wasn’t important, forget it!– I always forget something…

• That’s my Story – & I’m Sticking to it!

Crisp Phrases• Crows the Count 7; Typist type 5-7 ahead• G.A. Miller’s famous “7 plus or minus 2”

hypothesis

• 6 by 6: No more than 6 Bullets of 6 Words

• Excessively lengthy and pedantic bullet points are known to correlate negatively with valid comprehensional objectives.

• In other words...

K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple,Stupid

Newton’s Telecom DictionaryIt’s not Just for Phoning!