Crafting a Good Presentation
for dummies the less experienced the less confident
@ChrisChinch
Developer Relations, Crate.IO etc…
Part UK, part Oz, living in DE
Presentations are part of documentation, either with technical or non-technical audience they can often be the first point of contact people have with you.
Not necessarily about this conference, speakers or 100% true all the time…
Microphone techniques:
Get close
Don't hit it
Aim at your mouth
Death by PowerPoint!
Do you really need masses of text on this slide, that no one will be able to read anyway because it just goes on and on and on trying to fit a much information as humanly possible onto one slide for now particular reason but you never know do you it's probably best to put everything here just in case you forget to say it and most people have given up by now…
Maybe
lots
and lots
and lots
of bullet points will help?
You still here?
Often too much text is an indication of a nervous speaker, it's easier to overload slides, than speak.
Max of 5 good points per slide
Images can speak 1000 words, or make people think and laugh.
Size and Colour
Projectors vary, use high contrast large size
Quality, meaningful and clear images (© cleared even better)
Make use of notes
It's not about overloading an audience, but giving them interesting thoughts to take away.
Keep it simple
No "If only I had more time", which leads us to…
Etiquette
Timing
Arrive on time (or early)
Start on time
Finish on time (Question time!)
Practise
Tech and the ever growing world of "Dongles"
Timing, flow and "Getting on with it"
Rehearse. Then rehearse again
Code and Demos
Get to the point, if you can't, do you know what you're trying to say?
People aren't always here to see you.
Practice, make sure it works and have a backup. Code needs to be readable and even better, have it set up
Can it work offline, plan b? Videos are a good one.
Language
Watch language and assume nothing.
Assumptions
Watch language and assume nothing.
Any Questions
Questions, not statements. If you can't answer, handle well. "That was a good question", I'll get back to you. Manners of your audience to.
Crafting a Story
Everything and everyone has a story to tell
Me
No matter how technical or complex, there is always a way people can relate. What problem do you solve, how do you solve it for them?
Know your Audience
Read the audience and learn about them beforehand, tailor presentations for them, with solutions they likely want to solve.
Know your Stuff
Things will go wrong, if you know material better, you can improvise. Use anecdotes.
Staying and Keeping on Message
Consistency
Consistency equals recognition - Branding, style guide, messaging.
Keep up to date
Keep up to date and insync as a team, you are often the front person, see my blog posts about ideas on how to accomplish this with Markdown and other wonderful things.
If all else fails…
Bribery
Thank you!
Chris Ward
chris@crate.io
@chrischinch