August 01, 2005

OSCON Tutorial: Presentation Aikido with Damian Conway

"The way of harmonizing with the Flow (of the universe)"
Presentation isn't about subdoing audience, bending them to hour will, turning their energies against them
  • More about connecting with the audience
  • Sharing knowledge and ideas for their benefit
  • Encouraging them to travel a path with you
  • Helping them
presentation as a privilege
  • when you speak, they may or may not be giving you attention, respect, etc.
  • they are giving you their time (most precious resource)
  • recognize it as a gift, start to enjoy it
Be competent
  • be comfortable, confident on stage
  • audience doesn't care what saying, only that you are saying well
  • talk about topics you genuinely understand, actually use
  • talk about real experiences that you have had
humility
  • if you can't get out of talk, do research, and admit to audience that it is new to you as well
plan
  • the battle is always won beforehand
  • adjust languange to audience
  • confidence that's reassuring (that material is comprehensible to normal human beings)
  • flow that is captivating
  • all arranged beforehand
making kick-ass preso
  • budget 10 hours per hour of speaking
  • Damian does more like 20
step zero
  • most important decision
  • what are you going to talk about? always have a choice about it, even if assigned
  • talk about what you care about, passionate about, excited about
don't be boring
  • all about attitude
  • about enthusiasm
be entertaining
  • always trumps informative
  • hook 'em at the beginning, before they mentally change channels
  • in given time, really only giving overview or sampler
  • reassurance -- this material is attainable
  • build cognitive framework in mind, that provides framework for understanding
  • comprehensible material that resonates with audience
  • so they can go and learn details later
  • entertaining is the way to do this
the title
  • supposed to convey vaguest hint of topic
  • engender some sense of intrigue
  • try working in a pop reference, those who get it will be smug and on your side
  • try to make title short
  • state main thesis in first three words, field of interest in last four words
blurb
  • marketing pitch
  • informative, without giving stuff away
  • should say that talk is interesting and speaker is excellent
  • show it by making interesting and excellently written
  • give some sense of structure of talk
  • short, easy-to-read, catchy, tantalizing
tell a story
  • register shortage
  • structure information hierarchically -- the story
less is more
  • fundamental point of aikido
  • will only remember 5 points, so choose 5 most important things
  • find story that fits those 5 points smoothly
connect ideas
  • connect to ideas that people already have and understand
  • metaphor
  • now, ready to begin writing the talk...
write handout first
  • easier to arrange information in word, or text editor, than in presentation software
  • outline style, so it translates well to slides
build a flow
  • causal style
  • chronological
  • layered - drill down, build up; good for when length is variable; can adapt to needs of audience -- can choose when to go deep or stay up
  • cumulative -- start simple, and build up
  • simple narrative
  • flow decides what topics go in, or stay out. if it doesn't re-inforce 5 points, it is extraneous
what is missing?
  • where is leap too great for audience?
  • need to go back and fill in gaps
create and condense slides
  • squirt raw material into slides
  • fix it
  • start deleting words - handout best as proper sentences, slide points don't work as sentences
visual style
  • this really matters
  • coherence -- single visual entity
  • harmonious whole
  • different styles of presentation are needed for different objectives
  • style can be a part of the message
persuasion
  • great secret of persuasion is to not use many words
  • short declartive statements, no hedging
  • minimize decoration
to inform
  • can use smaller, bulleted text
  • softer hues, etc.
develop a style
  • if you don't have one, don't use MS templates
  • thief from apple, cool websites, etc
  • reverse-engineer from a cool preso that you say
slide detail
  • almost every slide is too busy
  • too much text, too many ideas
  • Damian typically runs 120 slides/hr
images
  • use images like seasoning
  • better made visually than spoken
  • use them in an unexpected manner
animation
  • meaningful, occasional
  • want to animate a process
  • if not easy in powerpoint, too complex
  • almost never resort to video
  • only if absolutely amazing, and really makes the point
color
  • don't distinguish by color alone (color blindness)
  • use luminance instead
  • also application for a new font, or draw a luminance box around text to highlight, etc.
  • tools for picking color schemes, like how artists can do (PowerPoint in MacOS X has one)
  • check under worst case scenario -- set os to go black & white; will make slides that work for people of all visual perception abilities
highlight differences
  • side-by-side hard for people to grok
  • show transitions, only animate what changes
surprise them
  • break up monotony of talk
  • keep audience engaged
  • variations in pace and style
put landings in staircases
  • can always come up with more material than there is time -- people try to cram it all in
  • people can't absorb all of that stuff
  • they will need chance to absorb and digest
  • asides, humorous bits, examples, etc. give this needed break
  • make sure to intersperse some easier concepts
  • can use landings as navigational beacons, to notify audience that new topic is starting
  • signpost - common slide (like TOC), that you come back to as you progress, showing topics you have talked about, and what is coming next.
charts
  • no-one understands charts
  • put it in notes
  • break chart down, and explain piece by piece
  • same goes for graphs
look effortless
  • the best presentations look effortless
  • audience desperately wants the material to seem "easy"
  • keys: competence, preparation, practice, organization, style, attitude
  • be passionate, connect with audience, give of yourself -- but be self-less
don't read your talk
  • worst case, read and then give summary that isn't on slide
rehearse
  • secret of timing
  • most important
  • do it aloud
demonstrations
  • great way to show audience what you are talking about
  • people visualize better than they hear
  • practice
  • try and script software demos if at all possible.
  • make demo smooth -- hot keys to get to example, and run with one touch
Posted by andyr at August 1, 2005 11:19 PM
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