I have a fear. My fear is that my presentations will suck.
You may suffer from the same fear, but I know I’ve sat through lots of presenters that do not suffer from such a fear. How many times have you sat through a PowerPoint slide show that consisted of 40 slides stuffed with bullet points and bad graphs?
I’m presenting a simple “Social Media for Business” talk. It’s a talk I’ve given before, but the social media landscape moves so fast, you can only hold on to data and stories for about 2 months. I try to stick to a couple of rules when building a new presentation.
- Plan on spending roughly 10 times as long preparing as you will speak.
- Try to stick to Guy Kawasaki‘s 10/20/30 rule.
- Use entertaining photos or graphics to gain and keep people’s attention.
- Ask yourself if people would pay $2,500 to see you present this information, if no, get back to work.
Not every presentation will be a home run, but it doesn’t mean you can’t swing for the fences.
Tip #5: Don’t show up naked.
Tip #6: Picture everyone else naked. Then banish that thought from your mind immediately.
Seriously, I think it’s good/healthy to have that fear. And if this is like your SEO meetup social media presentation … it’ll be a home run.
His presentation WAS a home run. And, Guy Kawasaki’s rules are dead on. 10 slides is long enough – (Phil made them last an hour). When there’s less of the -bullet point, -bullet point, -bullet point, there’s more conversation. We got some great questions. And–if you’re talking about social media, you’re talking about conversations, so why not have one?
Looking forward to part 2, Phil.
Good tips guys!
Thanks Morgan, I know I couldn’t pull off the classic bullet point presentation, I’m too damn chatty. It also help when you have an expert sitting right next to you to field the hard questions.
I hate that I missed the preso…is a copy of it posted somewhere? Good job, rockstars 😉
I just uploaded it to slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/philipbuckley/social-media-for-beginners
The fun is never the slides, it’s conversation they evoke
I’ve seen lots of presentations and the ones that make me cringe the most are the one’s where the presenter has bullet slides and is reading straight off of the bullet slides…
I agree that slides should be rich with images (those make for the most interesting presentations). One book that I really enjoyed as of recent was: “Presentation Zen” I haven’t finished it, but it’s certainly shaping me for better presentations. Then of course, practice makes perfect…
Yeah, I could live the rest of my life without ever seeing a long bullet list on powerpoint and die a happy man.
Your second point is a great one. I saw a presentation today at the Social Media Business Forum from Geno Church from Brains on Fire that almost brought me to tears, it was well done, perfect timing and smooooth.