

Presentation anti-patterns - lawn
http://www.troyhunt.com/2015/06/speaker-style-bingo-10-presentation.html

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jedberg
This is a great summary. If you do a lot of speaking, there is a whole book on
this stuff that is fantastic:
[http://presentationpatterns.com](http://presentationpatterns.com)

It certainly made me a better speaker.

My solution to "The Notifier" is to take advantage of the fact that I can have
multiple logins on my Mac. I have a "Presenter" account that has nothing
installed, and has read/write access to my Presentations folder on my main
account. Then I'm 100% sure I won't get a notification.

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pimlottc
Another tip for OSX - the system notification center can put in "Do Not
Disturb" mode, just like your phone. By default, OSX will do this
automatically when mirroring to a TV or projector, and you can do it manually
at any time by Option-clicking the Notification Center icon on the menubar.

[https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18740?locale=en_US](https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18740?locale=en_US)

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rcthompson
Wow, OSX automatically goes into DND when mirroring? That's a neat feature.
Does that require a connection that allows the mirrored display to inform the
Mac that it is a TV/projector? Or will it go into DND any time you use a
mirrored display mode, even via a VGA cable where the Mac doesn't really know
what kind of device is on the other end of the cable?

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stephengillie
I believe Win7 has a similar feature. I've seen prompts asking me about it.

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thom
Regarding bullets: respect your audience, and certainly don't just read or
repeat what you've written, but do remember that many people will probably
read your slides later. There's nothing more frustrating than clicking onto a
slide deck and just seeing lots of beautiful stock photography with 'Why?' and
'But then...' written over it in large type.

~~~
nekopa
This is a major problem, with quite an easy solution - make 2 documents, one
for presenting, one for reading.

If you try and compromise you get slides behind you on stage with too much
text, and documents that don't go into enough detail - not enough text per
printed (or PDF) page.

I hate that most conferences ask for a slide deck in advance which they will
print up for the audience.

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joezydeco
I cracked up when the author mentioned launching his browser in incognito
mode, but a great detail to mention. I've seen way too many embarrassing
things pop up in omniboxes during live demonstrations.

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Someone1234
Quick note about #2: Test it in the specific location where you'll be
presenting. Different projectors and systems have different resolutions, and
those differences can make a readable presentation unreadable.

I've noticed this happens a lot more with people who use Retina Macbooks. They
plug them into a 1080p projector, and for whatever reason the fonts are a
pixel high on the projection.

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Jack000
I've always had problems with presenting in front of a crowd (it's pretty much
my #1 fear) and I find the best way to improve is to practice. Presentation is
really a form of performance art. It's easy to go down a checklist of things
to do/not to do, but during the presentation it's difficult to keep it all in
mind.

Some stuff I've learned in toastmasters that's not in the article:

\- consciously avoid filler words (um, ah sounds)

\- maintain eye contact with the audience

\- speaking with volume and authority

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jschulenklopper
Zack Holman has a great "The Talk on Talks" at
[http://zachholman.com/talk/the-talk-on-
talks/](http://zachholman.com/talk/the-talk-on-talks/) which lists some pro-
patterns. Furthermore, his site at [http://speaking.io/](http://speaking.io/)
is a great resource for preparing and delivering presentations.

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DanAndersen
Excellent list of things to keep in mind.

Of course, being The Statue is allowed, if you happen to be John Carmack, legs
planted firmly on the stage like a colossus:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn8m5d74fk8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn8m5d74fk8)

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xb
This is a good list of things to avoid when presenting. I'd like to add
another that I've commonly seen:

Don't give up control of the presentation until it is time for questions.

Sometimes people will butt in with questions, and you should answer them
quickly and minimally. I've often seen this kind of thing fluster a presenter,
and sometimes the presenter will say "okay, is there anything else? any other
questions? " as if to invite more interruptions. This is a mistake, you should
quickly address the person who interrupted and then get back into your flow
without allowing others the chance to also interrupt.

Another one, that maybe only I am bothered by, is don't start every single
answer with "That's a good question..."

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nekopa
This really depends on the presentation. Of course, you should be in control
of the presentation, and let your audience know wether or not they can ask
questions at any time, or at the end, or, if you've designed a well structured
presentation, take questions at the end of each 'part' of your presentation.

The reason why it depends is if you're presenting something complex, say A and
B and C, and if understanding B requires understanding A, and understanding C
requires understanding A and B there is nothing worse than reaching the end of
the presentation and the first question is 'What exactly did you mean by A?'
and a lot of nodding heads. That means no one got two thirds of your
presentation.

I've been teaching presentation skills for about a decade, and I've seen the
above scenario plenty of times, mainly in legal presentations, but also in
tech and sales presentations.

