

Quick Practical, Tactical Tips for Presentations - hedgehog
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/05/15/quick-practical-tactical-tips-for-presentations/

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dantheman
I have to disagree with number 4:

    
    
      4. Don’t have hand outs
    

unless we qualify it some. In certain cases, introductions, solving a problem
etc then the handouts may be a problem. But when briefing someone, especially
someone who is busy a handout allows them to quickly find information they are
looking for so that they can request clarification/give you feedback - which
is the point of the meeting.

Tufte makes this argument much better than I can, it is his field, in the
essay The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint
<http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_pp>

but overall i think it's pretty good advice, I especially like point 2 - avoid
home team, away team dynamics.

~~~
chalst
In particular, if the material on the handout is material you want your
audience to refer to again, by working through the handout in a presentation
you are making it easier for your audience to do that.

~~~
ojilles
I sometimes have handouts, but I, well... hand them out at the end of the
presentation.

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hboon
For techies, many presentations come with demos. If you running a demo:

* Don't swing your mouse cursor around. It is very distracting. Keep it still unless you are really doing something with it.

* Tools such as OmniDazzle helps. But don't overdo it and don't use it if you can't master it

* Sometimes it's useful to highlight a piece of text by selecting it with your mouse cursor so the audience know what you are referring to (OmniDazzle helps)

* If you have a scripted demo, do screenshots in powerpoint and annotate it as a backup. If you don't have a scripted demo.. well you aren't prepared to do a demo

* Demo with data/scenarios that the audience can relate to or understand.

* Bring your own device for connectivity, be it a HSDPA modem or a phone that lets you tether.

* If things go wrong, move on, quickly. Don't try and retry.

* Nobody can read fine print in on your demo screen. Many web browsers can zoom nicely with the + key.

* Watch out for the screen resolution of the projector (it might be too low or too high and not match your application's assumptions).

* Look and talk to the audience. Not to your laptop.

* Demos are often easier to do than presentations if you are a techie. After all, you built it or you know the details.

~~~
josephcooney
Slightly less fancy than Omnidazzle, but for windows dev presentations the
free and functional zoomit from sysinternals is not too bad
<http://live.sysinternals.com/ZoomIt.exe>

