[TIPS] Want to make better presentations? Read classic Sci-Fi!

A couple of weeks ago I had to do some flying – two consecutive 6 hour flights to be exact. Normally I bring along some magazines or other non-fiction but, for the first time in years, this time I brought along a science fiction book by Robert A. Heinlein.

Please understand, I used to be a serious Sci-Fi geek and my walls and floors were lined with hundreds of softcover Sci-Fi books. All sorts of authors, but my tastes ran to “hard” science fiction – the kind of story where the plot hinged on some sort of physics or astronomy (there was very little in the way of biology-based Sci-Fi at the time). As a result I was a serious fan of the “Big Three” writers – Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein.

Over time my tastes changed and I moved away from science fiction to science fact. The softcover books were left behind and/or sold as I moved, and were replaced by hardcovers covering a wide range of topics. Genetics took place of pride in my library, and I started to look down on my Sci-Fi past.

But not everything was left behind. There were a few books that I kept, and three of them were Heinlein titles. The titles are not important, but when I last had to travel I picked up one of the books. In addition to vastly enjoying the story – and marvelling at his open mind and seeming prescience in many areas – I made a realization:

Heinlein (and the rest of the Sci-Fi authors I read) helped shape my ability to share my ideas through speaking.

This came as a surprise, but in retrospect it should not have been.

In science fiction – and especially in the “hard” version of it – the author has to quickly bring the reader up to speed on the necessary science. Since the author cannot assume that the audience is knowledgeable in the area in question the author has to be skilled in teaching the science to the reader quickly, clearly, and in an engaging manner.

Quick, clear, and engaging. Kind of what you need in a presentation, don’t you think?

This realization hit me several thousand feet above the Pacific, and took me a few minutes to absorb. But it appears that – quite unintentionally and very much by osmosis – I had picked up many communication techniques simply by reading experts in the field.

Check it out for yourself. Pick up a “hard” Sci-Fi title. Start reading. And when the characters or narrator start talking science, pay attention to the tricks that they are using to communicate the ideas. You will find that they simplify the science and focus on the core while staying engaging. Paying attention to how they do this is almost as entertaining as the story itself.

And afterwards, ask yourself how you might be able to use these same techniques to your advantage in the future.

Prezi? Wassat?

One of my favourite blogs – Lifehacker – recently polled it’s readers on their favourite presentation software. The usual suspects were there, but there was one that I had not come across before – Prezi. The comments suggested that Prezi has garnered a bit of a following so I thought I would check it out. It is a rather interesting concept, and I frankly do not know what to do with it at the moment.

Most presentation software is based around the “slideshow” metaphor,o with one slide following another. Prezi starts from a rather different metaphor – the blank sheet of paper (or “canvas” if you prefer). The various ideas/concepts/messages are located wherever you want want on the canvas, and you can move from site to site, zoom in on certain areas, or zoom out for a bigger picture.

If you think of it as a slideshow meets a mindmap you are probably pretty close.

So how does Prezi work in practice? Check it out yourself – the website has a number of example presentations that you can look at to get ideas and even work off of.

As for me, I’m reserving judgement. The overwhelming impression I left with was of dizzyness. On the screen, at any rate, the motion overwhelmed the message, and I thought that was a poor tradeoff. I would be interested in seeing it in real life however, to see how Prezi works.

The uniqueness of the format might help you keep your audience engaged to begin with, at any rate, but it will be up to you – the presenter – to keep them engaged over the longer haul.

[TIPS] Learning from others mistakes

I should really go to more seminars.

I do not know if this is really a surprise, but I do not go to many seminars at my day job. It is not that I am uninterested in the topics (generally). Rather, it is simply that the average quality of the talks is so low that I end up not paying attention to the talk. Instead, I spend my time doing something useful over  trying to force myself to listen to a poorly implemented talk.

The other day, though, I realized why I should go to more talks, if only for a few minutes. Just as a good speaker can show you what to do to improve your skills, a poor speaker can show you what not to do. For example, at the last seminar I attended (and left part way through) the speaker spent her time reading from – and talking to – the screen. There was no looking at the audience, no eye contact – nothing.

What made this worse was that the speaker was very soft spoken, so it was hard to hear her at the best of times. Further, she had a thick accent that made her harder to understand. Any one of the three aspects – talking to the screen, being soft spoken, a thick accent – could have been bearable, and possibly even two could have been coped with, but all three? Nope. As soon as it became clear that things were not getting better I left.

The point I want to leave you with, though, is to try to learn from others mistakes. If you find yourself zoning out, mentally step back and ask yourself “why.” Chances are good that, even if you do not learn what the speaker wants you to learn, you will still come out with something to benefit your self.

Even if it is simply another thing not to do.

[Tips] Slow Down

One of the common…. not mistakes, not even issues, but, well, things we see… is nervous presenters speaking at a breakneck speed. It is probably a side-effect of all the adrenaline that is surging through the body, perhaps combined with the knowledge that the clock is ticking. Or maybe it is simply born a desire to get off the stage. Whatever the cause, people tend to speak fast when they get in front of a crowd.

Speaking fast has several drawbacks. First, you (as the speaker) are more likely to stumble over your words and become more nervous because you feel that you are making a fool of yourself (you’re not, but you feel that way). Second, speaking quickly makes it very difficult for people to understand you, especially people for whom your first language is not theirs (I have been a chief offender on that one).

But perhaps the biggest drawback of speaking quickly is that it is simply exhausting for the audience. Remember, you set the tone for the audience – if you are bored, the audience will be bored. If you are excited, the audience will get excited. And if you are going at a mile-a-minute pace, well, your audience has to also just to follow along. And that gets tiring.

What brought this on? Well, today I came across a talk by Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame. I love the show, and enjoy sitting and watching it with my kids. And I quite like Adam – he has a quirkiness and sense of fun that comes across positively.

So when I found out he had a TED talk, I watched it right away. It reveals a lot of interesting things about Adam, but for me it was mostly exhausting. I think Adam took three breaths through twenty minutes. Maybe. And two happened while I wasn’t looking. Don’t believe me? Check it out yourself:

See? Exhausting. A wonderful topic, good use of visuals, palpable enthusiasm… but waaaayyyy too fast.

So, unless you can pull it off at least as well as Adam Savage, do your audience a favor and slow down.

[Tips] Using the right language

No, I do not mean English versus French vs Swahili. I mean the right subset of your language for your audience.

Consider the extreme cases of presenting to a general audience of people in the public, versus a group of peer specialists. For latter you can easily use jargon and shorthand, because they know what you are talking about. For the former you need to use easy, everyday language, even if it means you have twist your technical topics a bit to explain the concept.

But what about, say, a conference which contains peer specialists, but also generalists from other fields, and managers who are definitely not specialists. – what then?

The trick here is to start off using the lowest common denominator in terms of language. Define those terms that you need if you will be re-using them. Perhaps, as a nod to the specialists you can throw in the technical jargon at points if it can help clarify a point for them, but does not interfere unduly with the rest of the presentation. The point here, though, is that you need to aim near the common denominator. The more advanced audience members will be able to translate up, but if you aim too high you will lose the rest of the audience.