Welcome to the better presentations blog!
I do my best to make this blog a resource for presenters - not pro-speakers, but real people who need to make presentations as part of their 'day job'. If there's something you really want to know about, just email me and I'll see what I can do (no promises except that I'll read your email - use simon@ and you can guess the rest of my address. :) )
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This month's most popular (and useful?) blog posts are:
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I’m a bit of a fan of the podcast You Are Not So Smart. It’s a classily understated podcast based on interviews and grown up conversations with experts. (Lots of people say they are experts, David McRaney talks to the best, trust me!) One recent episode, on something called “Pluralistic ignorance” really struck home for …
Read more “pluralistic ignorance”
Tips for better presentations are everywhere. What we need is a way to use those tips to make better presentations – a framework for presentations.
It’s a tricky thing. There are some huge advantages to using music, but some pretty significant pitfalls, too. So here’s your guide to using music well, and avoiding the things can can go wrong. Why use music? An overview Music is intended and designed to be an emotional phenomena. That means you can use it …
Read more “How to use music to make better presentations”
When we talk about an image being ‘isolated’ we mean that the main object of the image isn’t cluttered up by a messy background – usually there’s no background at all. The image of the girl to the right is isolated. If you want to show someone bored, there’s a good chance that this image, or …
Read more “Isolated images in slides”
There’s quite a lot of evidence that we’re very susceptible animals – easily programmed. (My experience is that we’re depressingly almost as easy to train as dogs – and if you do it right that’s pretty easy!) If you’re not sure, just think of how you respond when the phone rings. Think of how you …
Read more “Presentation environments – and the presentation creation process”
I’ve just spent some time working with some ‘early years’ researchers. Given that a research career last for a very long time (mine was quite short at 24 years!) in part because it takes a looooong time to get going (ten years in and you’re still just starting!). We were working on presentations to get …
Read more “Presentations for academics (and other hard core experts!)”
I believe presentations should change something – otherwise they’re just a pastime. So, things that improve the likelihood of change are good (all other things being equal 😉 ). And targeting your presentation makes it more likely to do that. After all, shooing an arrow is more likely to hit the target if you aim, …
Read more “Presentation targeting – the three by three”
At the risk of being obvious and boring, I’m going to split this blog into two, big parts.This week it’s why charities need to be particularly good at presenting, and then their particular presentation-problems. Ready? Next week I’ll look at what charities can do about it all… Why charities need to be give presentations and …
Read more “Charity Presentations”
“Scars not scabs” is a phrase I picked up of Episode 115 of Beth Below’s “Introvert Entrepreneur” podcast where Beth is chatting to Esther Choy of the Leadership Story Lab. It rang a bell with me because of a couple of things I’ve posted in the last few months. (It’s one of a fistful only …
Read more “Personal stories in your presentations: Scars not scabs”