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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What’s that? There are different types of nerves? Afraid so, yes. What’s more, if you’re using techniques to control one particular type of nerves but you’ve actually got a belly-full of the other type, it’s not going to help your presentation at all. Presentation nerves can come from: I’ve got tools for all three, but …
Read more “Presentation nerves – coping with different types”
That’s not a big blog title at all. Nope! 😉 Ah well, go big or go home, I guess. There are a few things I need to look at here and I can only go over them at a top level in a blog but with a bit of luck you’ll be able to see …
Read more “Keeping audience attention in presentations”
I’ve been away, did you miss me? Almost certainly not! And that’s fine ‘cos you’ve got a real life – and it’s also almost inevitable! Why? Because as humans we tend very much to just pay attention to what’s important to us. We filter out what we don’t need and only see what we’re looking …
Read more “Presentation lessons from my holiday – honestly!”
Easier online presentations? Yes please! Here’s a simple hack for PowerPoint and Keynote that helps you stay on top of things hugely!
As I wright this, COP26 isn’t over. I’m hopeful – not happy, but hopeful. My opinion of the best presentation at cop26 might change in the next week or so but to honest it’s going to be a hell of a presentation to beat this. Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir David Attenbrough Now, if you don’t …
Read more “best presentation of cop26”
I’ve seen a lot of presentations recently… and I mean a lot of bloody presentations!… that pretend they’re offering proof that ‘the system they’re presenting about’ works. What they hide are sales pitch/presentation illustrating that the system in question can work. Not does work, just can do. When I say “sales pitch/presentation” I’m being unkind. …
Read more “why your presentation doesn’t contain proof”
I often get asked how to make ‘stand out’ moments in presentations. People want/need presentations to be memorable, and moments that make your audience go “Wow” are a great way of doing that. But there’s a problem. Presentations with stand-out (wow) moments mean that’s what people will remember! That’s true almost by definition. Why? Because …
Read more “what’s wrong with wow momets in presentations”
Presentations are outside most people’s comfort zone, but before you go jumping out of your comfort zone and lining up the big gigs, check out why it might be dumb!
Better presentations change your world. Here’s a simple way of thinking about structuring them if you’re a scientist, researcher or geek!