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. :) )
Also, I have to be honest, this blog only gets updated every month or so. If you want a bit more, consider signing up for the (almost weekly) newsletter instead called "TalkTactics". You can also sign up for a bucketload of freebies too!
This month's most popular (and useful?) blog posts are:
Or scroll down if you're just browsing!
“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”
I’ve had a few invitations to speak recently (some paid, some asking for a favour), and it struck me that when I followed up and said “Okay, what about?” and unusually high number said something like “Anything you like!”. Now, I know that some of them are saying that to be nice, but some of …
Read more “Make a presentation about anything you like, Simon”
Yeah – sorry! This is late… but hopefully you’ll forgive me when you see the output and have a giggle while you learn 😉 Introducing Small Simon, who’s talking about using metaphors in your presentations. He doesn’t get out much as he stays in the lab… so be nice! Say something friendly on YouTube 🙂
The TES (Times Educational Supplement) on June 2nd, 2017 has a cracker of an article. Dylan Wiliam talks sense about how people (well, school pupils!) learn. Now, given how much tosh is put about by WIKIexperets without any substance I normally make a point of checking the original research in this kind of second hand …
Read more “TES time for presenting”
Just like bands that are revolutionary and have breakthrough albums, and for whom the second album is always ‘challenging’ this is a bit of a ‘challenging’ blog. Last week I gave you a pretty thorough chronology (and frankly a bit of a boring one!) of the preparation that went into a big conference presentation …
Read more “Conference presentation – a history, part 2”
Part one of a two part set about a huge presentation I did recently 🙂 In this part I’ll take you through the chronology of what I did to prepare and what happened. Part two will look at what I learned 🙂 The picture is me. I’m the one in the dark suit, pointing – …
Read more “Conference presentation – a history, part 1”
I love Evernote. It’s one of the must-have apps for all my hardware. If you’re not used to it, you can’t imagine how handy it is. Take a look at their website, but to be honest, it doesn’t begin to cover the range and depth of how handy it is to presenters. I make no …
Read more “Presentations and Evernote”
I’m a bit of a sceptic when it comes to inspirational presentations. All too often just firing people up without giving them the tools they need apply that energy can leave them no better off than when they started. Often, in fact, they’re worse off, because they feel like a failure, for not being able …
Read more “Presentation as inspiration”
What’s BadVice? BadVice is the (usually well-meaning advice given by amateurs and WikiTrainers) when someone says they have a presentation coming up and want to know what to do. It’s the blind leading the blind. You’d not ask any old random stranger in the pub for legal advice about moving house, or about how to …
Read more “Presentations BadVice”