Normally I like to create something new in these posts – after all, any fool can cut, paste and hack at other people’s work.
This time, however, I’m going to break my own ‘rule’. Take a look at this talk from TED on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y. It’s a guy called Daniel Pink talking about motivation.
Notice how natural he is – how he resists the temptation to glance at the screen behind him. Notice how he uses the screens on the floor in front of him to show him what the audience sees but also what’s coming up next. Towards the end, check how for just half a second his eyes skit sideways to look at the person coming to the edge of the stage to follow him on – that’s attention to detail. This man is very much in charge of what he’s doing. Notice also the simple message – he doesn’t try and do too much…. “There’s a mismatch between what science knows and what business is doing”. Check out the clean, simple slides and…..
….. stop! If I go on any more it’s going to sound like a proposal of marriage! :) Thank heaven’s he’s an expert – if everyone was this good we’d be out of jobs.
I do love the TED talks – not only as examples of presentations delivered well, but as examples of presentations delivered in many different styles.
One phrase you used jumped out at me: ‘how he resists the temptation to glance at the screen behind him’. Would you argue that it is ineffective for a presenter to look at his slides? In my opinion, a presenter *should* look at his slides. This can be used to direct the audience’s attention towards an important point. The presenter can also gesture towards his slides as they animate, creating a seamless effect.
Jessica
Hi Jessica – yes, you’re right… there’s a time and a place for looking at the slides (basically, when you’re presenting technical information and you want to regard it as independent and objective). Presenters will do that in what we call “Second Position” sometimes.
I guess what I’m mainly getting at is that he didn’t *need* to look at the slides :) Bad presenters look at them because they’re afraid… :)
Simon
Bad presenters generally look at their slides because they haven’t rehearsed enough. They also look at their slides as they don’t know what to say next – they are looking for inspiration.
It all comes back to preparation (or lack of). Always remember the 6 Ps – prior preparation prevents piss poor performance!!