Author Archive: ffolliet

At work I'm a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon. That involves Surgical Oncology, Neonatal Surgery and Trauma. There's also a lot of teaching and mentoring. None of this actually makes me particularly clever. I'm pretty heavily into improving presentations and long for the world to lay down the weapon of bulletpoints and embrace creative and engaging presentations. I lead presentation workshops and am currently working up a book on presentations. I did a wee thing at TEDx Stuttgart in 2014 of which I'm quite proud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFza3W87eDg Outside all of that I struggle to keep fit, cycle a bit and the odd triathlon. I'm a father, singer, laugher, learner, sharer, blogger, thinker, strummer and much more.

“Caught up within a single style of visual presentation.”

The previous post alluded to the fact that the fault for bad presentations does not lie with the presentation software. The master of presenting data and information, Edward Tufte, has erudite thoughts on the matter. “Powerpoint is like being trapped…
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I’m not bad; I’m just drawn that way!

Jessica Rabbit, wife of the famous actor Roger, film star and blues singer in her own right, famously tells Eddie Valiant, the gumshoe that, “I’m not bad; I’m just drawn that way.” The same is true of PowerPoint and other…
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scientific bulletpoints

There is a feeling that a presentation can’t be “scientific” unless it has bulletpoints, that transfer of information requires a list of facts on the board and that these should be worked through in order. There is no justification for…
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Once upon a time…

…there was a girl, she got married.Not really a page turner, is it? Unlikely to hold the attention for very long, sell many books or be a particularly exciting screenplay. Yet it sums up the story of Cinderella. And so…
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Design matters

I know design matters but I don‘t know much about such things so I asked Nicole Gugger, a presentation professional to share some of her insights and expertise in this first guest blog posting.I´ve been asked “does design matter”? The…
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Download complete?

In considering the audience and what they expect from a speaker, too often the implicit understanding of the purpose of the presentation is of an information download. This directly affects the construction of the presentation with the speaker attempting to…
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You’re an idiot.

No really! I have such concerns for your stupidity that I will annotate everything for you just so you know what everything is, or, if you aren’t paying attention it will become immediately apparent so you can catch up.There is…
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Hara hachi bu (腹八分)

What is the art of good comedy?Timing.I know it’s an old joke but it’s apposite. The art of a good presentation is also timing. There is no-one, not one single person, who should over run their time slot. I’ll say that again….
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When a small step is a giant leap

Helping colleagues with their presentations is a privilege. Rather than telling what to do, I usually direct them to Garr Reynold’s helpful pdf, suggest they buy at least one of his books and probably one by Nancy Duarte. Then, working…
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One change for dramatic improvement. (you won’t do it!)

I’m rather hoping that frequent visitors to the blog will have taken to heart some of the important concepts of presentation. Perhaps my deepest insight has been the p3 concept. The success in delivering the message of “the presentation” can be…
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