Be prepared
The motto of The Boy Scout movement is, “Be prepared.” In its simplicity it covers so much. Perhaps, if there ever was a Guild of Presenters, that should be our motto. Be prepared. Be prepared for the presentation. Be prepared…
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.
Lost in time
“Lost, in time, like tears in rain.” A life of meaning that, in death, disappears. The phrase comes from the film Blade Runner. In his final soliloquy, Batty, the android who has become sentient, tells of his life experience and…
If you could make just one change…
One of the commonest questions I am asked when delivering polemic lectures or running presentation skills workshops is, “If you could suggest just one change we should make in our presentations, what would that be?” A wonderful question that gets…
The book was better
How many of us have read a book, seen the film, and hated it, thinking the book was better? Any literature, whether as a novel, your research project or the 3rd quarter business plan, works only in the written medium.…
Your presentation
Your presentation is the product of its constituent parts: the message, the media and the delivery. The overwhelming majority of presentations are constructed using the media as the foundation, not the message. The information is typed into presentation software, some…
p³ presentations are not just pretty pictures
One of the more predictable criticisms of p cubed presentations is that it is all about style, just pretty pictures. The p³ approach is not about making presentations look better. It is about making presentations work better. A presentation is…
You would change
Your presentations don't work. If you knew and accepted this, you would change. Why haven't you?
Never about slides
The future of presentations is not about slides, it never was. The future of presenting is not about more tech, more ai, more polish, it is about clarity of message, audience engagement and ultimately, effective communication. It was never about…
It’s too important
It might be a research funding panel, a conference plenary or your first research presentation but you want to get it right. It’s too important. So you add more: more slides, more bulletpoints, more references because it’s too important. This…
Being an expert
Expertise in a topic does not make you an expert in presentation. You may know more than anyone else in the room. That does not necessarily mean they will understand by reciting that. Nor does not mean they will remember.…