Simple design tip #1
Justify your title, don’t center it. I know that’s what the template does but that means there are probably 20 million just like it being delivered today. The centre justification draws the eyes into the middle of the slide and…
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.
I can’t see the wood for the trees
I’ve never quite been sure of the derivation of the phrase. A perfect example of its use is in a slide such as this. There is simply so much “going on” in this image that the audience will be unable…
Performance anxiety
My recent trip to a scientific conference allowed me to muse on many things including presentation skills. Most disappointing was not the standard of presentations constructed but the issues of poor delivery (p3) It is not enough to have a…
It’s .pptx not .docx
A common mistake in attempting to deliver a (scientific) paper is the failure to recognise the difference between a document and a presentation. They are not the same. Perhaps the nomenclature is the start of the problem but an oral…
This is all your fault.
It’s conference season once again and I’ve had my vaccination booster. Sadly it will be wall to wall text dense slides, with little structure or purpose, read outloud in a terrified monotone to an audience who expect nothing more. And…
Quick copy this down!
When making an academic presentation it is often valuable to quote the literature. Quote means to speak. Don’t write it down, it is not valuable.There is an increasing tendency to show references in a slide or series of slides. The…
LMGTFY
“How does one get images for a presentation?” is a question I am frequently asked. The answer is the same as so many other questions we have. Ask you friendly local search engine. Click here. I mostly use Google image…
No script.
At no time should you use a script when giving a presentation.I know one should write paragraphs with three or more sentences that explain the initial statement but that statement stands alone. It needs no explanation, no justification, no clarification,…
It’s not about the slides
As Lance Armstrong famously entitled his book on “winning” the Tour de France, “It’s not about the bike.” So, with presentations, it is not about the slides. They are important. Without the slides it is just a talk. Ultimately the…
One message per slide
In the last blogpost I suggested the best place to start improving #presentationskills is by deleting the slide set. The rationale behind that statement was not to suggest that presentations should be done without supportive media but in order for…