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.

Guest blog- On becoming a better presenter

It is always encouraging to me to hear of colleagues who have put into practice their ideas on improving presentations and share their feedback.  In another guest blog Emma shares her thoughts. Please read and check out her beautiful slide…
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It’s just not scientific…

Recently I shared ideas with a colleague about presentations and she significantly altered the supportive media (p2) of her upcoming presentation. She was very pleased with her performance and the reception of the presentation by the audience (p cubed) but…
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So what.

so what

The purpose of your presentation is to turn the “what” of your information into the “so what” of your message (p1). Sadly, most presentations leave the audience adding a question mark to that sentence. Information in and of itself may…
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Patronising your audience

patronise your audience

The scientific literature is clear regarding the many proven behavioural flaws in the nature of a standard “powerpoint” delivery. My “Presentations Skills” presentation has expanded to cover more of the evidence behind what many understand implicitly. Something I fail to…
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The media has become the medium.

It really doesn’t mean to be but Powerpoint (and its siblings) IS the problem. There’s a fair amount of debate on Twitter , in the blogsphere and amongst those sorry souls who get me started on the topic but I’m coming firmly to…
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I’m sorry…

…for this busy slide. I’m sorry I didn’t think this through as well as I might.I’m sorry that I don’t actually care very much about this topic.I’m sorry that I don’t think you are important.I’m sorry that I didn’t know…
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What is the best, new tool in presentations?

An interesting post at The Harvard Business Review on Presentations discusses other new and exciting tools that may help in effective presentations. Sadly, I think they miss the point completely. “Guns don’t kill: bulletpoints do” is a tagline I use…
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One small step for @ffolliet, one giant leap for @alicexelizabeth

I fully appreciate that the steps towards better presentations may seem simple and straightforward but it takes courage to make what may seem a giant step to begin the journey. Here’s another guest blog, this time from @alicexelizabeth  a medical student at Peninsula…
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What if I told you..

I picked this up from Google search. I tweeted it and it has now been retweeted in some form or other more than 600 times. Which says an awful lot.The meme comes from the film, The Matrix. The character, Morpheus…
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The maximum number of words on a slide is zero.

A recent question on twitter to me was, “What is the maximum number of words you can put on a slide?”Easy, the maximum number is zero!Seriously, asking the question shows that the purpose of your supportive media (p2) is for…
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