Author Archive: ffolliet

p cubed presentations > Articles by: 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.

Without further ado

April 16, 2025 1 Comment

“Without further ado, I would like to introduce our next speaker.” It’s just a phrase, but the introduction defines the presentation to follow. As a presenter, one can(and should) influence this introduction to ensure both brevity (the ado) and appropriate…
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p cubed

Pictures of slides

April 14, 2025 1 Comment

Pictures of slides are intended by the photographer to be used for later data retrieval. Few actually review the images, even fewer retrieve any data. Constructing a slide for this purpose is further false logic. It defeats the purpose of…
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p2

Your stage, your rules

April 13, 2025 0 Comments

As a conference organiser, you are responsible for what happens on your stage. Your stage, your rules. This starts with the backdrop, the IT system and the lighting. You are also responsible if a speaker puts up unacceptable images, expresses…
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p cubed

Roadmaps are for roads

April 11, 2025 0 Comments

Roadmaps are for roads, not presentations. Setting out the plan of the presentation does not engage the audience, it may in fact disengage them. It simply wastes time. Keep roadmaps for roads. This is the second paragraph of the blog…
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p2

Just another presentation

April 10, 2025 0 Comments

A presentation is an opportunity to change the world. A presentation is an honour, hugely valuable and life changing. The experience of the world though is that a presentation is one of life’s trials, something to be endured. Audiences expect…
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p cubed

in actual fact

April 3, 2025 1 Comment

One of my father’s dear friends, John used to say, “in actual fact,” a lot. In actual fact, he would say, in actual fact, probably every other sentence, more in actual fact. He confessed that he felt unable, in actual…
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p3, practise

Mumble mumble

April 2, 2025 0 Comments

Effective delivery (p3) is essential to an excellent presentation (p cubed). The good presenter will have practised, arrived early and ensured that both slides and the presentation area are ready, before stepping onto the stage. “Mumble, mumble essential to mumble…
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p3

What if…?

March 30, 2025 0 Comments

It is a privilege to travel the world sharing ideas on improving presentation skills. An encouragement is that many people know and understand that their presentations could be better and they recognise easy steps to improve. Yet they are resistant…
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p cubed

Memes are time specific

March 26, 2025 0 Comments

Ideas, music and memes are time-specific in popular culture or presentations. Their use in a presentation may not convey the desired impact to the whole audience. Be aware of such limitations in the construction and delivery of presentations. American President…
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#htdap

Data download complete

March 12, 2025 0 Comments

The perception that presentations should deliver large quantities of data downloaded by the audience is deeply ingrained in both lecturers and recipients. This is driven by institutional expectations, (perceived) academic norms, and misconceptions about learning effectiveness. It does not happen….
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science of fail