Be succinct
Be succinct. A great presentation has a single, portable, memorable message.
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.
What colour is a zebra?
What colour is a zebra? Is it white and black stripes or black and white stripes? Ask Marty, the funky Zebra from Madagascar. When it comes to slide design a question that comes up often enough in discussion relates to…
Running over time
Running over time in a presentation is unforgivable. There is no presentation ever that has been made better by going longer. Worse it steals time from the audience and potentially from following speakers as organisers struggle to maintain their schedules.…
show some emotion
I was recently privileged to speak at a conference with colleagues from disciplines outwith medicine. I was humbled at the level of wisdom, scientific endeavour and sadly at the level of presentation skills displayed. If it is any comfort, many…
only one way to present?
A recent interchange on twitter was sullied by one commenter using the phrase “presentation gestapo”. This abuse was intended to express their disapproval of people who express an opinion on twitter about presentations, an opinion which runs contrary to theirs.…
don’t look back
Don’t look back at your slides on the screen behind you, everyone else will. Face the audience for as much time as possible. Depending on the setup there may be a “comfort monitor” in front of the stage morroring the…
The Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in memory of the fallen soldiers from the pivotal and bloody civil war battle fought there some four months earlier. The speech had been planned for…
great presentations
Great presentations are in the eye of the beholder. Not everyone agrees on what makes a great presentation any more than they agree on the best film (Gregory’s Girl), best alt-folk/modern-Americana band (The Barr Brothers) or best Paediatric Surgical Department…
retro fitted
Retro fitted presentations are really not very good. If you have constructed (and delivered) a presentation and have decided to carry out some of the p cubed concepts in your work, the best advice is not to retro fit an…
A single message
A great presentation has a single message; simple, memorable and succinct.