introduction of larry by gnat introduction of damian by larry aikido ai - harmony ki - spirit do - path - [ of the universe ] aikido is a defensive martial art invented by Morihei Ueshiba aka "O-Sensei" strong philosophical underpinning: love thine enemy you don't have to be a little bald guy or live in japan also works for little grey-haired guys from australia like perl, aikido is about being lazy: doing things in the easiest possible way you can apply this philosophy to anything including public speaking this talk isn't about tricks and techniques You can't try to subdue the audience and bend them to your will. Connect with your audience: this is the key. Realize that you don't "have to" give a presentation. Presentation is a privilege. No matter what the audience isn't giving you (money, attention, respect) they are giving you their time. That is their most valuable resource! Recognize that expenditure as a gift. Enjoy it. Take pride in it. Strive to excel at it. To be able to do that, you have to talk only about subjects that you understand. If you absolutely cannot get out of it, use the preparation to educate yourself and be up-front with the audience. --- there are four phases: planning (strategic) preparation (tactics) delivery (engagement) interaction (bayoneting the wounded) you cannot succeed without planning the battle is always won beforehand the material has to make sense and be in language the audience understands you need to be confident enough to reassure the audience that you know what you're doing good slides take time to design ...and more time to create construction examples takes hours for every hour that you will speak, it will take ten hours to prepare I take closer to twenty. This three-hour talk took 80 hours to produce. STEP ZERO: the very first decision you make will determine your success: * decide what to talk about even if your boss tells you what to talk about, you really have a lot of leeway about which way to take it talk about what excites you and what interests you seeing someone else who is excited is exciting! boring is boring. find a way to be interested in the topic, or find a guest expert who DOES find the topic interesting. it doesn't matter how much you know, how eloquent you are, how polished your presentation techniques are. it's all about the attitude, the enthusiasm, the excitement, the energy, the /ki/ entertainment trumps information (we like to be passively entertained, not interactively informed.) ^^-- the cynical view a presentation is rarely a primary information source; it's more often an overview, or a means of reassurance that the presented concepts are attainable the audience doesn't /want/ details. they'll get those when they buy your book anyway, we remember things that entertain us. first thing to plan: the title you want a title that hints at the topic, but has a "measure of intrigue" "while preparing for this talk, I got the perfect counter-example in email:" conceiving of technology in education: lessons from sociology and feminist theory too long, too dry, too buzzwordy: avoid all those things then: the blurb it's your marketing pitch; it's what gets people to come to your talk it needs to say, "I'm interesting and a good speaker," but you can't say that out loud unless you have "more chutzpah than me" (notice that the blurb for Aikido never mentioned Aikido) outline the content, don't give away the premise --- tell a story the 7 +/- 2 factor unless you're rain man: too much information will overwhelm you the human solution to "too much info" has always been hierarchical structure. the classical example of that isn't a tree, but a story. so the presentation will be more comprehensible, memorable, and comfortable if it feels like a story you can structure historically, illuminate concepts via narratives, or even fictional stories, as long as the underlying message is true ("My Q::S talk was a complete fabrication, but it was entertaining.") a big principle of aikido is "less is more" if I can just sort of turn around and you go flying, that's to my advantage select just what is critical to know: five things is all you get (be conservative on 7 +/- 2 things) structure your story to hit those five things once you know what to say, choose how to say it audiences value connections between ideas, sometimes more than the ideas themselves "I've never thought of polymorphism in terms of dating." "I've never viewed systems integration as contract renegotiation." find metaphors that will help the audience make the leap from what they know to what you want them to know once you've done ALL that, /now/ you can begin with... --- preparation it's easier to write and arrange your material in a text editor or word processor than to produce your talk directly in your presentation software first, note everything you think you want to say just write an outline major topic bullet points sub-points (minimize these) code, demos, data, logs, examples once you have your thoughts down, arrange them into a sensible sequence * chronological historical procedural linear parallel * layered * cumulatieve partial to complete simplified to real-world special case to generalized successively refined approximation * narrative threaded or episodic interwoven or convergent anecdotal or hypthetical identify no more than five main points that fit your chosen sequence, or the sequence that fits your chosen five points example: the problem the current solution the problem with the current solution the proposed solution how we plan to get there this order is created to help the audience, whose brain is not the same as the presenters brain: classical blunder: to present in the order that you thought of things to mention throw away ideas that don't fit look for holes in the flow and provide any essential points to fill in once your raw material is done, import it to your present software ...then clean it up ...then start deleting words you don't have time for full sentences, let alone full paragraphs form must follow function great info on a bad slide is WORSE than mediocre info on a great slide the most important aspect of visual style is coherence the presentation must feel like a harmonious whole (aristotelean unity!) content and form in unison [ EXTREEEEME COUNTEREXAMPLES ] remember your goal: are you trying to persuade? large unbulleted text serif font short declaritive statements minimal decoration phrase desired conclusions are rhetorical question (that forces them to say "yes") to inform smaller, bulleted sans serif text build up info point by point [ lost slide ] if you have no visual style, steal one. ...but don't steal it from Microsoft because there's nothing worse that going to a talk where the first slide uses a Microsoft template if you're going to steal, steal from the cool kids Apple Bang and Olufsen The Perl Journal The French stylish websites ask the presenter for templates for slides you like almost every slide you see in most presentation is too busy: too much text too many images fonts: every font you use must have a purpose and meaning only use a new font if you need a distinction between what you've used so far and something new remove special-purpose fonts for special purposes use them like artwork don't use "Papyrus" it's already a cliche (it's the font on the menu at Apollo Grill) don't use comic sans, either; it looks amateurish images don't use too many they preempt the audience's attention if you're going to use them, use them as seasoning ...to make a visual point ...in an unexpected manner this is twice as true for animations rule of thumb: if I can't do it easily in PPT, it's probably too much to bother with often, text animation is enough but either way, only use these when they add to the presentation itself video almost never! the video itself must be amazing AND the video must make the point better than words could "why sumo is better than karate" visual effects "the effect that doesn't look like an effect is the effect that you want" good shadows help a subtle shading can help they help the audience look at the slides for longer periods of time color schemes contrast between bg and fg is essential either very dark text on very light bg or the reverse there are tools for generating complementary color sets (demo'd a neat color picker that plugs into Mac OS X color picker) keep in mind that about 10% of people have some kind of color perception so don't only use color to distinguish things use other visual clues: luminance, shape, markers highlight differences temporarily people are good at "blink comparison" try a transition from old to new, keeping things aligned +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | do something different now and then to wake people up! | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ humans are hard-wired to focus on changes ...in form ...in pace ...in meaning punctuate your presentation with ...examples ...elaboration ...comparison ...asides don't change the pace just for the sake of changing the pase you do it for a reason: to put landings in your staircases no matter how long they give you to speak, you will be able to generate far more material in far more detail than will fit in the allotted time you will be tempted to keep everything and just concentrate it and speed up avoid this temptation! PLEASE! the audience cannot absorb as much as you think they can. even if you know this and adjust, they still can't absort that much. for you, the material is deeply familiar, so it seems easy. the people who feel that way WILL NOT BE COMING for the audience the material will be revolutionary and weird. they need opportunities to pause, digest, and calm down use easier comments, summaries, asides, and commentary to give them time to ignore you if you follow cerebral scary material with something stupid and goofy, it will be an oasis of relief sometimes you will employ the Big Fat Lie useful tools for these landings: a funny voice vaudeville the recurring structure of difficult-simple-difficult-simple is reassuring put signposts along the route -- give the audience an idea of where things are going you don't need to explain the structure if the structure is simple and clear fade or cut between slides anything else is special effects don't be tempted by fancy reveals: laser text, fly-ins, swivels, zooms they are not cool, they are annoying this goes moreso for slide transitions these are utterly lame in real presentations no architecture charts if you need that much information, put it in the notes if you only need part of the information, just show that part! if graph values are important, put them in the handout just use a graph, if at all, for showing a trend and THAT IS ALL minimize slide decorations your name: ok presentation title: ok ...but neither is OK if they're distracting make them subtle and ignoreable logo: not ok decorations will distract them from the point the point is your delivery! --- delivery: look effortless the information is at your fingertips the audience /wants/ the material to seem easy, so they can understand it be competent be prepared be practiced be organized have style above all, have attitude >-|O . o ( I am going to suck so much of their lives away! ) be yourself people are hungry for intimacy the best people take this risk they reveal themselves they openly express their passion for their subject but remember the presentation is (almost) never about the presenter it's about the ideas being conveyed so be selfless you are NOT there to: bolster your ego score points demonstrate your superiority do anything for /you/ you are there for the audience inspire them instruct them they are paying for it with /their lives/ (or a small part thereof) this doesn't mean "aw shucks" humility or self-deprecation that's still self-centered the goal is to /not be there at all/ the goal is to be harmonized with the flow be in the moment make eye contact be in love with your topic the bedrock of this is attitude you have to build a great delivery on top of that bedrock and you can't do this if the foundation is shaky if you are nervous: reinterpret your nervousness as energy to channel into my speech HOORAY! (sotto voce: "drugs help, too") (response to earlier heckle) rituals and talismans can help engender a sense of sense of familiarity in that vein, talk to the audience members beforehand (if possible) talk about /them/ not /you/ if you make a connection, the room isn't full of strangers have a back-up plan if you lose your notes, have another copy. (damian has about ten) less is (even) more if you're naturally reserved, be reserved if you're naturally exuberant, be exuberant either way, don't try so hard that it shows | ASIDE | | The trick to using pop culture references, is to leave out enough | | information that the audience gets to "Get it" | let your natural interest in the topic reveal itself it will do this by itself; don't push it (croc hunter: "We're really sorry about this guy, but we're not taking him back.") dress appropriately traditional advice: "dress slighly better than your audience" zenga for the CEO armanti for middle management timberland for senior technical staff clean t-shirt and socks for talking to hackers damian's advice: dress for exactly who YOU are the audience doesn't care what you're wearing they are there for the presentation they expect you to look like they expected you to look suits won't listen to advice about financial matters if you're in a tee geeks won't listen to advice about dancing B trees if you're in versace have yourself introduced you help the audience feel good if you are introduced, they have to applaud you arrange the universe so the audience naturally applauds but if you're going to be introduced, you want to be introduced by someone the audience respects try to get the highest-status person available you get instant credibility but be careful: you don't want someone who is a better speaker than you don't read your talk! [ed: this is SO DARNED TRUE] nobody gets away with that ...unless he's deeply loved by his audience (he means Larry; this also goes for my Prof. Olsen) rehearse this keeps you from needing to read it also helps you figure out timing but you have to rehearse aloud! you can't get an accurate timing if you just mouth it or think it have a cheat sheet the other secret of not having to read your speech it's a list of points you want to cover it isn't a script for the talk you can even just use slide headings as cues avoid "slide after unrelenting slide of text" vary the number of points on each slide vary font size (maybe) examples pictures or diagrams, sometimes vary pace: try spending a lot of time on one slide then zip through a lot of sides quickly demonstrations beat descriptions we see better than we hear and perceive better than we imagine harmonize with those strengths ...but script every demonstration tightly know what is going to happen practice beforehand so that it does happen it must happen smoothly! if demonstrating software, predetermine the inputs ...and consider faking it! for a series of code demos, load your editor with them all set up a key that steps through them (a demonstration is always a break in the flow) if demonstrating something over the web... DON'T pre-cache everything or use file-based pages even if you have a fast connection if demonstrating hardware ("Oh god!") test it immediately beforehand in situ! and let it be until ready if you need volunteers, plant them /never/ ask or volunteers: choose them have at most one... physical demonstration extended digression ...otherwise your presentation becomes a circus use a microphone even most professional speakers don't have a trained voice very few people can "project" enough to be heard without shouting even if you can project, a mic is preferable. (probably) it's less oppressive on the audience, gives you nuance, and saves your voice drink water as you speak if not water: nothing fizzy and nothing diuretic if possible, bring your own container use the WC before you start practice speaking slightly faster than your schedule it's easier to slow down than speed up and if you're done early, you have more time for questions! --- questions: they're vital interaction is the whole point you need to plan for them decide a policy on how and when to take questions tell your audience up front announce it during your introductory remark always be keen to take questions ...even if you're not ...even if you won't take them it shows you're communicative repeat the asker's question, paraphrasing it don't try to fake an answer if you don't know the answer, admit it the audience will understand and respect your honesty you'll look much stupider if you fake an answer [ed: I typoed look as luch. wow!] even consider asking if anyone else in the audience knows or offer to find out or explain /how/ to find out call on the people whom you expect to have hard questions /first/ it gets it out of the way if you get no questions: you can just move on or you can say, "we're done early" but a better approach is to say, "Often at this point I'm asked..." then supply a question to which you have a fantastic answer. (lost power)