Presentation pointer

Ben Ferguson of the University of Chicago shared on the Medscape blog a few pointers about what to do and not to do at a presentation. It is very helpful and although I knew some of the pointers I just thought it was brilliant.

This is a short paragraph of the blog entry. Please click the link below it to read the whole thing.

How Not to Give a Presentation

Ben Ferguson -- I’m currently at a conference on worms (don’t ask), struggling to stay awake through 22(!) rapid-fire presentations each day. Some are average, some are really quite good, and some are just annoying and terrible.

We all know the typical no-nos -- don’t talk too quickly, don’t put too many words on one slide, don’t read directly from your slides, don’t make the text too small to be legible, don’t be rigid but don’t move around too much either. So many don’ts.

Even if you didn’t think it was possible, I have more. It’s weird, but people always forget how to do the most basic things when they’re in front of a large audience. If you can help it, don’t do this either. Some pointers for your own future presentations:

• Don’t mistake the wireless slide changer for the laser pointer. If you absolutely must, at least recognize this within the first few slides, and try not to use the slide changer as the laser pointer for your entire presentation or until an annoyed audience member interrupts you to inform you that you are not, in fact, actually pointing to anything. ...

http://medscape.typepad.com/thedifferential/2008/08/how-not-to-give.html?cid=126309766#comment-126309766