Posted on 6/1/2009 9:08:56 AM by Justin Etheredge
After a little bit of a break, today's post is brought to us by John Feminella over at distilledb.com. Thanks John!
In a digital age where screencasts and podcasts can reach millions at once, it's ironic that live public speaking can continue to be a challenge. The simple act of standing up in front of a small audience and making a presentation is still a nerve-wracking experience for many.
It's a widely cited (if perhaps a bit exaggerated) statistic that fear of public speaking ranks higher than fear of death. As Jerry Seinfeld noted, "this means that, to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."1 This mindset poses a problem, because knowledge dissemination and the free exchange of ideas are some of the most important services a technical community provides.
So if we recognize that these are valuable pursuits, and if we want to give a great talk, what can we do to maximize our chances of making that happen? While there's no magic formula for guaranteed success, effective talks almost always have two essential characteristics: a high-bandwidth presentation style and speaker confidence.
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Posted on 5/27/2009 8:16:06 AM by Justin Etheredge
Today’s post is brought to us by Al Tenhundfeld over at tenhundfeld.org. Thanks Al!
Justin Etheredge's ongoing series of posts on technical presenting has inspired me to finish this post I've had in limbo for a while.
Over the last three weeks I've given as many presentations at community events. Overall, I feel they went adequately -- not great but good enough. At this point in my presentation skill continuum, my goal is merely not to fail. If you're not a naturally engaging speaker or storyteller, the journey to giving fantastic presentations will probably be long and overcome only through a lot of practice, and it's not really a state I'm qualified to coach towards. However, I can give advice on not failing miserably. I'm learning there are many subtleties to becoming great, but becoming adequate just takes a little effort and a simple formula.
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Posted on 5/26/2009 9:10:12 AM by Justin Etheredge
After missing Monday due to a holiday here in the United States, we are back today with part 6 of my technical presenting series. If you’d like to participate in this series, please contact me via the link above!
Today’s post is brought to us by Lee Dumond over at LeeDumond.com.
Performers do it. Politicians do it. Pro athletes do it. Why not you? If you want to get better at any activity – whether it’s delivering presentations, or tacking a few extra yards to your tee shot – one of the most effective methods is to watch yourself in action.
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Posted on 5/22/2009 10:40:59 AM by Justin Etheredge
Today’s post is by Donn Felker over at donnfelker.com. Thanks Donn!
Unfortunately most presenters do not think about font size until about 10 _after_ they show code to an audience. Its usually followed by the confirmation question from the presenter that goes something like this: “Hey, can you guys see the code?”
Most of the time the answer is… “No, bigger font please … ”. 2 minutes later the font is larger, but usually its only the code editor window. What about the solution explorer, output window, menu’s, etc? Nope, it is still an 8pt font that strains your audiences eyes.
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Posted on 5/21/2009 9:47:07 AM by Justin Etheredge
Today's post is from Joel Cochran over at developingfor.net. Thanks Joel!
Justin Etheredge at CodeThinked has asked for people to post some tips and tricks for giving Technical Presentations. His idea is great: provide a repository of Best Practices for technical presenters written by the presenters themselves. The following is my contribution to the cause.
Confidence is King
One thing that keeps never-before presenters from becoming first-time presenters is the misconception that we (the presenters) are all experts on our given topic. The term expert is pretty specious these days, and as such has lost some of its value. [Digression: If you aren't sure what I mean, check out The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. It includes a simple checklist on how to become an 'Expert'.] Yes, most of us select topics we feel pretty comfortable about, but I know some presenters who intentionally select topics they aren’t familiar with just so they have some motivation to dig in and learn the topic.
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