DEFINE YOUR GREAT IDEA, MAIN POINTS AND GOALS [YOU MUST DECIDE WHAT TO LEAVE OUT]
1. RESEARCH your audience’s needs, wants and what you want to say (learning gaps?).
2. Decide on what BIG IDEA will be most likely to reach your audience.
3. Decide on which 3-5 SUPPORTING POINTS (or themes) will best support your big idea.
4. Write a compelling TITLE and presentation DESCRIPTION (get people to show up!).
5. Use title and DESCRIPTION TO HELP CHOOSE CONTENT ITEMS and visual elements.
ORGANIZE YOUR PRESENTATION’S STRUCTURE
1. Choose compelling LEAD-IN (e.g., idea, fact, statistic, object); ignite curiosity.
2. Decide CONTENT ITEMS (examples, metaphors, data, etc.) to be covered in talk.
3. Choose content items when possible that SUPPORT GRAPHIC OR MEDIA expression.
4. Find a STORY (w/ a beginning, middle and an end) that puts your content in
unforgettable context (what struggles occurred? what led YOU to this topic?).
DESIGN YOUR TALK TURN IDEAS/POINTS/CONTENT ITEMS INTO VISUALS
1. Use only relevant MEDIA (slide, photo, video, animation, props, etc.).
2. PICTURES > Drawings > Graphs > Text > Too much text! (‘>’ means ‘preferred’).
3. Use SLIDE DESIGN RULES (alignment, proximity, contrast, repetition).
4. Choose a consistent SLIDE LOOK (font, title, graphics, background, colors, etc.)
5. Be CONCISE, simple backgrounds better, keep text simple.
6. Charts and graphs: SIMPLIFY DATA with key elements highlighted.
7. Use the GRAPH TYPE (bar, pie, line, etc.) that best represents your type of data.
PERFECT PRESENTATION FLOW POLISH PRESENTATION TO FLOW SMOOTHLY
1. Work on TALK FLOW AND TIMING (may need to add, rearrange, or delete slides).
2. INTEGRATE the flow and timing of story, content items so that you tie your concepts
together and give the practical implications of your presentation ideas.
3. End your talk with POWER (e.g., call to action, personal commitment, echo inspiring or
hopeful vision, lyrical inspiration, give satisfying encapsulation, etc.)
4. Make a CONCISE SUMMARY HANDOUT (~1-page) that condenses big idea, key points, and
references (slide printouts are NOT optimal).
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
1. Get to the point of COMFORT with your material via repetition.
2. PRACTICE voice, tone, presence, body language, breath stops, pauses, etc.
3. GET FEEDBACK - present key sections (or all) of your talk in front of a colleague.
4. Do a DRESS REHEARSAL (clothes, props, slides, microphones, etc.)-preview the venue.
H A N D O U T
WOHC 2024 Presentation Skills Worksheet
ACOEM Teaching Academy Presentation Skills Videos [links to videos ~15 min each]:
1. The Journey to Presentation Excellence [overview] ; 2.Organizing Your Presentation ;
3. Designing Your Presentation Materials ; 4 Delivering Your Presentation ; 5. Engaging Your Audience
References [links to useful books]:
• Power Through Presentations, by Andy Balser [short and to the point]
• TED Talks by Chris Anderson [profound insight from the CEO of TED]
• Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform by Nancy Duarte [inform, persuade, and inspire audiences]
• The Non-Designer’s Presentation Book 2
nd
Ed. by Robin Williams [principles for effective design]
APPENDIX
7 RULES OF THUMB FOR GIVING A GREAT TED TALK
(excerpted from TED Talks, by Chris Anderson, CEO of TED)
ONE: Start with the idea.
o An idea is anything that can change how people see the world - it doesn’t have to be a world
changing discovery or scientific invention. A great place to start is your personal experience-you
are the only human being among 7 billion who has had YOUR exact experience.
o Share those things that surprised you, excited you, made you cry or made YOU look at the world in a
different way. The caveat, if you are to tell your authentic story, to be effective it must be true.
TWO: Start right where you and the audience are.
o Take the time to research and know your audience and avoid daunting assumptions about where
they are, what excites them, what they’re worried about, and what motivates them.
o Always be sure to use plain language and do not assume your audience knows all the ‘lingo’ you use
in your field.
THREE: Light a fire called curiosity.
o Make people ask Why? And How? Surprise and delight them with unexpected facts and data.
FOUR: Bring in the essential concepts one by one.
o Allow the audience to understand your great idea by building up to it when needed; e.g., succinctly
communicate important background like What basic scientific principle, or emotional truth,
underlies this?, How did it evolve?, Why is it needed?, What’s driving it?, and/or Who’s trying to stop
it?, etc.
FIVE: Use examples, metaphors and stories to explain tough concepts and to
move people.
o For an explanation to be satisfying it must take puzzling facts and build a connection from them to
someone’s existing mental model of the world.
- METAPHORS help associate these puzzling facts with familiar concepts;
- EXAMPLES lock explanations into place and give a concrete feel for what you’re talking
about;
- STORIES have an almost irresistible allure over people, and they can put all your concepts
into an unforgettable context. Through empathy with the characters, or via the struggles they
endured, stories often give the emotional reality that sustains understanding and motivates
people to act. To do this well, you want to artfully edit a story to link together critical elements
(and meaningful detail) in a way that someone else can derive meaning from them.
o
SIX: The point of the talk is to say something meaningful.
o Your goal is to construct something wondrous inside your listener’s mind, so tie your concepts
together and give the practical implications of your concepts (or concerns, or delights, or wonder).
SEVEN: Show vulnerability and park your ego.
o Be yourself and show who you are. Part of this often involves showing your vulnerability related to
your talk (e.g., What led you to talk about this subject?) What about YOU is afraid, or hurt, or
disappointed, or wounded, or excited, or unreasonably hopeful, that has relevance to the audience
understanding your TRUE motivation to give this talk. This can be done in a professional manner
(i.e., it is not a sack cloth and ashes confessional), but sharing vulnerability allows everyone to relax
and see you as human, just like them.
o The evil twin of vulnerability is trying to be someone you are not or telling the audience you how
great you (or your accomplishments) are. The audience is the hero of the journey, you are the
guide - not the other way around. Give to the audience, show them the wonder in the world – don’t
take. Park your ego at the door.
