Since I'm fresh back from php|cruise, I thought I'd comment and ask for
comments on what it takes to give a good technical presentation. I'm
planning on writing about this topic in my next php|architect column, so be
aware that anything said here may appear in it.
This is in no way a jab at any of the php|cruise presenters. Most of them
did a good job and I had issues with some of them, but hell, they were doing
it and I wasn't. Good info was put out either way.
These are presented in random order, as they come to me and may overlap.
Please add your own comments and stories. General presentation comments
are fine, but try to focus on the problems or tips that help out with
technical / programming type presentations.
1) Rehearse: This is a must. You have to run through your presentation a
couple times and preferably in front of other people so they can provide
feedback. Some people are really good at impromptu speaking and can wing it,
but it still doesn't hurt to run through it just to see how long it takes.
If you're given an hour for a presentation, don't rehearse a 1.5 hour
presentation! When you run over it delays everything after you, too. If
you're the one planning a conference, you can't necessarily plan for extra
time between sessions / presentations, either. If you think you may run over
on time, let the planner know. Maybe you can go last so you don't mess
anyone else up?
2) Dry Run: As important as rehearsing before hand is doing a dry run of the
presentation in the actual place where you'll be giving the presentation and
preferably with the actual equipment you'll be using. What looks good on
your CRT monitor doesn't always look good from a projector (or whatever
display system they have). Do you have all of the cables you need to show
your presentation? Do the colors show up (especially yellows and oranges).
Can you read the fonts from the front and back of the room? Do you need a
microphone?
3) Typing Code: Don't type code during your presentation. I'd bet money that
everyone watching you already knows how to type. If it's a PHP conference,
I'd bet they know how to type PHP, too. We don't need you to show us how.
When you begin a presentation by opening up a text editor and typing
<?php
$fp = fopen('somefile.txt');
...
?>
, I'm walking out. Either work the code (or snippets of it) into your
slides, or open up a text editor and show an already completed file. If you
need to make or illustrate changes to the code, either put that on
subsequent slides or load sequential files where the code is already
completed.
4) Text Editors: If you're going to use one, make sure you can adjust the
text size. Again, what looks good and easy to read on your monitor may not
during the actual presentation. Also take note of how long your lines and
entire scripts are. Scrolling left and right or many pages down can be a
pain during the middle of a presentation. Try to have as much code open as
you can and learn / make shortcuts to get back and forth between it and your
presentation that way your audience is not waiting on you.
5) Have a Buddy: This kind of goes along with all of the above suggestions;
try to have a buddy that can help you rehearse and give your presentation.
If you rehearse well enough, you can have your buddy flipping slides and
scrolling at the right times without you having to say "next slide" or
anything else. If you _really_ have to type, like filling out a form for
example (as a demo), then have your buddy doing that while you're explaining
things or make changes while you explain why he's doing so and what the
results will be (for example). Hell, you can even make your buddy the bad
guy that keeps you on track and on time and cuts off questions when
necessary.
6) Questions: Speaking of questions, try to pause between each slide and at
least look up to see if anyone has any questions. Too man people get their
nose caught in the computer or looking at their slides that they miss people
who want to ask a question. If you want to hold all questions until the end,
make sure you say so, but understand that this will be hard for the audience
to do. Also, realize that a large amount of questions may push you over your
time. Don't be afraid to cut questions off when your time is up or when you
really need to get to your next slide. If it's important, they'll find you
or ask when there is more time. IMO, the audience likes to have face-to-face
time with presenters when they have questions, anyhow, so try to make
yourself available.
7) Time: Time is your enemy. This is why you rehearse and try to stay on
schedule, even with questions. If you realize that you have more info to
present than planned, keep in touch with whom ever is planning the
conference / meeting / etc and request more time. You may or may not get it.
Maybe you can be moved to last so that if you run over, you're not affecting
presenters after you.
8) Graphics and Transitions: This one will probably raise some arguments,
but I don't see much a need for pretty graphics and transitions. It all
depends upon your topic and audience, but plain bulleted slides will get
your point across just as well as fancy flying text overtop of cute pictures
of your cat. The audience will probably be less distracted. Depending on how
interesting of a speaker you are, though, maybe you'll need these to keep
your audience interested. In the Army, we're allowed to have color on the
first slide only, then everything else is black and white with minimal
graphics (no decorations). Not only does this make things cleaner and easier
to export to other formats if necessary, it also makes the whole package
smaller and easier to provide for download and distribution. This leads me
into the next topic.
9) Make Slides Available: This one should be a no brainer, but make sure
people can get to your slides after the presentation, especially if they
contain code. Another thing to realize, also, is that not everyone runs
whatever program you're running to make your slides. You should make an
attempt to make them available in a basic format like HTML or PDF. Remember,
at this point, you're just putting the info out there, you're not presenting
it. It doesn't have to look the same, just show the information so people
can read it. If you're the one organizing a conference, try to have
everything available at one location so people don't have to look around for
it. Put an easy to remember link in your presentation that people can write
down quickly, if possible.
10) Uhmmmm: Uhmmm... Ahhh.... This is what practicing is for. Try to avoid
excessive "uhmms" and "ahhs" and other noise words when you're in front of
an audience. Sometimes this is really hard for people, especially if you're
nervous, so rehearsing and experience is going to help. When this becomes
excessive, it's really distracting to your audience and just takes up more
time (see #7).
This certainly isn't all inclusive, so please add to this with your own
advice and experiences. Thank you.
----John Holmes...
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