http://blogs.msdn.com/b/johngossman/archive/2006/02/26/539608.aspxI was not particularly happy with my PDC presentation. We were asked to rehearse them, review the slide decks and practice, practice, practice. So I did. And over time, the presentation got worse and worse, so that a few days before I was to give it,en-USTelligent Evolution Platform Developer Build (Build: 5.6.50428.7875)http://blogs.msdn.com/b/johngossman/archive/2006/02/26/539608.aspx#550010Sun, 12 Mar 2006 22:26:42 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:550010ThomasStepping away from powerpoint is a really good idea. I think demos and real world question &amp; answer sessions are by far better than force feeding people stuff. <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=550010" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/johngossman/archive/2006/02/26/539608.aspx#539783Mon, 27 Feb 2006 13:18:32 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:539783Dirk RombautsWhich goes to show the power of empathic communication IMO: first understand your audience, then make them understand you. &nbsp;Many (not all!) PowerPoint-based presentations suffer from &quot;forcefeeding&quot; the audience stuff, when all they really want is &quot;to see the cool things you can do&quot;. <br> <br>I don't do many presentations myself, but one of the most recent was an introduction to VB Script. I basically sat down with the audience and asked them &quot;what is it that you want to do with VB Script?&quot; They told me, and I showed them how to do it. VB isn't my forte, so a large part of the presentation was trying out things together with the audience - pair programming on steriods, and a great learning experience for all of us. <br> <br>Dirk <br><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=539783" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/johngossman/archive/2006/02/26/539608.aspx#539651Mon, 27 Feb 2006 06:08:44 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:539651John If you really know your material, then a powerpoint is probably just a distraction.. That said, next time, why not try displaying random soothing landscape photographs and see how that changes your rating? ;-)<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=539651" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/johngossman/archive/2006/02/26/539608.aspx#539647Mon, 27 Feb 2006 06:04:10 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:539647Robert ScobleI made a promise to myself never to show an audience a boring blue PowerPoint. So far I've kept that promise and I keep getting invited to do more speeches. :-)<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=539647" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/johngossman/archive/2006/02/26/539608.aspx#539643Mon, 27 Feb 2006 05:41:43 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:539643Dejan JelovicWay to go! <br> <br>I've seen many slide presentations in my life, and only one (!) has ever added value to what the speaker was saying. If you get a chance take a look at Dick Hardt's OSCON keynote at www.identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/ <br> <br>Dejan<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=539643" width="1" height="1">