Motley says: "Back to that public speaking thing - yuck"
Summary
Motley: There's not much to public speaking.
Maven: Public speaking requires a lot of practice and know-how. Have a good objective, know your target audience, set expectations, use minimal slides as a visual aid, practice, use a summary, and work on your bad habits. Above all, be passionate about your topic!
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[Context: Motley has an upcoming presentation and is lacking some confidence around his presentation. He seeks out Maven for a few tips.]
Motley: Didn't you say that James did a public speaking gig at a conference a while back? I was nominated at this special interest group I belong to do a talk on being an effective development lead. I was hoping I could get some tips since I haven't done a lot of public speaking, and generally dislike it. It's a necessary evil, however, to move up the career ladder.
Maven: YOU are giving a talk on being an effective development lead??? That's the funniest thing I ever heard!
Motley: <pow>
Maven: Ah, crap. That hurt! I guess I deserved it though. I apologize.
Motley: Anyway, I'm looking for some tips on doing a good developer presentation. Although there isn't much to public speaking generally, developers are a tough group to keep engaged. Most talks that I go to simply end up helping me catch up on some sleep.
Maven: Doing any kind of public speaking is difficult, and an activity that most people dread. There are some fundamental tips that you can follow, however. The first big tip is to tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them.
Motley: Come again? That sounded like gibberish.
Maven: Think of it like this: you want to set expectations with audience as to what you are going to talk about. Then you want to provide them with all that wonderful content. Finally, you want to review the key points of what you just talked about as reinforcement, and provide a specific call to action list to help them change behavior once they leave your talk.
Motley: That seems like an awful lot of redundancy.
Maven: In a 90 minute talk, it's not. Hey, that rhymes! I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!
Motley: Oh, dispense with your horrible humor and get to the point.
Maven: You want to prevent wasting people's time, so you talk about what your objectives are, the order of topics (i.e. agenda), and what you hope to accomplish. From this , the audience can determine whether they will get something out of your talk. You don't want to waste people's time if it doesn't meet their expectations. You want to repeat the message at the end so people remember what you talked about. Repetition helps the memory.
Motley: Okay, makes sense. Agenda/expectations, content, summary.
Maven: Don't forget objectives. Think about what success looks like for your talk. What do you want people to take away? What behavior do you want to change? A good talk has objectives that are action-oriented phrases that describe a change in behavior.
Motley: I think I have that covered. I'm a little concerned about fitting 60 slides into 60 minutes. Might be a bit too much. What do you think?
Maven: Too much?!? Definitely! You want to count on about 3 minutes per slide on average. You also want light slides - a maximum of 6 bullets per slide, if bullets are your style.
Motley: Three minutes per slide?!? That means only 20 slides for 60 minutes! I am going to finish really early. I have some slides in there that take only a minute, such as title, objectives, and agenda.
Maven: Remember that 3 minutes per slide is an average and only a guideline. It also depends on your presentation style. If you go with pictures and stories instead of bullets and text, you may flip by slides quickly and your average may be 30 seconds per slide. More dense slides, like your slide on career development, may take you 5 minutes or more to discuss. Make sure, too, that you leave time for questions. Questions must factor into your overall time estimates. For a 60 minute talk, for example, you probably want to leave at least 10 minutes for questions.
Motley: Wow, if I actually decide to take your advice, I have some rework to do. I'm afraid to ask, but any other tips?
Maven: One big one is to not use your slides as the primary focal point for the presentation. Your slides should be a visual aid. Don't read from your slides. In addition, break up your presentation so the audience is not staring at your slides the whole time. Include a demo, video, or audio file to break up the presentation. When you show code, for example, don't just paste it on the slide. Show the code in Visual Studio, compile it, and run it.
Motley: I've got a pretty slick demo of a tool I can show. That's actually a good suggestion.
Maven: Of course it is! Here are a few other tips I've picked up along the way:
- Know your target audience. If you are explaining how a feature in your product works, the technical details in a presentation to a bunch of marketing people and product planners will be drastically different than a presentation to a test team or a group of developers. Guess which one delves into more depth in technical details.
- Include an appendix in your slide deck containing content you cut and/or answers to anticipated questions. Hide the slides in PowerPoint so that they do not show by default.
- Practice, practice, practice. The key to a great presentation is preparation and practice. Do a dry run in front of some people that can give you some candid feedback. At the very least, stand in front of a mirror and practice yourself. Make sure you time the presentation. PowerPoint has a nice feature to "Rehearse Slide Timings" as part of the slide show options that will time not only your presentation as a whole, but also how much time you spend on each slide.
- Make your slides available before the talk. Allow the audience to follow along with the talk and print copies if that makes them more comfortable. Printed copies, or copies inserted into Microsoft OneNote, allow for efficient note taking.
- Set up well in advance of the talk start time. Show up at your talk at least a half hour before the scheduled start time. Make sure you are comfortable with the room, the controls in the room (e.g. lights) and that your laptop (if applicable) is set up correctly. Turn off Messenger and Outlook and any other distractions. Make sure demos are loaded and cached.
- Take care of bodily needs ahead of time. Don't forget to go to the bathroom and grab a glass of water. Once the talk starts, it's too late - unless you want to embarrass yourself of course.
- Take a few deep breaths before you start. Deep breaths will help you relax and calm your nerves. Some people say you should picture the audience in their underwear to calm your nerves. That never works for me, though. Nice skivvies, Mot.
- Maintain eye contact. Make sure you give equal attention to everyone in the room. Maintaining eye contact keeps them engaged. When answering a question, address part of the answer directly at the person who asked the question, but float around to other parts of the room for the rest of the answer.
- Avoid "bad habits". You may not even realize what your bad habits are. Record yourself with a video camera and look for "ummms", "you knows" and the like. You will likely be amazed and appalled at what you observe.
Motley: Lots of stuff to remember.
Maven: One more big tip: above all, be passionate about your topic. Passion can often make up for your lack of skills as a PowerPoint designer and/or a speaker. Be genuinely excited about your topic. You will keep the audience much more engaged than a boring, monotone speaker that cannot excite the audience.
Motley: You know me - no problem there. Sometimes I have to hold back. I will throw in some "colorful metaphors".
Maven: Be careful. If that helps your audience identify with you, then great (although better safe than sorry). If you are talking to a religious group, they may be offended. Know your audience.
Note: "colorful metaphors" is a term I remember from Star Trek IV when Captain Kirk was describing the earth culture of blasphemy to Mr. Spock.
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Maven's Pointer: James didn't realize he had a very bad habit when teaching classes at Microsoft. He tended to move around A LOT, and when watching himself on video he could tell how annoying must have been to attendees. He needed both the video and a presenter trainer to point out this habit. Now he is conscious of it and does his best to keep himself anchored to something and move with purpose.
Maven's Resources:
- Beyond Bullet Points, by Cliff Atkinson, Microsoft Press, ISBN: 0735623872, October 2007.
- There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books out there on presentations. One of the best resources, however, is to find a speaker you admire and learn from them. At Microsoft, Steve Ballmer is a very dynamic speaker who is extremely passionate about his topic. Some people love him, some people dislike him. Although he may break many presentation rules, I find him extremely engaging as a speaker and he is someone I like to learn from.