I’ve been talking in recent posts about the power dynamic visuals can have in presentations. We’ve all been to presentations where within the frist three minutes we can tell it’s going to be a tedious, boring waste of time. Usually the presenter has a PowerPoint slideshow from which they read every heading and bullet point. No one likes to attend these presentations and I’m pretty sure no one likes to give these presentations. But how can we avoid doing this and still deliver our content to our audience?

Enter the focus of this blog post: presentation tips and techniques. A couple posts ago I mentioned the website Presentation Zen. I went so far as to say that this website was a “goldmine” of information. (I definitely still think so) I’d like to highlight a couple things from this website that I see as very useful, if not crucial for creating top notch presentations.

I’m a “the proof is in the pudding” type of guy. If your like me you want to see if an someone can actually put their money where their mouth is. If you’d like to see the Presentation Zenn author Garr Reynolds practicing what he preaches watch this:

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As you can see he is very good at creating and giving presentations.

If you are looking to pump up your presentations I suggest you check out the following two sections of the Presentation Zen website. First I suggest checking out the page titled “Top Ten Slide Tips“. I’ll give you the top five of his top ten slide tips:

1. Keep It Simple
2. Limit Bullet Points and Text
3. Limit Transitions and Builds (animations)
4. Use High Quality Graphics
5. Have a Visual Theme but avoid using PowerPoint Templates

After you have created visually compelling slides you now must present these slides to your audience. Now you should check out the page entitled, “Top Ten Delivery Tips“. Again I will give you the top five of his top ten delivery tips:

1. Show Your Passion
2. Start Strong
3. Keep It Short
4. Move Away From the Podium
5. Use a Remote Control Device

In the same vein, here is a short (6:58) and sweet video by Matt Helmke entitled “Presentation Zen: An Overview“. Helmke gives an excellent summary of Garr Reynolds’ “Presentation Zen” book. Definitely worth a watch!

What I like most about the tips and tricks that Garr Reynolds puts forth is that the content is fairly straightforward. With a little extra effort and planning in the areas he outlines most anyone should be able to elevate the effectiveness of their presentations.

One last presentation style I’d like to highlight is PechaKucha. PechaKucah is a presentation format wherein the presenter has 20 slides that are shown for 20 seconds each. If this format intrigues you click over to this PechaKucha website for answered to the most commonly asked questions about PechaKucha. I for one think it’s a pretty cool concept. It forces the presenter to be focused and direct which is good for the audience! I was able to see a PechaKucha style presentation at the Learning 2.011 conference in Shanghai. It was an effective presentation style.

Hopefully you’ll be able to find something useful at one of these website that will help to enrich your current or future presentations!