TLDR: A book on presentation. Not on slides, but on how to give a presentation in person, and how to engage the audience to the topic
Chapter 2: Preparation
- Identify your audience before your talk
- The why: What’s my point and why does it matter
- many presenter focus on what, some focus on how, but seldom on why
- why = big picture
- rehearse, tell a story
- story = identify a problem, identify the causes, how and why you solved the problem
- Aristotle on good public speaking
- Appeals to reason
- Appeals to emotions
- Appeals based on the character and personality of the speaker
- Deep or wide? One-hour lecture is too short to go both direction
- Preparation process
- Quiet time and place
- Remove distractions
- Go analog: Grab a book, sticky notes, index cards
- Identify core point
- topic is a noun phase, core point is a full sentence to take home
- Brainstorm
- Consolidate, edit, and group your ideas into three sections
- Sketch your visuals
- Build visuals on software
Chapter 3: Connect with Punch, Presence, and Projection
- Opening punch to hook the audiences
- Personal, Unexpected, Novel, Challenging, Humorous
- Never start with an apology
- Do not show the structure, but hint or articulate
- Presence = Focus on here and now
- do not concern for failure or success
- honest conversation creates stronger connections with the audience
- remove worries about the outcomes, you are able to be your natural self and audiences will know the difference
- you are not reading a speech
- Projection = Lasting connection (impression about you)
- the way you look, move, and sound
- eye contact
Chapter 4: Engage with Passion, Proximity, and Play
- Show passion: put your heart and soul into it
- show you are interested rather than to make it interesting
- our brains are activated by the movements and feelings of others
- Presenter is an artist on stage, performance with great content, powerful visuals, and emotional touch to make a lasting connection with the audience
- Story of the 1984 commercial of Apple
- exhibits solid conflicts and contrasts
- emotions: use stories and examples
- sell experience, not the features of the thing itself
- Interact using proximity
- stay closer to the audiences
- come out from the barriers, use a remote
- Sir Ken Robinson on public speaking
- speaking to individuals not an abstract group
- relax
- be conversational and make connection
- know your material
- prepare but not rehearse (so don’t lose the natural connection with the audiences)
- leave room for improvisation
- humor is for engagement: if they are laughing then they are listening
- Spirit of play improves learning and stimulates creative thinking
- humor leans to joyfulness, leads to productivity
- play: exploration and discovery
Chapter 5: Sustain with Pace and Participation
- Attention span: 18 minutes, or shorter
- the 10-minute rule, then do something to change things up to keep people engaged
- give the brain a break every 10 minutes
- Slow down the rate of speaking
- natural to speak too fast, as a result of increased adrenaline
- Make use of variation in rate, volume, pitch
- read the situation and make adjustments on the spot
- Never go overtime (80% full)
- Participation
- “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn” (Benjamin Franklin)
- Have your audience do something, give them an experience
- e.g., ask questions
- Steve Jobs presentations
- Walks on stage, confident but humble: Establish connection with audiences
- No agenda slide, but give people an idea where you’re going (“I’ve got four things I’d like to talk about”)
- SJ often structures his talks around 3-4 parts with one theme
- Show your enthusiasm: Believe what he says, sincere, authentic
- Be positive, upbeat, humorous
- Not about numbers, but what the numbers mean
- break down numbers, compares it
- Make it visual
- Introduce something unexpected
- Include only what is necessary
- Vary the pace and change techniques: Mixes in video clips, images, stories, data, etc.
- Save the best for last
- Go the appropriate length
Chapter 6: End with a Powerful Finish
- Sticky ending: Simple, concrete, unexpected, credible
- Take it back to the beginning
- Summarize the main points
- Tell a story
- Make them laugh
- End on a positive note that give people hope and encouragement to keep learning and investigating on their own
Chapter 7: Continuous Improvement Through Persistence
- Three C’s of presenting with impact
- Contribution
- Connection
- Change
Bibliographic data
@book{
title = "The Naked Presenter: Delivering Powerful Presentations With or Without Slides",
author = "Garr Reynolds",
year = "2011",
publisher = "New Riders",
address = "Berkeley CA",
isbn = "978-0-321-70445-0",
}