m-cause

If you have been following my personal blog, you know that I live in Geneva, Switzerland.  As some of you science fiction & physics fans out there may know, Geneva is home to CERN.  CERN is pretty famous for producing some world changing things…(e.g. the WWW was developed at CERN by Tim Berners Lee).  CERN is also home to a gigantic underground supercollider that will be turned on in June (here is the link).  Some theorists believe this thing could create mini black holes! 

All this talk about black holes in my backyard got me thinking about avoiding black holes in presentations.  I recently sat in on some good tips in this area during a training:  I also saw a great post on presentations over on Tim’s blog.  To add to Tim’s comprehensive tip list, I have provided my personal top 3 presentation tips:  Here they are…

1.  Key message:  Every presentation has one, but some presenters fail to find it…or deliver it…make sure you presentations start and end with this (at a min.).  How many times have I walked out of presentation thinking…what was this guy (or gal) trying to tell me exactly?

2.  Engagement + energy/movement:  I love watching a presenter with a lot of energy and passion for a topic.  Someone with energy and real passion could explain the inner workings of the large hadron supercollider and actually get me to listen.   

3.  Personal touch/personal stories that help me remember:  In a great book about getting ideas to stick (called Made to Stick) Chip and Dan Heath talk about the power of stories to help people remember.  If you can link a personal story to your key message, I will likely remember your presentation.