I like the 10/20/30 rule myself a lot.
- Maximum of 10 slides (more is boring, boil it down to the basics)
- in 20 minutes (even if you have an hour, something will go wrong) with
- font size 30 (easy to read, and focuses you on the main issues).
For more info, http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html
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Better powerpoint presentations would be a boon for all "victims" of bad presentations.
Any presenter that has ALL of his content in PP points should be shot. Any PP handouts should have extensive presenter notes.
Almost my first thought when I saw this article was Toastmasters.
Toastmasters is a great organization for getting over stage fright.
Most of their program is based on 7 minute +/- 30 second speeches. I could see this technique being perfect for practicing speeches. Set up your speech points, project it, step back and use it as a "prompter" while you practice. No paper notes to fiddle with or drop.
Any presenter that has ALL of his content in PP points should be shot. Any PP handouts should have extensive presenter notes.
Almost my first thought when I saw this article was Toastmasters.
Toastmasters is a great organization for getting over stage fright.
Most of their program is based on 7 minute +/- 30 second speeches. I could see this technique being perfect for practicing speeches. Set up your speech points, project it, step back and use it as a "prompter" while you practice. No paper notes to fiddle with or drop.
That might work for presenting simple concepts, but it will not if your slides require a lot of explanation. I do a lot of presentations, and I find that one minute per slide is about the average for business and technical presentations. No way would I have automatic transitions, and I always script the speaker's notes, right down to the clicks for animation.
...script my presentations tightly, right down to the anims. I can still use help to reduce drag! Some variation on 20x20 or the aforementioned 10/20/30 may help even my better presentations.
--Allen
--Allen
For the past couple of years it's been more than 4000 hours/year for me. It helps not to have any life outside of work - this is not conducive to a marriage and family.
3000+ hours/yr = 58 hr work weeks with no holidays or vacations
4000+ hours/yr = 77 hr work weeks with no holidays or vacations
Recommend you slow down and take an opportunity to smell the roses...
4000+ hours/yr = 77 hr work weeks with no holidays or vacations
Recommend you slow down and take an opportunity to smell the roses...
Even the military requires a) sleep and b)eating and c)vacation.
You may have been on call for a goodly part of that time but you certainly weren't working.
You may have been on call for a goodly part of that time but you certainly weren't working.
Come on - i too had 22 years in the military and had some pretty tough assignment (special operations) but NEVER worked those kind of hours
4000 hours is doable.
Just shy of 11 hours a day (10.95890 to be almost exact) for all 365 days of the year. No holidays, weekends, days off, just 11 hours a day. (Sounds like a small business owner to me.)
16 hours a day, 5 days a week (250 work days), 2 weeks of vacation, all weekends off, but no holidays. Another way of getting 4000 hours in.
I only ask one thing.-> WHY?
Just shy of 11 hours a day (10.95890 to be almost exact) for all 365 days of the year. No holidays, weekends, days off, just 11 hours a day. (Sounds like a small business owner to me.)
16 hours a day, 5 days a week (250 work days), 2 weeks of vacation, all weekends off, but no holidays. Another way of getting 4000 hours in.
I only ask one thing.-> WHY?
Long winded presentations like ones that use "made up" and impossible statistics, such as: "The average business professional wastes approximately 2,300 hours a year sitting through interminable PowerPoint presentations. Okay, yeah, I made that up. But it sounds about right, doesn?t it?"
Do you even have a clue how many hours are in a normal business work year?
The average, based on an 8 hour day and 5 day week is 2087 hours (most years have 261 weekdays, a few years have 260, rarely a year has 262 weekdays)
From that 2087, subtract any holidays, vacation time, and other absences, and the average full time worker in the US is actually at work less than 2000 hours annually.
Do you even have a clue how many hours are in a normal business work year?
The average, based on an 8 hour day and 5 day week is 2087 hours (most years have 261 weekdays, a few years have 260, rarely a year has 262 weekdays)
From that 2087, subtract any holidays, vacation time, and other absences, and the average full time worker in the US is actually at work less than 2000 hours annually.
I don't know about you all, but I cannot stand a presentation in which the presenter has everything they are saying on the slide.
If you cannot use the presentation to highlight the key elements, then just e-mail me the resentation and I'll read it for myself.
And save the company travel expenses!
If you cannot use the presentation to highlight the key elements, then just e-mail me the resentation and I'll read it for myself.
And save the company travel expenses!
I can't fathom why the "pulled-out-of-thin-air" statistic in the article seems to be the major talking point for this many people. Was it an arbitrary number yes but it says as much in the article so build a bridge and get over it. The purpose of the article was to introduce a format for PowerPoint presentations that would help people give better presentations. If we have to disagree with something it should probably be associated with one of the actual points in the article.
Most readers would recognize Jody Gilbert's "2,300 hours" a well-placed hyperbole.
An effective variation to this approach is to develop and practice a script that is paced to the duration you want for each slide (e.g., 20 seconds), but rather than automating the transitions, insert "cue marks" into the script and have sonmeone other than the speaker advance the slides when each cue occurs. That allows the speaker to be a little short or long on a slide withoout having to adjust the pace or interupt the pace with slide mechanics. The speaker can also deliver the verbal message without ever glancing at or referring to the screen. The mechanics of advancing slides or adjusting the pace of verbal delivery to get back in sync with automatically advanced slides become a distraction which this approach avoids.
You may cringe at "PowerPoint" in a work environment, but imagine those of us who had to learn from professors who used it to put students to sleep. Worse yet, try learning Spanish using PowerPoint only.
That's what it was like for some of us in certain colleges who were going for a programming degree. I whole-heartedly agree that PowerPoint is relied on too heavily-- slides shouldn't exist as the speaker's cue cards, and the presentation surely shouldn't last more than 8-10 minutes. After that, you may as well have written an essay to hand out, summarize it in your presentation, and ask that the details be read later.
That's what it was like for some of us in certain colleges who were going for a programming degree. I whole-heartedly agree that PowerPoint is relied on too heavily-- slides shouldn't exist as the speaker's cue cards, and the presentation surely shouldn't last more than 8-10 minutes. After that, you may as well have written an essay to hand out, summarize it in your presentation, and ask that the details be read later.
great idea.
Not to be a stickler for detail but with a 40 hour week and 50 weeks a year - there are only 2000 hrs of time in one man year.
Not to be a stickler for detail but with a 40 hour week and 50 weeks a year - there are only 2000 hrs of time in one man year.
I have been able to "condition" my colleagues to shorten the presentations. They used to have these 50 slide PP decks. Now the whole gist of it covered in less than 10 slides and the audience seem to understand better. KISS is a wonderful theory.
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