Rules to Better Presentations - 20 Rules

Giving a live presentation in front of an audience can be daunting, whether online or in person. It can also be a thrilling and rewarding experience when you do it well. In order to achieve a great result, presenters should prepare.

Study about presenting

A good starting point is to watch "7 Deadly Presentation Sins" presentation. In this session Samantha and Andrew Coates demonstrate seven sins that must not be committed in a presentation, why and how a presentation can suffer from committing them, and how to avoid accidentally committing them.

Video: 7 Deadly Presentation Sins with Andrew & Samantha Coates (1 hr 16 min)

Read these articles:

• 5 Tips To Making an Awesome PowerPoint Presentation.
• Seven Tips for Effective Body Language on Stage

You should also consider taking the course Speaking Confidently and Effectively.

Make time for adequate preparation

Structure & learn your content well and then rehearse the delivery for a given audience and context until you are getting it right more often than you are getting it wrong. Don’t wait until the last minute! If you are well prepared you can focus on your delivery instead of worrying about knowing your content or running a demo.

Be understood

Make the effort to be understood, speak clearly, and check for understanding as you go along, even if you can't hear the audience.

For more information read about identifying your audience knowledge level

Build resilience in high-pressure situations

Gain repeated exposure to high-pressure situations - staying cool and dealing with problems as they arise without derailing yourself or the audience.

Know mistakes happen and that's OK

Even the most practiced presenters will slip up, but what separates professionals from amateurs is how you deal with it.

Time seems to slow down under pressure situations, but only for you! It doesn’t matter if you take a few moments to figure out the problem, your audience won’t be phased at all, just give them respect and ask them for patience and it will be granted automatically.

Aim for a strong delivery

Presentation delivery is about effectively engaging your audience, maintaining their attention, and guiding them through key points. A polished delivery can make even simple content memorable, leaving a lasting impression on listeners.

A good way to achieve a strong delivery is to avoid using filler and non-words. Watch this video to get rid of your "umms" and "ahhs":

So you have a shiny PowerPoint deck with heaps of great content, and you know what you want to say! Are you ready to present? No, not yet.

You need to practice it so that you know your stuff backwards as well as forwards.

These 5 steps can improve the delivery of a speech immensely (inspired by Vinh Giang):

1. Record the "Test Please"

2. Do an audio audit – play the recording, only listen to the audio (don’t look at the video)

   • Are you speaking too fast/too slow?
   • Are you pausing appropriately?
   • Voice stressing/pausing on important points?
   • Are you too loud/too soft?

3. Do a visual audit – play the recording, this time looking at the video only (turn down the volume to zero, so that you can’t hear the audio)

   • How is your body language?
   • Moving your hands less/more? (more hand movement means more distraction) Eye contact?
   • Posture?
   • Are you smiling or do you look stunned?

4. Use a transcript generator and get your speech printed on paper. (Include all the words)

   • Cut off the unwanted words that do not add meaning
   • Identify how many times you use "umms", "you know", and repetitive words that we all have a habit of using

5. Practice by cutting out unnecessary repetition and filler words

PowerPoint's "Rehearse with Coach"

You can use PowerPoint's built-in AI "Rehearse with Coach" to get help with some of the above. It gives you instant feedback on how fast you are talking and what language you are using, so you can avoid unwanted words. In the video below Mike Tholfsen shows you how to use the feature and what feedback you get.

Video: How to use Presenter Coach in PowerPoint for the web (2 min)

To get started you'll need a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. Click the Slide Show tab | Rehearse with Coach | Start Rehearsing.

You can find more information on Microsoft's support page, Rehearse your slide show with Speaker Coach.

When you set a break at a training course, you should make sure you first finish what you are doing. Don’t cut people off because of a clock.

Tell them 20 min break (or 1 hour for lunch) and:

• Let them break
• Write in a clear place the end time for the break and ask people to be back on time
  

  

• Set an alarm on your phone or PC

• If anyone comes back late, explain the value of integrity . Honoring your word in small things makes it easier to honor it for larger things, such as doing your best in a Sprint, and makes people believe in you more

Presentations at User Groups and other events are great for connecting with the developer community. After giving a presentation, you should always follow up with a few attendees to get feedback, find out what projects they’re working on, and potentially how you can help.

Pick a few attendees at random to follow up with, give them a call and ask if you can buy them a coffee. You should ask them:

• What they thought of the session and whether they have any feedback
• Whether there are any related topics they’d like to learn more about
• What projects they are working on at the moment
• Whether there are any issues they’re having with those projects

Read how this rule is also useful for account managers on Do you follow up course attendees for consulting work?

If the presenter has a small audience (say under 20), then it is best to know the attendee names (or at least quite a few of them) so you are able to communicate better with them throughout the day.

The problem is you will forget their names after they introduce themselves.

The fix is to have a piece of paper, (already divided up) so you can write down the names on it in the order that people are sitting.

This ends up being a great reference you can use to address questions directly to participants using their name. This ensures that attendees keep focused as they may directly have questions referencing them.

To ensure optimal focus and engagement from attendees, it is crucial to provide them with a clear understanding of the day's proceedings. By outlining the agenda and logistics, participants can feel at ease, knowing what to expect and how the day will unfold. This comprehensive overview creates a sense of comfort, allowing individuals to fully immerse themselves in the event without distractions or uncertainties.

Things to mention:

• What time are the breaks? E.g.

  • Session 1 --> 09:00am - 11:00am
  • Break --> 11:00am – 11:20am
  • Session 2 --> 11:20am – 12:30am
  • Lunch --> 12:30am – 01:30pm
  • Session 3 --> 01:30pm – 03:20pm
  • Break --> 03:20pm – 03:40pm
  • Session 4 --> 03:40pm – 05:00pm
• Where is the tea/coffee?
• Where are the toilets?

Taken from the video "Chris Voss: "Never Split the Difference" | Talks at Google" at 23:50.

When presenting the screen of your Windows PC to an audience it is important to alter a few things for the best possible experience for the audience. The most import thing is to increase your font to make the content more visible.

Here are some of the applications where it is especially important:

1. Visual Studio
2. Text Editor
3. Command Prompt

Visual Studio

1. Make your font bigger. This is probably rule number one. There's nothing worse than not being able to see the excellent code you're trying to demo.

   • Increase the font of the Text Editor from 10 to 14 or more.
   • Increate the font of your Environment from 9 to 12 or more.
2. Remove any distracting panes or other windows. These usually just get in the way. If you really need them, make sure they're set to pin mode, so they hide when not in use.
3. Most importantly, you can have all these things done for you at the click of a button by using the presentation mode extension by Mads.

Video: Use Presentation Mode in Visual Studio (5 min)

Text Editor

Change font size in your text editor. Zoom in from 100% to 200%.

Command Prompt

And don't forget to change your command prompt as well. Increase the font size from 12 to 16 or more.

Tip: You can create a custom profile for Command Prompt in Command Prompt | Settings | Add a new profile.

Most developers like to set up their screen efficiently – often that means small fonts, visible bookmark bars and a huge amount of browser tabs and taskbar items. While this is great for efficiency, it is not very good for recordings or presentations, and the clutter should be removed.

Before recording your screen reduce visual noise by:

1. ✅Removing unnecessary tabs - Open the tab in its own window
2. ✅Avoiding small fonts - Zoom in to 125% by holding Ctrl and scrolling up on the mouse wheel

3. ✅Hiding the bookmark bar

   • Windows shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + b
   • Mac shortcut: Cmd + Shift + b

The following video explains the importance of:

• Hand gestures
• An upbeat voice (especially at the beginning of your talk, or during an elevator pitch)

Engaging with your audience when presenting can be a difficult skill and using eye contact is the key to gaining their attention. When presenting PowerPoint slides you may be tempted to look back at the screen behind you, but if you do that you will lose contact with the audience and it will lower their engagement.

To avoid problems, first make sure that your presentation PC is setup correctly before the presentation so that you can trust that the display behind you is working once you start speaking.

When making eye contact it is also important to scan across the audience to people in each part of the room. A friendly face can be easier to make eye contact with, so part of your skill needs to be to make contact and engage those that are not already warmed up to your presentation.

Another important part of the skill of making eye contact to create eye contact with individuals, and not just “look out” at the audience as a group. Keeping moving eye contact from individual to individual as you cover the points in your presentation will keep them interested and engaged.

Improper spelling, grammar, and punctuation gives a bad impression of your company and can result in your message not being conveyed correctly.

Emails

Emails with no full stops or commas are difficult to read and can sometimes even change the meaning of the text. And, if your program has a spelling checking option, why not use it?

To ensure this doesn't happen, use Microsoft Outlook Spelling & Grammar Checker on the 'Editor Options' window.

Web Content

When on a web page, install Grammarly Addon for Chrome so you can automatically check web content. For example, while editing in a CMS.

Any other text can be checked manually. Go to Grammarly, create a New Document and Paste your content to check your text.

Documents

On Word, press F7 (or on the ribbon go to Review > Spelling & Grammar ) to check your .docx text.

Presentations

On PowerPoint, press F7 (or on the ribbon go to Review | Spelling & Grammar ) to check your .pptx text.

You should also keep "Check grammar with spelling" checked in your PowerPoint Options | Proofing:

Audience shots are great except when you don’t have a full house. In this case you should move people to be next to each other.

Hashtags are commonly use to group similarly tagged messages and topics on social media networks. It also allows users to search messages and topics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Tell your audience what the hashtag of your topic is. Do this at the beginning and at the end of your presentation, this will give you exposure on social media.

It is a common problem that people will tend to use the default screen resolution when displaying something on a projector for a room full of people to read. This is difficult for people to see because of the distances involved.

It is always better to zoom in by holding down the CTRL button and scrolling up on the mouse.

There are several ways you can set up your boardroom AV for effective and efficient conferencing.

Apple TV

A popular way to connect devices wirelessly to the boardroom TV is to use an Apple TV.

• It allows you to connect any Apple device including iOS.
• Easy to use for Apple users
• Can be easily added to an AV automation system, e.g. Control4, Savant, etc. which allows you to display on any other display connected to the same AV system
• Inexpensive way of adding wireless connectivity to an existing system

• Only works with Apple devices
• Not designed for corporate networking (can’t have both guest access and secured network at the same time)
• Guest need to be on a corporate network to connect

Smart TV’s with built-in AirPlay, Google and HoMirrorcast

A newer way to connect wirelessly is to use Smart TV’s built-in features.

• Allows you to wirelessly connect any Apple device including laptop and IOS
• Can connect Windows laptops through Mirrorcast
• Can also connect Android devices through Google Home

• Not all Windows laptops have Mirrorcast capability
• Not designed for corporate networking (can’t have both guest access and secured network at the same time)
• Guest need to be on a corporate network to connect
• Display cannot be shared across multiple screens in an automated AV setup, e.g through Control4

Extron

For a more robust AV solution, you can install an Extron system. We recommend the ShareLink Pro.

• Allows you to wirelessly connect any device
• Also has an HDMI through connection so you can connect both wired and wirelessly
• IT-friendly with monitoring tools and dual networking options, allowing for guests to connect without hassle
• Can integrate as part of an AV automation system, e.g. Control4 or even Extron’s own
• Extron support and reliability is highly rated

• You need to install an app, users can’t just connect and display something wirelessly without it
• Expensive

Barco Clickshare

A more advanced wireless solution, Barco Clickshare allows you to use any laptop device without installing software by connecting a small USB dongle. The Clickshare 'brain' is connected to your TV or AV hub via HDMI.

• Allows you to wirelessly connect any smartphone via an app
• Both windows and apple laptops can connect via the included USB dongle
• Can have multiple users connected at once, and switch between them by pressing the present button on the dongle
• IT-friendly with lots of controls and security features

• Compared to a wired HDMI signal, the video will not play super smoothly all the time (bad if you’re playing back videos for review)
• Can easily lose the dongles if staff and guests are not careful
• Most expensive option (can be around 8K AUD for the 4k version)

The best way to emphasize your point is to show the pain first, and then the solution. Use "Bad example" and "Good example" with crosses and ticks, respectively, in captions.

This structure can be used with images, videos, pieces of code, or text in boxes. Just make sure to include the appropriate caption for each element.

Giving the bad example first will raise users' expectation...

Then showing the solution by giving a good example as the result, will make them feel released.

Usually, further information on how to achive the good example is added after the examples. E.g. Add a heading "More information" with extra details.

When you’re sending emails, or pinging someone in Teams, your URLs should be as clean as possible. Having no extra noise ensures that they are easy to read, and it is more aesthetically pleasing. It is also a good idea to break a line before an URL, improving its readability.

Presentations and videos

For presentations, it's especially important to keep URLs cleaner. Remember to always remove https://www. from links in presentations. It keeps the slides cleaner and more readable.

Changing the appearance of your browser's new tabs can greatly enhance your browsing experience and add a touch of personalization. By incorporating branding elements, you can make your browsing sessions more enjoyable and reflective of your unique style.

How to add a branded image to your new tab experience

Setting a different per Edge or Chrome profile background image is a great way to have some branding and quickly identify which profile you are using when opening the browser or a new tab.

1. Open your Edge or Chrome browser
2. If you are not in the new tab experience click the + button to open a new tab

3. Click on settings | Edit Background

   

4. Click on Upload Image, select the image you want to use and click Open
5. Click Apply

6. Uncheck Change new background daily

   

7. Close the dialog box, note you might have to scroll back up to see the close button

Now every time you open a new tab or the browser you will see your custom background image and immediately know which tab you are in without having to glance over to the small profile image.

In the digital age, the challenge lies in fostering engaging and meaningful online discussions after presentations. As presentations increasingly move to virtual platforms, it becomes crucial to create an interactive environment that encourages active participation and knowledge exchange.

Getting attendees at a course or presentation to be online involved has many benefits:

• They can share ideas with the presenter and each other
• They can provide feedback for improvement of the material
• They can share key points that they learn

Using hashtags is an effective way to promote and encourage discussion around presentations in the online realm. By incorporating relevant and unique hashtags into presentation materials and social media posts, participants can easily identify and join the conversation. Hashtags create a sense of community, allowing individuals to connect, share insights, and engage in discussions beyond the boundaries of the presentation itself.

They serve as a powerful tool to aggregate conversations, making it simpler for participants to find and contribute to ongoing discussions related to the presentation topic. Embracing hashtags as a promotional strategy can enhance the reach, visibility, and overall engagement of presentation discussions in the online space.