A few more Presentation How To's

I was thrown into delivering an OSCON Tuesday night keynote at the last moment. I wasn't exactly honored by being the dead last person they could think of who could step in. ; ) No, the word was more like terrified. Not only was I taking up the slot traditionally filled by geek god Paul Graham, I also was the warm-up act for the guy who--and I don't say this lightly--gives the best presentations I have ever seen. The best.

I first saw Damian Conway at least year's OSCON, delivering his Fun with Dead Languages talk show. There is no way to describe it, but programmers... imagine if you will a Latin compiler...

This year I thought, "he can't possibly top that." But of course he did, with his The Da Vinci Codebase. Again, I can't possibly explain it, but the idea that you could hold the attention of a thousand geeks simply by sitting on a chair and telling a story... that tells you something about his skills.

But after I left the conference (early), turns out Damian did another talk (briefly described here) that was a parody of tech marketing presentations, and people were saying that was the Best. Presentation. Ever.

So what's his secret?

I'll summarize a few points here, but for a deeper look, check out these blog notes someone took at Damian's Presentation Akido talk (teaching geeks to give presentations), which I haven't seen but hope to one day.

Damian is brilliant. One of those scary smart guys. So there's that.

And he's entertaining, has a wonderful voice, and that English (oops) Aussie accent.

So yes, he's already fabulous going in. But following his suggestions could still turn a "regular" person into an excellent presenter. What Damian does in a keynote (keep in mind this is not the same thing you'd do in a VC pitch, for example):

* Take a ridiculously long time to prepare. I think he suggests a minimum of 20 hours per hour of presentation, to work on your slides and talk. The rumour is, though, that he spends closer to 100 hours per hour of talk. And it shows.

* Use a lot of slides. Change them rapidly.

* The slides go with the words--they aren't just there as backdrops.

* The slides are NOT the words. They represent the idea you're talking about, either directly or emotionally.

* Vary the pacing. Fast fast fast fast then... slow... then fast fast fast... (but don't get bogged down)

* Use humor. Somehow. [Note from me: I'm not funny, not at all. So I have to do this with slides. Damian is funny, and his slides are hilarious]

* Be entertaining... which includes, but is not only, humor. It's virtually impossible to attend a Damian talk and check your email or chat on the backchannel at the same time. He's that captivating.

* Use "insider" references and jokes that are specific and appropriate (and appreciated) by this audience. He says things (and shows things) that are fun or exciting to this specific audience, but that nobody else would never get.

* Don't make it all about YOU.

* Use huge, readable fonts (and very very few words)

* Make visually attractive slides. If you don't have the graphics chops yourself, GET HELP. (Worry about things like contrast, color, balance, etc.)

* Follow all the standard what-lame-things-not-to-do-in-Powerpoint tips on Presentation Zen.

* Don't read from your notes.

* Be energetic. Be enthusiastic. Dare I say... be passionate.
You don't have to behave as someone you're not, but if you CARE about the topic and the audience (and if you don't, why are you there?), make sure that it shows. Energy and enthusiasm is infectious.

* Care.
Care about the audience. Care about their time. Care about their attention. Care about what they probably paid in time and money to be there. Care because... that's the kind of person you are ; )
[I'm reaching here, but Damian Conway IS a Really Nice Guy.]

* Don't take yourself too seriously.

* Surprise us!

* Shake things up. Keep us interested, and for that -- you need to keep some novelty in your pacing, slides, voice, everything.

There are so many more things I could say here, but I'm hoping that someone else who has seen Damian in action will chime in. And if you ever get the chance to see him... even if you do NOT understand the topic, it's worth it to see the guy who gives the best presentations I've ever seen.

A couple more presentation notes:

If you haven't seen Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, it's worth it just for watching what one guy with a laptop and some slides can do. And this is that Al Gore--the guy who previously couldn't demonstrate passion if his life depended on it (or the election). But this is a very different Al Gore, delivering a slide show he's been giving for 30 years, and cares so deeply about.

Finally, if you have NOT yet seen Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk, please stop whatever you're doing and watch it now. It's titled "Out of our minds: learning to be creative", and it's not just one of the better presentations I've ever seen, I can virtually guarantee that any regular readers here will REALLY appreciate it. You'll probably like the other TED talks as well, but this is my favorite.

[Thanks to the wonderful designer Lou Barr of Frogbox design for pointing me to it. Rumor has it that one of the very next set of Head First books to come out will be from Lou. But that's all I'm saying.]

(Photo of me at the top is by James Duncan Davidson, the official O'Reilly photographer/geek.)