Michelangelo on hard work & how it applies to presentations
The quotation above reminded me of the presentations given by one of my favourite presenters in the world, the Apple CEO Steve Jobs. He is quite clearly a great presenter, and his presentations are invariably excellent, however most people have come to the conclusion that this just comes naturally to him, this is untrue.
By all well-informed accounts Jobs spends days not hours practising for these presentations, going through many run throughs, devising back up plans should anything go wrong, setting up (although hidden from view) multiple monitors set to presenter view showing him his time, next slide, notes etc. Nothing is left to chance, and Steve is certainly not “winging it” or relying solely on his natural ability to present.
I am aware that information like this does ruin people’s illusions of speakers… and for that I am sorry, but the reality is that in order to give the illusion of absurd natural talent you have to work at it… HARD!
In the small few presentations i’ve completed I enjoy the interactive moments when the presentation runs without a plan due to viewer input to the be most productive and enjoyable. Without the script I think I become more vocal.
Nice website
Ralph
I totally agree, I don’t think people should have the whole presentation scripted out from start to finish, thats not how you present with passion and meaning. At the same time you need to know your information and the technology you are using inside out and upside down so that you are prepared to answer any questions, overcome any problems, and comfortable enough to deviate from your script.