Slideshow tips

A while back, I gave a talk in NUS on environmental community groups. I put the slides on slideshare.net and Otterman gave some feedbacks and tips for better presentation.

1. Prepare your next talk really well.
2. Have a clear message, define sections.
3. Define each section with a question which you answer.
4. Keep transitions consistent per section.
5. Illustrate each section with a story which has a beg-mid-end.
6. Max four components for a one hour slot.
7. Target 45 min at most.
8. Design a story line and then build up slides.
9. Less patchwork (multiple image per slide).
10. Invest more time in preparation.
11. Design breaks, funny slide, question, knowledge base slide etc. E.g. American Idol used stand up comics to break up their intense show at regular intervals.

A guide for what to do when crafting new slides:

1. Decide on a question.
2. Think about the topic (it's usually in the back of my mind).
3. Craft story line.
4. Version 1.
5. Version 2 - better flow, consistent transitions, better photos etc.

Keep some short sequences as modules in a folder, it might be 4-5 well prepared slides which summarise the problem, process, data, solutions/progress. Easy to insert in any talk.

Thanks Otterman! These are most excellent pointers which I thought would be nice to share with others who may be doing slide presentations.