Presentations

            If I am to give a presentation, I consider two things.  First, I ask myself, “What is the purpose of my presentation?”  Another question I ask is, “What does the audience expect?”  I believe this will dictate the freedom and creativity I have when creating the presentation.  The majority of my experiences when it comes to presentations have been isolated to two specific environments, my career in the Army and my time as a university student.  In these two environments, the purpose and the expectation of my presentations were cut and dry – in most cases, I was given specific guidance as to the outlay of the presentation and what information is displayed.  In the Army, MS PowerPoint has become the tool of choice for visually communicating a brief.  For instance, PPT is the tool used to create a ‘storyboard’.  A storyboard reports the loss of life, limb, or eyesight of a soldier (on or off duty); an incident/accident (on duty/off duty and/or involving Army equipment); or other (DUIs, domestic violence, other criminal activity) – reporting the ‘5 W’s’ of the event and there was a very specific template.  In the Army, I was creating a storyboard many times a week!  Senior commanders did not want to hear the news unless you were armed with a storyboard.  Likewise, I have given presentations in ERAU courses in which I was told the outlay of my visual presentation (i.e. text, font, colors, etc.) and how to conduct the verbal presentation (i.e. no less than 8 minutes or longer than 10 minutes).  Students were reminded that no extra points were given for ‘bells and whistles’ on the presentation.  In fact, it may hurt the one’s grade if he or she did not follow guidance.  As a result of these experiences, I have been conditioned to create straightforward (and usually uninspiring) presentations.  However, I do recognize that there will be a time when I may give a presentation in which I must articulate and illustrate a vision, inspire or motivate people, or persuade others of my claim/argument.  In these situations, I must consider these good presentation design elements.  First, the visual presentation is only a supporting tool to my speech.  Second, make the presentation memorable – provide facts, images, and graphs that are easy to understand and remember.  Third, only have the minimum and relevant information needed to get the point across.  Lastly, be a storyteller.  The presentation should be coherent and logically flow from start to finish.