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Presenting for geeks: presenting without slides

 
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Does the book cover how to present without using slides?
Slides can always be used as a safety net, something you can point at when you are uncertain.
What about presenting without supporting material?
 
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Well, the book doesn't cover presenting without slides - assuming that you're thinking of the usual slide full of bullet points.

The idea it's promoting is to use more visual slides, that highlight the main point and possibly use an image (photo, visualisation, whatever's appropriate in the context) to support what the speaker is talking about.

So in that sense, these sorts of slides can't really be used as a "safety net" either. They're an outline of your talk and a backdrop, but the actual content is the spoken word.

But whether you go with visual slides or no slides at all - you'll have to really think through what your talk is about and what your main message is. If you do that, and rehearse a few times, you'll find that you can easily present without having to look at your notes. You won't say the exact same thing every time, of course, but the content will be the same.

Does that help?

"Presenting for Geeks" covers the above for the use with slides as described. If you really intend to present without any slides, you may want to look for other books. "The Naked Presenter" by Garr Reynolds would be a start.
 
Jan Cumps
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Dirk Haun wrote:...
Does that help?...


Sure does.

On Amazon, your book is cataloged under Computer and Technology. Is that the audience you're aiming for, or is the content independent of the branch?
 
Dirk Haun
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The majority of the content is not specific to techies or geeks but teaches a "better" approach to preparing and giving a presentation that is applicable to other fields as well. As the title suggests, it was written with the technology/computer audience in mind, so there's the occasional geek reference and a few topics are specific to that audience, e.g. tips on how to present code.
 
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Dirk Haun wrote:If you really intend to present without any slides, you may want to look for other books. "The Naked Presenter" by Garr Reynolds would be a start.



Dirk,
I don't know if you're familiar with the book "Back of the Napkin" by Dan Roam, but it's has another take on presenting without slides. The main idea is that sketching simple pictures during a presentation (or problem solving meeting) can help people clarify their understanding of problems and see possible solutions better.

Whether on a napkin or whiteboard, most geeks I know are pretty comfortable sketching system architectures, screen shots, flowcharts, etc. to help someone else understand problems or potential solutions. This book presents ways to organize your thinking and understand what kind of drawings tend to work best in different situations.

Burk
 
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Burk Hufnagel wrote:Whether on a napkin or whiteboard, most geeks I know are pretty comfortable sketching system architectures, screen shots, flowcharts, etc. to help someone else understand problems or potential solutions.


Yes, and this is way better than presenting it on a slide since you can show how things develop, which helps with the understanding. Don't fret that it may look "messy" or not as pretty as a picture on a slide.


Burk Hufnagel wrote:I don't know if you're familiar with the book "Back of the Napkin" by Dan Roam, but it's has another take on presenting without slides.


I read that book, but it was quite some time ago and I wasn't too impressed. Thanks, I guess I should take another look.
 
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Dirk Haun wrote:Yes, and this is way better than presenting it on a slide since you can show how things develop, which helps with the understanding. Don't fret that it may look "messy" or not as pretty as a picture on a slide.



You can also build the picture as you talk about it to make complicated or complex diagrams more understandable. This is also a great way to do a presentation for just one or two people, when a slide deck would be too formal.

Burk
 
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