May 26, 2009

Giving the same presentation again and again

Last week was interesting. I was on a small recruitment spree. We are offering summer projects to MBA 1st year students. Hence I went to 4 colleges and gave a 30 minute talk everyday from Monday to Thursday.

I had some 15 slides divided into four areas:


Introducing the organization

Why a summer project?

Summer project details

What's in it for you?


The first day went well. It was the first presentation. Full of enthusiasm and energy. But before Day 2 I wondered, am I going to present the same thing? This question came back to me before the third and fourth presentation as well.
How do you keep your enthusiasm and interest level constant when you are presenting the same thing again and again?

I had a recipe ready.

I used to change/add one slide everyday.


Out of the four parts in my presentation, the most interactive were 'Why a summer project?' and 'What's in it for you?'. To engage the students, I used to ask a lot of questions. Make them think. Also making them write down a few things. Play some games.

On the one hand I changed/added some interesting content everyday and on the other I altered my questions that I used to ask to make the presentation interactive. I was asking 50% of the standard questions and 50% new questions everyday. For example, when I talk of brand awareness I ask them to name some brands for categories like Soaps, Detergents, etc. Everyday I was asking them to name different categories so that it does not become boring to me.

The new slide I added was removing the monotony from my presentation. The new questions I was asking everyday was also giving to an opportunity to think and give new answers everyday.

Have you ever given the same presentation multiple times? Did you feel bored? Did you try to re-invent your presentation? Leave a thought.

1 comment :

  1. Great post!

    I work for Peachpit Press and thought you and your readers might be interested in knowing that he just released his first online streaming video, Presentation Zen: The Video, where he expands on the ideas presented in his book and blog. More info can be found here:

    http://tr.im/lFvO

    ReplyDelete