Are you up for this challenge?

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Here is a small challenge I want to throw at you. If you do take it up, share with me the results. If you find any problems with taking it up, do table your concerns.

The Challenge: Deliver a Presentation without any text on your slides. You may use pictures, shapes, whatever but no text.

The only situation you might not be able to try this is when you are in a formal setting. But explore the various informal talks/presentations you give. Try it out.




Why this dare?
To improve ourselves as a presenter.

- So that we stop using excess text.
- So that we stop using text as an anchor to remind us of what to speak.
- So that we get complete attention of our audience. So they stop reading the text on the slides and start looking at us and listening to us.
- So that we develop confidence by taking complete charge of our presentation.

What do you think friend? Are you game?



--
Image credit: djcodrin

Comments

  1. Rob ReillySeptember 23, 2010 at 1:51 AM

    Vivek,

    Yes, moving text off the presentation screen has helped my shows become much more interesting.

    I still like to have notes, only for MY reference, that don't appear on-screen. Many of my presentations are technical and I stick to strict time-lines. Notes ensure that I cover everything.

    The way to do this with modern laptops is to use the dual-screen feature. Have your notes on your laptop screen, while displaying your slides on the big-screen (connected to the projector). Both PPT and OpenOffice.org Impress support using notes with your slides. Works great on Windows and Linux notebooks.

    Keep up the good work.

    Rob

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    ReplyDelete
  2. Vivek SinghSeptember 23, 2010 at 9:36 PM

    Good suggestion Rob. Using a double screen can help you remember the content (which is why most slides have so much text) and yet deliver a clean, well designed presentation. Great point!

    ReplyDelete

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