Building Magnificant Technical Presentations

Course Description:

Soft Skills Development for the Technical Professional is often overlooked
and underestimated in terms of the critical skills needed by technical professionals for success.  Like a computer system requiring both hardware and software to provide system benefits, technical professionals need hard skills and soft skills in their Professional Development.

This seminar provides an entertaining and informative set of practical tips and tricks that technical presenters can incorporate and addresses traps that they can fall prey to.  This as a practical approach to integrating commonly used tools and improving both the presentation creation and delivery of technical topics that will appeal to a large segment of HP Technology Forum attendees.  The ability to build clear technical messages and to communicate those messages is as important as the message itself. 

Major Topics:

What makes a “magnificent” vs. “atrocious” technical presentation?
Key tips and tricks for successful technical presentations
Avoiding presentation delivery traps
Answers vs. Questions Presentations
Creation and Delivery
The power and danger of technical metaphors
The role of the brain
Useful presenter tool bag items
And much more

Course Objectives: 

What’s exciting about it, why it’s important, where it’s going?
It provides training aimed at technical professionals to improve their presentation creating and delivery skills
It’s given by a practicing technical professional with teaching and presentation experience
It provides real world, personal examples of “what to do” and “what not to do”
 
Audience (Who should attend):
IS/IT technical staff and managers, integrators, systems engineers and technical marketing personnel
Anyone who wants to understand more about how one can create and present technical topics effectively from someone who has learned making every mistake in the book yet maintains a successful storage networking education business.

Prerequisites: None

Course Outline: 

Section: Overview

Course Introduction

Section: Development

Teaching, Learning & Presenting
Technical Presentations
Creating Presentations
Presenting & the Brain
Practical Presentation Tools
PowerPoint Tips
Using Graphics

Section: Delivery

Tips, Tricks & Traps
Fear & Nervousness
The Opening
Audiences
Actions
The Closing
Listening
Questions
Answers
Power Statements
Summary
 
Course Detail (Topics):  Building Magnificent Technical Presentations

Section: Overview

Course Introduction

Section: Development

Teaching, Learning & Presenting
Teaching
Excellence vs. Mediocrity
Teacher’s Roles
Definitions
Teaching
Learning
Presenting
Traditional Teaching vs. Presenting
Lots of Help
Adult vs. Youth Learning
The Training Model
Learning Methods
Keys to Improving Present Skills
Presenting Well
Subject Matter Expertise (SME)
Presenter Speaking Style
Presentations 101 Common & “Not so Common” Mistakes
Presentation 10 Commandments
Delivery Guidelines
The Training Cycle
The Systematic Approach
Myths About Teaching Adults
The Teaching Vision

Technical Presentations
Types of Presentations
New Kinds of Presentations
Tips for Creating Technical Presentations
Be Successful – Be Impressive
Technical People Work Backwards
Technical People are Squirrels
Making a Pile
“Bloatation” & Whittling
Phrase to Live By
Technical People & Passion

Creating Presentations
The Problem with Most Technical Presentations
Multitasking Does Not Work
Presentation Require Real Work
Three Part Communication
Content
Delivery
Context
Informative Planning Worksheet
Know Your Purpose
Ideas for Technical Presentations
KISS
Know Your Topic
Know Your Audience
Know Your Logistics
Power Sound Bites (PSB)
Organization
From Fact Giver to Story Teller
Above All Advice –Passion
Creativity & Passion
Body of the Presentation
The I-B-C Format
According to Aristotle
Wilbur Howell and the Central Theme
Speaking in 3’s
Key Points
Order & Chaos
Organizing Content
Be Great Fast
Introductions
Practice Tips
Attention Deficit
Number are Not Your Friends
Final Draft
Tools
Rehearsal
It’s a Safari: Remember to Guide

Presenting & the Brain
The Brain
Left vs. Right Brain
5 Major Functions
Timing and the Brain
The Brain Stimuli:  Multiple Sensory Experiences
Creating a Learning Environment
Learning Percentages
Multiple Intelligences
On Techniques
Patterns
Metaphors
Note Taking
Note Making
Mind Mapping
Mind Mapping Laws
Mind Map Benefits

Practical Presentation Tools
Presentation F/X
Writing Tablets
Presentation Remotes
Flip Charts & White Boards

PowerPoint Tips
PowerPoint Isn’t Boring
PowerPoint Presentation or File
Presentation keyboard shortcuts
Using another’s PowerPoint File
Hiding slides for the live presentation
Killing two birds with one stone
Remove ending Blank Slide
Setting Triggers
Presenter read the slides
Long lists
Hyperlinks for presentation structure
PowerPoint Do’s and Don’ts
PowerPoint Success Rules

Using Graphics
Graphic Secrets for Business & Technical Professionals
Finding Images
Using Compelling Imagery
Choosing the Right Images
Good Design
Lose the Bullets
Better Presentations
One Thought per Slide

 
Section: Delivery

Tips, Tricks & Traps
Fear & Nervousness
Peoples Greatest Fears
The Fear Factor
Straddling the Line
Fear Can Be a Good Thing
Overcoming Nervousness
Things to Do When You are Nervous
Conquering Fear

The Opening
Names
Icebreakers
Classic Opening Gambits
Begin with a BANG!

Audiences
Your Audience is a Mirror
Look at the Audience
Audience Types
Captive
Pragmatic
Socially Motivated
Committed
Audience Participation
Kinesthetic Connections
Beyond Games: Sharing Stories
Are They Paying Attention?
OADD
Fight MEGO
Speak to Each Individual
Speak to a Large Audience
Grab Attention
Establishing Rapport
Speaking their “Language”
Handling Difficult Audiences

Actions
Smiling
Stand and Wait
Stance and Movement
Capture Expectations
Planning Spontaneity?
Enjoy the Laughter
You are the Best Visual
The Education Process
William Tell’em
KISS
More Tips
Backward Chaining
Hard First, Easy Last
Plagiarizing Creatively
RRR
Drinking Water
The Microphone
The Lectern
Be BIG
Your Name
Action Words
The Illusionist Factor
Help Them Laugh
Have a Helper
Be Human
Have Fun

The Closing
The Elephant and The Audience
Effective Closing

Listening
Two Ears, One Mouth
Communication Process
Problems Listeners Face
5 Kinds of Listening
Good Listeners
Worst Listening Mistakes

Questions
Successful Interactions
Questions
Are Questions More Important than Answers?
Confucius
Solutions vs. Learning
The Importance of Questions
Questions and Minefields
Loving Yes or No Questions
Questions and Wimps
Hearing Questions
Good Question is not a Good Answer
Questioning Strategies
Your Opening Question
Question Types
Recall
Processing
Application
80/20 Rule
Your Worst Question
Playful Questions
Deferring Questions
Question-Based Selling
Asking Questions
Eliciting Questions
Responding to Questions
Q&A Time
Difficult Questions
Unclear Questions
Leading Questions
I Don’t Know

Answers
Why are Answers Important
The  “Right” Answer
Answering Questions
Respect Their Response
Answer Ownership
Using Their Questions
Dealing with Difficult Answers and Questions
ABCs
The “Wrong” Answer

Power Statements
Power Statements
On the Face of It
Communication Channels
The Power of Body Language
Let’s See Your Hands
Make Natural Gestures
Eye Contact
Hold that Gesture
The Power of Voice Tonality
Your Voice is an Instrument
Practice Saying Nothing
PPPPPP
The Power of Language
A Few Words on Words
Avoid Idioms
Eliminate Disconnection Expressions
Avoiding Weasel Words
Positive Words
The Flagrant Four
The Thoughtful Three

Summary
Development and Delivery
Technical Soft Skills are Critical
Conclusions