Presentation Points...

Some points for improving your next presentation:

• On a slide, always put 5 +/- 2 (i.e., 3 to 7) items
• Too few and audience loses interest
• Too many and it looks crowded
• Give a copy of the slides to the audiences before presentation
• If you tie a point to an example, you get a better retention factor
• Slides (overheads) are a background for an improvisation act
• Don't Apologize (shows an error or lack of planning)
• Have the room clean, simple, and setup before anyone arrives
• Meet and welcome people at door with smiles (generates enthusiasm, sets mood)
• Call people by name, it creates a rapport (Make sure your name tag is readable)
• Show people out to door at end
• When meeting people, have some form of physical contact (creates rapport)
• shake hands, place hand on back when leading them in
• Be aware of cultural differences
• Before presentation, gain rapport
• mingle, get info from audience
• Don't stand at front shuffling papers, looks like you aren't ready

Work in stages:

1. Rapport building
2. clarity of talk
1. Sitting creates conversation, standing indicates dominance - presentation
2. If you can't get eye contact, audience isn't paying attention (change tracts!)
3. Eye Contact:
1. When talking, look at someone directly
2. Only move eyes to someone else when not talking
3. This brings people to present
4. Talk to individuals, not the whole group at a time
5. After asking a question, wait 5 full seconds
1. let's people absorb info & formulate question
6. Thank and acknowledge all contributions from the audience
1. "Great question", "That's a good comment"
7. Don't try to answer a question you don't know
8. 50% of communications is non-verbal
1. smile, be energetic
2. stand up straight
3. use non-verbal communications when appropriate
4. use visuals (pictures, hands)
5. Be explanatory with your hands
6. If nothing, leave hands at side
1. crossed arms <> open mind
2. hands on hip <> flexible
3. don't slap hands on sides
9. Don't use `but', as in `Yes,but"
1. it alienates, negates everything before
2. use `and' instead
3. Contribute & share
• Give People a chance to play. If you play, they will too
• Give credit to audiences knowledge, and they will credit yours
• If you say `It's a fact", you will be proven wrong
• be flexible, don't take a position
• "I believe its true", "In my experience"
• Don't assess, look for possibilities in all audience contributions
• If an audience viewpoint doesn't match yours, ask for elaboration
• contribution is wanted
• Ask for an experience which validates their viewpoint
• explain why your viewpoint is also valid
• Clarify audience question, ask for specifics.
• Repeat question, ask if that's what they are asking
• Don't be tied to content! Be present, here and now!
• Be flexible, allow interrupts in presentation
• know your purpose
• know what you want to say, worry about order
4. At beginning, state purpose of presentation
• 1 clear concise statement
• Allows you to avoid off the wall questions (doesn't fit purpose of talk)
5. Voice: Construction
• Have contrast
• loud, soft, fast, slow
• articulate
6. Make sure you start from audience viewpoint
• why should they learn what you are about to teach
• use their examples from mingling
• find out where customers are coming from
• Repeat things
• allows it to soak in
• denotes importance
• Don't overdo it!

Good design...

Some very powerful design principles for a website, care of Google:

From What Makes a Design "Googley"?

1. Focus on people—their lives, their work, their dreams.
2. Every millisecond counts.
3. Simplicity is powerful.
4. Engage beginners and attract experts.
5. Dare to innovate.
6. Design for the world.
7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business.
8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.
9. Be worthy of people's trust.
10. Add a human touch.

The Management of Change

Change for the Better: Change is an opportunity, not a crisis! The skill is to learn which change is best for you!

1. Map your world:

• - Define you activities - All of them!
• Factors under your control
• Factors not under your control
• Analyze its contents
• The whole picture
• What you are doing and the world around you
• Keeping up never means you'll get ahead
• Don't react! Changing all of the time isn't good, choose to change carefully!
  

2. Focus on theYour Roles in Life (lots available)

• Choose a point in the future to concentrate on
• Explain how your context will be changed
• What are needs & opportunities that arise in that new context
  

3. Design for the future:

• Decide on the opportunities available
• Shape your activities to fill the opportunities
• Don't destroy what you do best to fit the opportunity
  

Everyone has to be able to handle change, it is vital to choose the change that is best for you!



To Implement Change:

Good management means working together to find an answer

1) Analyze the gap

• List the main differences between where you are and where you intend to be
• Use the staff/everyone in a positive approach to change
• Get the people to help map the differences, effects of changes
  

2) Plan the Route

• Decide on the steps to help everyone progress from the present state to the future state. Examine what could help & what could hinder along the way.
• Plan Carefully, 1 step at a time
• Everyone must work together to plan the route
• Raise practical problems
• Make sure everyone has a clear understanding of the plans
• Don't Rush
  

3) Manage the Journey

• Provide the resources to take the steps
• Support and train those involved
• Change means unlearning and relearning
• Will add new responsibilities
• Work the issues
• Provide information & advice to cope with change
  

You can never get there (the future), you are always looking and planning ahead.

Software Lifecycle detailed...

• Feasibility Study: Goals, documentation, focus, key participants produce req. doc
• Functional Spec: - define terminology, requirements, volume & scale, what is needed and how it will work, conversion plan to new software, users help write specs (not review)
• Detailed Design: - Define standards & conventions, identify development tools, define application architecture
• Programming: - creating bugs
• Unit Testing: - You Nit!, insure consistency to spec, insure program produces correct results, test plan, use drivers & stubs!
• System Testing: - System meets functional spec., modules worktogether, identify programming and integration problems, insure system meets performance requirements. Check system with consistent and inconsistent input (users are not always consistent in their typing, on average 50% of code should be consistency checking).
• Parallel testing: - Does system produce correct business results? Does system meet user requirements, compare old and new methods of doing business.
• Training:- get users familiar with system, get operations familiar, allow time for developers to learn the new area where code will be used. Users should develop the training manual! Users should write the users manual.
• Documentation: - Comprehensive, consistent with system, completed before system and parallel testing. Program documentation should be in code andextracted using utilities (like PDF).
• Conversion: - Provide real data to new system. Enable users to do testing (system & parallel). catch problems before life operations. This is a large part ofthe software Lifecycle, should be 10% ofprogramming effort. Allow plenty of time for users to test it.
• Pilot: - Phase the new system in a controlled way. Catch problems on a small scale while things can still be changed.
• GO live: - the primary goal
• Maintenance/Enhancements: - getting the chance to do things the way it should have been down the first time
  

Support Required:

• Project Mgmt: - provides direction, defines responsibilities, monitors progress,institutes change
• Progress Report: - Daily where we are, what we did to get there, what Tasks want to be, what needs to be done to get there. (spend no more than 1hr/wk. on this)
• Review & Audit: we are; problems & opportunities; communicate and resolve issues; identify, evaluate, and reduce risks.
  

Conducting A Meeting

Some points to keep in mind when conducting a meeting

• Start on Time
• if you wait, you are rewarding tardiness
• Discuss one piece of business at a time
• Allow each member to contribute in their way
• Silence doesn't mean agreement, seek opinions
• "What do you think, Peggy?"
• Be ready to confront the verbal member
• "Okay, we've heard from Mike, how about some other views?"
• Test for readiness to make a decision
• Make a decision
• Test for commitment to the decision
• Assign roles & responsibilities
• Agree on follow-up or accountability dates
• Indicate next step for group
• Set time & place for next meeting
• End on time
• Was meeting necessary?
  

Source: I believe this was from John Cleese's 'More Bloody Meetings'