Some of the biggest fights I have had with my coworkers were about how to make a presentation. I have been to a couple of No Fluff Just Stuff conferences, and I watched the speakers to learn about presentation skills as well as coding skills. The ones that I liked the most almost always had a story to tell, or were engaging in some way other than the content they were presenting. My coworkers insist on keeping it "professional" which spells "dull" in my book. I love my coworkers, they are all really smart, my boss is one of the funniest guys I know and yet they insist that our presentations be dull.
Anyway, here is an example that dry is not always best. Sometimes we have to get a bit loose with our words and actually have fun while learning new things. The educational community has even started using games to teach because they know that if you keep the kids engaged, they will learn more. The same is true of adults.
Posted by carl at July 6, 2004 01:32 PM
As one of Carl's co-workers, I will defend myself a little bit. While you are correct that I think presentations should be professional, that does not mean I think you should not have a story or be funny.
It is all in the manner in which you deliver the story and anecdotes. I believe you need to ensure you do not alienate any part of your audience (who you are trying to persuade something) by being negative or using negative humor, which usually happens when a presenter says that doing something a particular way is "dumb" or "silly" or "novice". And thought I consider myself a somewhat decent developer, I have defintely been to technical presentations where I left angry because the presenter implied that something which I had done was "stupid" or "wrong".
For example, suppose you are giving a presentation on version control. Berating people for not using version control; making jokes about people losing source code because they didn't have source control; or the like will (in my humble and lowly) opinion not sway an audience to your side unless it is done in a very lighthearted and jovial manner.
The problem is, most presenters I've seen would not be able to pull off that type of style in a way that gets the point across without implying that those in the audience who had that happen to them are morons.
Most presenters are not Dave Thomas, who can and does pull off that style in his presentations. Though he is an expert in many things, at no point would you feel slighted or that he was saying you are a moron. Another guy who has this ability is Stu Halloway. He is incredibily smart, but I and everyone I know who has seen him present says (a) how smart he is and (b) how nice and humble he seems, and (c) how funny he is. All of which I think are true.
So, what is the main point of all this?
If you are able to present using humor and good anecdotes effectively, by all means do so. I absolutely think presenters who have this talent are the best ones. However, if by your nature you do not have this talent, then either learn it by practicing or going to some seminar or something, or else don't try to force it. You might be able to learn how to do it better over time, but most people I've met are not natural comedians who are able to effectively incorporate that style into presentations, especially technical presentations.
Posted by: Scott at July 18, 2004 08:55 PM
Scott,
As always we are saying the same thing, you are just a little more verbose about it :) I don't really think that comedy or being funny is the core problem here so much as creating a story to help the listener understand. Some use humor, others use drama. But to effectively convey a message generally will involved building a story for the audience.
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