The document provides tips for speakers presenting at Ignite Seattle. It advises speakers to tell stories with 4-5 key points or beats within the 5 minute time limit. Speakers are encouraged to practice their talks while standing up and speaking loudly with a timer. They should use large readable fonts on slides and keep the visuals simple with photos rather than complex diagrams. The document emphasizes practicing the talk multiple times and allowing silence for the audience to absorb the information.
5. This is the stage at
Town Hall, where
you will be
speaking
Thursday, January 30, 14
6. This is your confidence
monitor. It shows the
current slide. It helps
prevent you from turning to
look at your slides.
.
Thursday, January 30, 14
7. It is small.
You won’t be able to read
from it. It simply cues you
to what slide is currently
visible behind you.
.
Thursday, January 30, 14
8. The red carpet is the
best place to be.
You’ll look best for the
crowd and video.
Thursday, January 30, 14
9. How To Prepare, Part 1
• Stories are better than data
• Have four or five beats
• A beat is a story, a key point, an
example etc.
• If it takes ~1 minute to make a point,
you have time for 4 or 5 in total
• Practice before you make any slides
Thursday, January 30, 14
10. When you practice
• Stand up
• Hold something microphone like (a pen, a
toothbrush, a flashlight)
• Set a timer for 5 minutes
• Imagine a big crowd of friendly people
• Speak at FULL volume
• It’s ok if you get stuck at first. You will :)
• Revise your material if needed and try again
Thursday, January 30, 14
11. How To Prepare, Part 1
• Moments of silence are good
• When you practice, give yourself room
to breathe
• Silence lets people catch up to what
you just said
• It’s good to have buffer, places where
you plan to pause. Should something
go wrong the buffer will help you.
Thursday, January 30, 14
12. How To Prepare, Part 2
• Fonts and sizes
• Don’t compete with your slides
• Practice (10 times in a hour)
• Get exercise / Come early
Thursday, January 30, 14
13. Large fonts please
80 pt
60 pt
40pt
30
20
15
10
If you are reading this I hate you
Thursday, January 30, 14
14. Put important things here
Or here
But not down here where most
of the crowd won’t see it
Thursday, January 30, 14
15. Keep it simple
People can’t read long slides
and listen to you at the same
time and if you fill your slides
with complexity it will split the
audience’s attention more
Thursday, January 30, 14
17. Avoid complex diagrams.
Unless you’re simply referencing
how complex something is.
No brain can understand a
complicated diagram and listen to
you all in 15 seconds
Thursday, January 30, 14
18. Photos/Images work best
Our brains process photos
quickly. They also give you as
a speaker flexibility for what
specific thing you say while
it’s visible.
Thursday, January 30, 14
20. How to find photos
• Use photos that grant permission
• Creative Commons search at Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/search/
advanced/
• Provide a small url at the bottom of the
image for attribution
• Or use a stockphoto website
20
Thursday, January 30, 14
21. The format is flexible
We require 20 slides each
visible for 15 seconds. But you
can show the same slide
twice (or more) if you want…
Thursday, January 30, 14
24. Common mistakes
• Not practicing
• Not practicing
• Not practicing
• No breathing room / margin for error
• Too complex
• Lacking a fault tolerant structure (If you
forget point #2, can you still make
point #3)
Thursday, January 30, 14
25. Summary
• Don’t compete with your slides
• Practice (10 times in a hour)
• Tell one story, with 4 beats
• Silence is ok
• Big fonts, simple photos
• Get exercise / Come early
Thursday, January 30, 14
