Matthew McCullough's presentation on building better presentations at the inaugural IGNITE night at the Denver Open Source Users Group.

2. M cCullo ugh
M at thew

5. ng, and go
he b eginni end:
gin a t t o the
"Be me t
ill yo u co
on t
the n s top ."

6. e y ta g ’s Pyra mi d
Fr

7. e y ta g ’s Pyra mi d
Fr
ax
im
Cl
Deno
ion
E xposit ueme
nt

10. Sketch your ideas

11. Sketch you r ideas
1mm
felt
pen

12. Line
ariz
e you
r po
ints

14. 90
60
30
5
2

15. Use
zen styling
and
one unique
font

16. U se
ty li ng
e n s& n t
z e fo
uni qu
on e

21. Make
before the talk

24. idea
b i g
N E
O

25. end early.

26. References

27. Web Sites
• http://istockphoto.com
• http://kuler.adobe.com
• http://fakenamegenerator.com
• http://ted.com
•http://poptech.com
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/william_kamkwamba_on_building_a_windmill.html
•
Books
• Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte
• Presentation Zen
• Presentation Zen Design
• Made to Stick
• UR a Brand
• Confessions of a Public Speaker
• Brain Rules by John Medina

28. Credits

29. Photo & Data Credits
• William Henry Harrison
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Harrison
• Friends
• http://www2.warnerbros.com/friendstv/img/friends_index.jpg
• Martin Luther King
• http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2420/1556389874_47f0929047.jpg
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/g_cliser/1556389874/
• http://chrisabraham.com/2009/01/19/martin-luther-king-jr/
• All others
• http://iStockPhoto.com
• http://AmbientIdeasPhotography.com

30. McCullough
M atthew

31. Iʼm really excited to give this recursive presentation on building presentations on building presen... Yeah.
This talk will help you turn a molten pool of ideas into gold patterns for assembling your next presentation.

32. As a technologist, you may think you can work in insolation and avoid speaking to vertebrates. But to influence technology decisions, you will
have to present something sooner or later.

33. go
nn ing, and
he begi nd:
"Be gin at t ome to the e
c
till you
on
then stop ."
The framework of a great talk can be found in the weirdest of places. In 1865, the master of story telling, Lewis Carroll, solved a fundamental
presenter problem. Donʼt leave us hanging! Give us a well defined start and finish!

34. Freytag ’s Pyramid
Climax
Falling action
Complication
4
ax
im
Rising action
Cl
Resolution
5
Denouement
3
Exposition
2 6 De
1
Exposit
ion noue 7
ment
Similarly, the structure of great talks and blockbuster movies was established 146 years ago. Though there are 7 parts to the pyramid, you can
focus on just three. That French word den-ooo-maaa, just means explained-and-resolved.

35. To learn from great presenters using the pyramid, check out any video at Ted.com. My favorite is William Kamkwamba in Malawi, Africa. He
barely speaks english and yet the story still grabs you.

36. Audiences can innately sense whether you care about your presentation topic and care about them as an audience. Find something that means
a lot to you, and the presentation assembly will flow easily.

37. Sketch your ideas
1mm
felt
I might loose my programming license for saying this, but computers are the worst way to plan a presentation. Buy and carry around a
moleskine notebook and sketch with a broad felt pen so you donʼt get bogged down in details.
pen

38. s
rpoint
you
e
ariz
Line
After a week or two youʼll have a bounty of ideas to extract from your moleskine. To turn this into a compelling presentation, apply Freytag and
arrange your pool of thoughts into a linear (or should I say pyramid) order.

39. Once linearized, youʼll have more material then can possibly fit in your talk. Start chopping and distilling like a mad man. Better to have a
shorter presentation than a longer one. And wait to drink the distillate until after youʼve finished the presentation.

40. 90
60
30
5
2
You were promised a certain amount of time to speak, but thereʼs always something cutting you short. Technical issues. A longwinded previous
speaker. Know the critical parts of your talk and be prepared to chop real-time.

41. stystyling
Use
ing
Use
l
en & e font
zzen u
eu niqand
on one unique
font
Great design uses a limited number of colors and a harmonic set of font faces. My recipe is a maximum of three fonts and a quartet of colors...
But what if color sense completely escapes you?

42. Finally, some web tools! The three I recommend most are Adobe Color for choosing a coordinated set of hues, FakeNameGenerator to
anonymize your real-world story, and iStockPhoto for rich imagery.

43. Preparation. Excitement and hoping really really hard that itʼll all go well wonʼt cut it. Trust me. I know. Youʼll need to polish, review and
practice over and over again to give a truly awesome show.

44. Who do you practice in front of? Not the 200 person venue! A friendly audience of family members or technical friends. Any group who will
critique, but not violently criticize.

45. We comfort ourselves by saying “no one ever died of giving a presentation.” But in 1841, William Henry Harrison, 9th president of the United
States, gave an eight thousand two hundred and twenty-two word inauguration speech ... and died of complications a few days later.

46. Make
before the talk
The single biggest factor to getting great reviews and making ideas stick doesnʼt happen during your presentation. It happens beforehand.
Introduce yourself, shake some hands, generate interest and youʼll be amazed at the results!

47. And during the presentation, emotionally connect with each audience member through eye contact and answering questions... Reviews will not
improve with actual kisses. Youʼll just get sued.

48. Since you care about the topic, deliver the talk with conviction, passion, and excitement. It is the capstone to your solid premise and great
research.

49. gi dea
bi
O NE
A study revealed that even the best college professors had fact retention problems with their students. Teaching is hard! You are in the 90th
percentile if you successfully impart a sole new concept to your audience.

50. end early.
And a parting tip from experience; Run shorter than your allocated time. Early is never evil... With 3 seconds to spare... Good night.