Uhms and Bunny Hands: Tips for Improving Your Presentation Skills (Presented at SQLSaturday Oregon on November 3rd, 2018)

1. Uhms and Bunny Hands:
Tips for Improving Your
Presentation Skills
Cathrine Wilhelmsen
SQLSaturday Oregon · November 3rd 2018

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3. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Session Description
Are you considering becoming a speaker, but feel nervous about getting on stage for the first
time? Have you already presented a few sessions and want advice on how to improve? Do you
learn more from seeing examples of what you should NOT do during a presentation instead of
reading a list of bullet points on how to become a better speaker?
Don't worry! I have made plenty of presentation mistakes over the years so you won't have to :)
In this session, we will go through common presentation mistakes and how you can avoid
them, as well as how you can prepare for those dreaded worst-case scenarios. Don't let those
"uhms" and "uhhs" dominate your presentation, help the audience focus on the key message
you're delivering instead of making them read a wall of text in your slides, recover gracefully
from any demo failures, and stop distracting your attendees with floppy bunny hands.
All it takes is a little preparation and practice. You can do this!

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5. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

6. Person

7. Make Eye
Contact

8. Look Around
People, screen, computer, shoes?

9. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

10. Be
Enthusiastic

11. Be You
Personality, experiences, stories

12. Speak
Clearly

13. Filler Words
Uhm, uhh, like, so, ok, so, uhm, yeah

14. Voice Variation
Monotone, monotone, monotone

15. Breathe

16. Words per Minute
ItIsEasyToSpeakTooFastWhenYouAreNervous

17. Stand Tall

18. Common Poses
Floppy bunny, soldier, wonder woman?

19. Gesture
Intentionally

20. Mirroring
Left to right or right to left?

21. Pointing
Don't turn away from the audience

22. Move
Consciously

23. Fidgeting
Drying palms, scratching, flipping hair

24. Pacing
Walk, turn, walk, turn, walk

25. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
1. Make Eye Contact
2. Be Enthusiastic
3. Speak Clearly
4. Breathe
5. Stand Tall
6. Gesture Intentionally
7. Move Consciously

26. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

27. Props

28. Slide Deck

29. Wall of Text
Should I listen or read the slide?

30. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

31. Fonts and Colors
*squint*

32. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

33. No Pointers
Is this section 4 or 7?

34. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

35. Too Many Things
What am I supposed to look at?

36. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

37. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

38. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

39. No Visualizations
I read the words, but I don't get it

40. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

41. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

42. Demos

43. Font Size 8
*squint*

44. Scrolling Too Fast
*whoosh*

45. Talking to the Screen
Hello?

46. Not Talking At All
Hello?

47. No Explanation
Wait, what?

48. DEMO
Demo
of Demos

49. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
1. Keep it Simple
2. Visualize Content
3. Help Focus
4. Explain Steps

50. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

51. Performance

52. Preparation

53. Timebox
Cheat sheet and stopwatch

54. Rehearse
Memorize first and last 5 minutes

55. Know Your Audience
Be aware of jokes, phrases, and words

56. Ask a Friend
Get feedback and support

57. Delivery
Mistakes

58. Expectations
"I'm not an expert…"

59. Apologizing
"Sorry…"

60. Poor Timing
"I'll just skip over these last forty slides…"

61. Weak Ending
"Five minutes left… any questions?"

62. Common
Fears

63. I forgot what to say!
Just keep going

64. I don't know!
Never pretend you do

65. My demo failed!
Have a backup plan

66. No one showed up!
It happens :(

67. Follow-Ups

68. Questions
Ask attendees to e-mail you

69. Blog
Publish answers to questions

70. Share Content
Link to slides and demos

71. Feedback
Focus on what's actionable

72. …

73. Celebrate!

74. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Improve one thing each time you present

75. There is only one you :)

76. © 2018 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
@cathrinew
cathrinew.net
hi@cathrinew.net
Thank you!
cathrinew.net