Keeping audience attention is more important and more difficult than grabbing audience attention . What can I do to keep the audience’s attention through the whole of my presentation. one-way presentation is one of the worst possible ways of transferring information from person to person. Reference: Hartley J and Davies I “Note taking: A critical review” Programmed Learning and Educational technology, 1978,15, 207-224 cited by John Medina in Brain Rules A

The latest academic research on Twitter and conferences addresses the issue of “snarky tweets” during presentations. My own experience of tweeting during presentations at Presentation Camp LA highlighted for me the new challenges we face around Twitter etiquette at conferences. More than a quarter of the conference twitterers said that they had sent dismissive or dissenting tweets during presentations. What should be the guidelines of what is acceptable and what is not? The research

Now the question is: should you display a live twitter stream on a large screen so that everyone (not just the tweeters) in the audience can see it? Sir Ken Robinson speaking at "Hacking Education" organised by Union Square Ventures. The decision depends on the nature of each session: is it a presentation, panel or a discussion? Twitter is now a reality at many conferences. Photo used with permission from Fred Wilson

Giving your first presentation or speech is daunting.  I’ve worked with many new presenters and here’s the advice that has made the most difference to them. Your audience is there for what you are going to say. That’s because though you may not be comfortable in front of an audience, you can prepare good content. 1. Content is king

As a presenter, I feed off the energy of the audience. used to think that the audience determined the energy in the room, but after applying some of Jerry Weissman’s principles, I learned the presenter has more control over the room than I previously thought. There was good energy at my Web2.0Expo presentation. I At first, I thought it was just a “cooler” audience than usual (which it was) but I could tell that the way I was presenting was having an effect on their energy level as well.

0160; Lose the Power Point – when you put up Power Point slides you ask the audience to look at 2 – or 3 – things at once: you, your slides, perhaps a printout of your slides. 0160;  Talk from the audience’s point of view – a common mistake presenters make is to explain an idea the way they learned it.  0160; But your history is not inherently interesting to an audience.  1.  That’s distracting.

TED has earned a lot of attention over the years for many reasons, including the nature and quality of its short-form conference presentations. All presenters lucky enough to be asked to speak at TED are given 18-minute slots maximum (some are for even less time such as 3- and 6-minute slots). Some who present at TED are not used to speaking on a large stage, or are at least not used to speaking on their topic with strict TED does not make a big deal publicly out of the TED Commandments, but many TED presenters have referenced the speaking guidelines in their talks and in their blogs over the years (e.g.,

Whenever I read a top 10 presentation or public speaking tips post, I often find at least one tip that makes me cringe. And I’m not talking about the obviously stupid presentation tips like “Imagine the audience naked” or “Look at the back of the room”. So here’s my list of the top 10 tips presentation tips that you should not follow. 1. Anything starting with “Must”

With social media growing as a popular resource for businesses to reach out and connect with customers and prospects, presenters need to look outside of the room where they give presentations. Here are eight ways you can squeeze more out of your hard work in creating your beautiful bullet-free presentation. Record your presentation . Sharing them on the Internet establishes your expertise, shows how you think, spreads your brand and provides yummy link juice. With so many digital cameras and technologies readily available for low prices today, it’s easier

Every type of presentation has its own challenges. As part of a “Public Speaking and the New Year” blog carnival organized by Angela de Finis, I’ve identified what I see as the major challenge or trend for each presentation type in 2010 and given you my best presentation tip to overcome it. Best presentation tip for a training session Running long (sometimes all-day) training sessions is probably the worst possible method of learning. So, as trainers we have to compensate for the terrible format.