Presentation Advice

[WhiteAlbumRegistry]

I'm curious if anyone here has ever given a lengthy presentation (think slideshow) to teach folks about coding and what-have-you. I have to lead a two day training session (and one other guy) and would like any advice regarding ideal runtimes of each session (45min w/ questions, 10min breaks, etc.?)

Have you found a technique to keeps people interested (putting together a site, hold questions until the end, etc.)

Thanks.

[Cheyenne Jack Throckmorton]

I've done some day-long seminars more upon digital marketing techniques and/or leadership skills than code all day but here are a few best practices I've learned.

- Have an agenda - work hard to stick to it, especially for when the day is done (especially if they are to come back for day two).

- 50 - 70 minutes is about all the longer you should go without breaks.

- 20 minutes is the MAX you should speak all at one time. Break it up with exercises for them do, Q&A, discussions, sharing best practices with each other.

- At the end, I like for them to at least have an outline of a digital marketing plan or leadership ROI plan customized to the goals they had coming into the class. For programming I'd think a site would be a good take-away. Basically, after two days they should have an outline of something they came to learn that makes them want to tinker further and maybe even something to show their boss if the business is paying for the course.

- Also have a pre-course agenda, especially for programming. If everyone needs git installed or vagrant or whatever platform for their computer, then its good to have that done ahead of time. It's kind of double-edged sword because inevitably someone comes in not prepared and then you hold the class back while they get their system ready to start, but since you have 2 people maybe one of you takes the slackers outside to get them up-to-speed while you start the class for those that did prepare.

I'm sure more people will chime in, but good luck.

[Matt Trask]

Make it interactive as possible. Stop and ask for questions frequently. 

If you show a function, after you finish with it, ask questions about it. Ask them their thoughts. 

This will be a good start.

On Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 6:41:53 AM UTC-4, WhiteAlbumRegistry wrote:

[Chase Peeler]

While I've never given a long presentation, as someone that has participated in many of them, I would say interactivity is important. You can get away without much interaction in a short session, but anything of length needs to really engage the attendees to keep them interested.

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[Ira Chandler]

I do lots of 1-2 hour presentations.

- Do not read slides.  Summarize them in your own words.

- once you see the new slide, you should barely have to look at it or refer to it as you present that content

- Use plenty of graphics, decoration is fine so long as it is relevant 

- Vary the slide layout, lists, tables, word clouds, charts, diagrams

- use graphical representations of as much as possible, diagrams are very valuable

- stop every couple of slides for questions

- define the goal of each section before starting

- I prefer they not have copies of the slides in hand, too much browsing

- go faster than you think you should.  Tendency is to dwell and go slow. Generally will waste time and bore.

- practice the presentation in real time out loud at least twice, for timing. Write (or have someone) the elapsed time after every three or so slides so you can see if you are on pace.

- try to get questions every half-period or period.  Have one typical questions ready for you to ask and answer to seed them.

- have food and drinks available, easy on the sugar, heavy on the caffeine

- be animated and excited about the content. Smile a lot.  Joke a little.  Look into your audience's eyes directly.

- The other suggestions here sound great, too.

Good luck