The wonderful Presentation Zen posts recently to “Don’t Make a speech. Put on a show” and this reminded me of the lecturer I remember most from my University days. Most, if not all, other lecturers used books, papers, overheads (days before PowerPoint and projectors), etc to bring us the topic of the day.

But what did this lecturer bring, well nothing – sorry he did always bring in an index card but that contained the work he would set for homework at the end of the lecture. So to start your focus was on him and what he said and he would then use hand drawn diagrams to illustrate his point, but never refered to a page in our text books. That was for us to go and read after the event – I mean we were capable of that weren’t we!

So not only did he put on a show but his method made sure we remembered him and his topic. He is the one that stands out most as I look back these 20 odd years to my University days, so that tells you something. So in essense this my goal as I present as well, make sure that people are focused on you and what you are saying, not on trying to read your 9 point PowerPoint slide, or your handouts.