Who, What, Where, Why, When, and How Much: The elements of an interesting presentation

Remember when uncle George got the slide camera? He made everyone sit and wait so he could take pictures and the food got cold at Thanksgiving.

After dinner Uncle George made everyone watch the slides from last year.

Why was everyone bored?

Uncle George forgot the audience and: Who? What? Why? Where? When? And How much?

Who? Its not about you Its about the audience Know who they are Ask them questions Check who will be there Refer to them often Listen for snoring Watch for fidgeting

What? Make certain that you have a subject you can easily cover in the time allotted. Is this a subject that will be familiar or will you need to spend time introducing the topic? Do you think there will be members of the audience you can use as helpers?

Why? Will this topic help them with a problem? Will this topic make them happier? Is this a health related idea? Is this the best time to present this idea? Can they easily say Im not involved in this idea?

Where? Is the location of your presentation important? Are the members of your audience able to access materials or the necessary areas which relate to your subject? Are long distances involved with achieving the goals suggested by your topic?

When? Do they have the time necessary for completing what you are suggesting? Must this be done immediately? If they can put off getting started would it be best to delay presenting the idea? Present the idea as close to the event or project start time as possible.

How Much? What are the monetary costs involved with this topic? How much time will it take to complete? Will their involvement with the idea conflict with other important elements in their lives? Will you be available to help them meet the goals you are suggesting?

Do you need charts? Remember lots of numbers can get to be really boring. Keep the statistics to a minimum. Dont try to overwhelm your audience with facts.

Pictures can be used as a background Remember to keep them simple This one is too distracting

Clip Art O.K. to use Does it convey your point? Is it clear? Is it necessary? Is it overused? Think about design. This simply looks out of focus

Keep your slides simple You should be the focus of your presentation Overly busy graphics detract from your message Just because you can do it doesnt mean you should do it. Yes you can add sound and automatic slide changes, but be careful with the bling.

This is simply too much

Is one enough is one hundred too many? Economy is not a bad thing. Be careful how much you are asking your audience to read.

Try to keep the lights on. Dark rooms are for sleeping.

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