Before EMS World Expo I shared a bunch of presentation and PowerPoint tips. After presenting Online Education Trends for Emergency Responders and Using Social Media to Market Your EMS Agency last Thursday I have a few more to add to the list.
1. Arrive early. I heard that the Wednesday morning presenters arrived in their rooms to discover the digital projectors had not yet been delivered.
2. Delete slides during your final preparation. In the final 24 hours before my presentations I removed 6 to 10 slides from each presentation. This tightened the message and ensured I was within the time available (1 hour, 15 minutes).
3. Roll with the tech made available. It has been several years since I have presented without a wireless lavlier microphone so I was pretty surprised to see the lavlier microphone was a wired microphone. The cord was plenty long enough, but it took a bit to figure out how to manage the cord. I looped the cord over my pinky finger in the hand I was using to hold my presentation remote.
4. Connect with audience personally before the presentation. I like to quickly set-up and then wander around getting to know attendees. Some things I learned – it is possible to buy Siberian Huskies while living in Saudi Arabi and Notre Dame football is turning around (this was before their weekend loss).
5. Share some of your passions and interests with the audience during your introduction. I presented on the day the Wisconsin Badgers started their football season and one week before the Packers kick-off the NFL season. Because the Badger game began as my second presentation began I asked the audience to indicate Wisconsin Touchdown by raising their arms in the touchdown signal and then to make a W by putting their arms out at a 45 degree angle. I was tickled to receive three touchdown notifications during the presentation.
6. Upload your slides to Slideshare.com before your presentation. Even though the audience is likely to photograph your slides (see example from the Social Medic) it is reassuring to many in the audience they can view your slides later. I also embedded the slides into blog posts to publish just as my presentation began.
7. Always end on time.
