Potent Presentation Advice: Don’t Be Afraid to Move Around a Little!

Ann K. Emery

Updated on: May 4th, 2012

Presentations

Audience, Potent Presentations Initiative, Presentations, Public Speaking

I asked my researcher friend Caryl Schroeder to reflect upon some of the most potent presenters she’s seen.

Off the top of her head, Caryl listed the following criteria for a potent presentation:

Concise message/theme
Simple text/graphics (not a lot of text on PowerPoint presentations)
Examples the audience is familiar with or can relate to, especially on a personal basis
Good humor helps
Organized and logical presentation, easy to follow (e.g., background info, then the problem as it exists now, proposed solutions, etc)
Speaker can be heard clearly and is not rushing
Speaker moves – either with appropriate gestures or takes up the stage by moving around a little (not pacing but moving every now and then to focus you in a different area or be closer to another part of the audience)

Caryl said that the best speaker she’s seen in a while is Dr. Reed Tuckson. You can check out one of his presentations here.

What comes to mind when you think of your favorite presenters and presentations?

More about Ann K. Emery
Ann K. Emery is a sought-after speaker who is determined to get your data out of spreadsheets and into stakeholders’ hands. Each year, she leads more than 100 workshops, webinars, and keynotes for thousands of people around the globe. Her design consultancy also overhauls graphs, publications, and slideshows with the goal of making technical information easier to understand for non-technical audiences.

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