Great Presentations

August 16, 2007 · Comments

PodCamp Pittsburgh is tomorrow. I thought I’d gather up some great presentations for a presentation I’m doing myself, on the topic of, uh, presentations. Here are a few that I know about that I thought I’d share. Do YOU know where some links to amazing presentations are? Share with me.

Steve Jobs delivering an Apple Keynote:

Dick Hardt from Sxip uses Powerpoint like a ninja here in his Identity 2.0 bit. (I never get tired of this presentation).

Shift Happens

Did you Know 2.0 from Xplane

Ze Frank at TED

My Main Points

Powerpoint is a tool, not a requirement.
YOU are the presentation.
Lead with something that engages and builds allies.
Assume everyone is smart.
Practice. Check your language skills. Practice more. (Kill your ums).
Deliver value.
If you use a slide deck: big pictures, few words. PowerPoint is NOT MS Word.
Empower instead of preach.
Give your ideas handles.
Leave them feeling good. Or moved. Or both.

Great Presentation Resources

Presentation Zen – great blog, and now a great book by Garr Reynolds: Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter).

Great Presentations Mean Business by Laura Fitton.

My Best Presentation Tricks by Chris Brogan (oh yeah, me!)

***Update: Seth Godin has an entire collection of videos that he found moving and motivating. (Seth’s a great presenter himself. I have to see him live some day soon.)

Your Turn

What other great resources or videos should I show a class of people looking to learn how to present better?

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  • Another pearl from the archives! The title of this post is a subtle play on "Great Expectations" (in my book anyways, LOL!!) and seeing Apple's Steve Jobs as the first video clip is sooooo apt. The man is really a marketing genius and Apple must be having sleepless nights as to who is going to fill his shoes when he ultimately has to depart.
  • Fancy knowing that.I'm counting on you.
  • Great advice, Chris. I definitely agree that PowerPoint is overused. My biggest pet peeve is when people *read off of their Powerpoint presentation* instead of actually, you know, *talking to people*.

    And Steve Jobs? The man. He exudes charisma when he speaks. You can feel the gravitas coming off the YouTube clip. THAT'S inspirational.
  • kat
  • Great compilation!

    Can't wait for tomorrow!
  • oops forgot link.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc
  • Chris-
    I do think if you don't have passion you basically can loose an audience quickly. Practicing till you know it up and down is the key. Play off the audience. Feel the pulse. If it isn't there infuse that passionate to tachycardia levels.

    Think about maybe a big entrance: pyro? opening video (like zefrank) maybe some corporate theater, skit, dancing girls?
  • Paul Gibler
    Hi Chris,
    I author a blog called PPT - Powerful Presentation Techniques. One of the resources I compile and periodically upload to the blog is a resource listing now in Rev 4 - http://connectingdots.typepad.com/ppt/2007/02/u.... Your readers might find it interesting.
  • Neil Gorman's 'Broken Toasters' at PAB07 was good. http://neilgorman.org/?p=192

    Was his first time presenting, too.
  • Dick Hardt's is derivative of Larry Lessig's style (I mean that literally and not to take anything away from Dick). In addition to the Lessig talk mentioned above, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmU2i1hQiN0.

    These talks are a lot of fun to give. Chris Adamson asked me to recreate one that I gave in Brussels at the Jini community meeting. You can find my attempt here: http://today.java.net/pub/a/today/2006/09/28/ji...

    D
  • Hi Chris,

    These two links bring over a 1,000 people a day. There's no limit to curiosity about great presentations.

    Top 10 Best Presentations Ever

    and

    Top 10 Best Presentations Ever - The Reader's Choice
  • Also, since the last presentation I listed lasts 48 minutes, here is a great one under 5 - "Web 2.0 Explained": http://lessig.org/blog/2007/02/web_20_explained...

    -Jackie
  • Chris,

    I enjoyed watching the presentations you listed, and I've never seen any of them before. My favorite presentation of all time was author/blogger/marketing guru Seth Godin at eBay Live 2007 in Boston. You can watch his presentation to Google entitled "All Marketers are Liars" here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-690907...

    Look forward to seeing you again Saturday for PodCamp Pittsburgh 2!

    -Jackie
  • Yeah, agreed on Dick Hardt’s Identity 2.0. Absolutely brilliant. His was one of the first times ever that I thought "You really couldn't have done this *without* powerpoint".

    One of the most moving presentations I've seen yet was another Ted Talk: Bill Clinton.

    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/85

    Love or hate him, you can't argue with his style.
  • Nice Chris, and thanks for the tag. Quick thought -- be kinder to the ums and let them die a gentle death. It's only that a lot of attention to them can make it worse/throw the presenter off. When your brain reaches for an "um" filler try silence instead. Obviously I have lots more ideas where that came from, but that's why I blog :-). Hope there's video of your presentation (hint hint).
  • Hah! Just realized I duplicated one of your suggestions. Obviously Dick Hardt's presentation has legs....
  • What an excellent collection and links!
    Thanks, Chris. YOU ROCK!
  • The TED Talks are very inspiring.

    I enjoy hearing Malcolm Gladwell talk. His presentation voice is the same as his writing voice. Here he speaks about spaghetti sauce:
    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/20

    Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth was amazing.

    I have especially been influenced by Dick Hardt's presentation at OSCON 2005 on Identity 2.0: http://identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/ Very slick, well put together, single concepts per slide. Obviously a lot of preparation went into creating this clear presentation. (And anyone who has been influenced by Cryptonomicon is cool in my books!)

    Cheers,
    Connie
  • Chris -
    One of my favorite talks---

    In an emotionally charged talk, Majora Carter explains her fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx.

    http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/53

    Mike
  • Great compilation of links! Definitely looking forward to how you present your presentation on presentation this weekend. See you in the 'Burgh!
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