Comments for tellingpeople

Comment on Index card notes by simon

simon — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:27:04 +0000

Hi Max – I can’t say I’d noticed… we’ve not got a problem in the middle of Newcastle. £3:50 does seem exorbitant, too! Where do you live?!?!!?

Comment on Index card notes by Max Atkinson

Max Atkinson — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:25:00 +0000

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but record cards are becoming more and more difficult to get hold of – e.g. no longer available at our local branch of WH Smiths – and more and more expensive (i.e. £3.50 for the last pack I bought). It’s presumably another unforeseen consequence of the IT revolution, and I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll soon have to buy large sheets of card and cut them up to size!

Comment on Presentation Dos and Don’ts lists by simon

simon — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:07:59 +0000

Hi Romany – nice to see I’m not the only one!

Comment on Presentation Dos and Don’ts lists by Romany Thresher

Romany Thresher — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:24:53 +0000

What say I? Yes, yes, and yes. I have attended a few events where everyone is telling you, you need to do this and that and I agree no one is telling you how.

Quite frankly I’m tired of these events because it is so boring. I have got to the point where I attend to network but don’t go and listen to the presentation cause it is all just blah, blah, blah lately. I want to know how, not do this, do that. I already know I need to do this and that.

Comment on TED talks – presentations at their best by simon

simon — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:58:16 +0000

Hi Jessica – yes, you’re right… there’s a time and a place for looking at the slides (basically, when you’re presenting technical information and you want to regard it as independent and objective). Presenters will do that in what we call “Second Position” sometimes.

I guess what I’m mainly getting at is that he didn’t *need* to look at the slides Bad presenters look at them because they’re afraid…

Simon

Comment on TED talks – presentations at their best by Jessica Pyne

Jessica Pyne — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:48:16 +0000

I do love the TED talks – not only as examples of presentations delivered well, but as examples of presentations delivered in many different styles.

One phrase you used jumped out at me: ‘how he resists the temptation to glance at the screen behind him’. Would you argue that it is ineffective for a presenter to look at his slides? In my opinion, a presenter *should* look at his slides. This can be used to direct the audience’s attention towards an important point. The presenter can also gesture towards his slides as they animate, creating a seamless effect.

Jessica

Comment on Cameron’s political presentation by simon

simon — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:20:20 +0000

Hi Max – I’m absolutely with you about the odd choice of background.

I wonder if one of the reasons I was so under-awed by this presentation was that very choice of background. It made it so much harder for him to stand out and be clear in his gesticulations. A simple, clean background might have served him better.

Comment on Cameron’s political presentation by simon

simon — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:15:13 +0000

Hi Sal.

Interesting that you take me to task about this – and I must admit I’m resisting the urge to sulk!

I’m not sure that it’s reasonable to compare this presentation with those of Churchill (who incidentally didn’t say “we shall fight them on the beaches – that’s a common misapprehension). Essentially, Churchill’s speech had two audiences, I think – firstly there was the immediate audience of the House of Commons where the speech was delivered but – more importantly? – there was the wider audience who could only listen to the presentation by radio, not watch it in the way we can now (don’t forget, there was no television recording or broadcast… or at least if there was, I can’t find it! ).

It’s hard, under these circumstances, to see how you can compare the *gestures* made by Churchill and Cameron, which was what I was mainly getting at. Perhaps I should have been more clear about this in my OP!

Comment on Cameron’s political presentation by Sal Pinto

Sal Pinto — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:59:03 +0000

Actually, I thought it was a very good speech.

Regardless of political persuasion, Cameron’s rhetorical technique was excellent.

His ending with an anaphora “Another 5 years of …” leading us to the end of the speech had the desired effect of the claptrap and rallying the troops.

Your criticism “I’m struck by how limited the range of gestures is – by how formulaic and contrived it all looks…. and by how it’s obviously been practiced within an inch of it’s life.” applies equally to Churchill. He had no gestures to speak of, no vocal colour, and he practised his speeches ad nauseam.

Churchill too used the anaphora to great effect in his “We shall fight them on the beaches” speech.

Would you level the same criticisms at Churchill?

Comment on Cameron’s political presentation by Max Atkinson

Max Atkinson — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:55:03 +0000

I agree that this ‘management guru’ style of speaking favoured by Cameron (and aped by Clegg) can come across as a bit phony – but his faith in it probably comes from the fact that it worked for him in the two most effective speeches he ever made: (1) to win the Tory leadership beauty parade, and (2) to deter Brown from calling an election when he (GB) should have done.

A couple of other things baffle me. One is his skewed eye-contact (see http://bit.ly/9JXhmr). The other is the bizarre staging with key members of the audience sitting behind him (see http://bit.ly/bXbk2o).