Technical experts are integrated into every aspect of their company's
enterprise. And their ability to present what they know to a variety of
audiences is essential for their company's success.
What makes these experts good at what they do — their analytic natures,
thoroughness, obsession with getting it right — doesn't necessarily make them
good presenters. They tend to go into too much detail, providing too much
information, relying too much on their slides and not enough on their
interaction with the audience. Their audiences tune them out. And their
proposals fizzle.
It doesn't have to be that way.
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1. Technical presentations don't have to be
boring. Chris Witt
shows technical experts how to plan, create, and
deliver presentations that audiences (even
nontechnical ones) can understand pay attention to .
2. Technical
presentations don't have to be confusing. A good
presentation begins with developing a strategy — deciding what you want the audience to do as a
result of listening to you. Then you eliminate
everything that doesn't advance your goal.
3. A technical
presentation is
a sales presentation. Technical experts never
want to think of themselves as giving a sales
presentation, and yet they need to sell their
ideas..
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Resources for Technical Presenters and Technical
Presentations
In the pages that follow you’ll
find tips and strategies that technical presenters can use to
increase their effectiveness.
How
to Plan a Technical Presentation
Here's how to plan a technical presentation so it is clear and
convincing, even if you're speaking to a mixed audience.
How to
Develop Confidence Speaking
Here are 12 ways to gain confidence in front of any audience.
How to
Connect with your Audience
The best way to build support for your ideas is to develop a
(positive) connection with your audience. Here's how.
How to Prepare
a Presentation
As you begin the preparation for your presentation, do
not turn on PowerPoint and start creating slides. Sit down
with a pad and pencil and answer these four questions
How to Plan an
Oral Proposal
Technical experts are sometimes called in to be part of a team
making an oral proposal for large contracts. Here's some ideas
of how to start preparing.
How
to Improve a Technical Presentation
Here are three ways you can improve just about any technical presentation.
10 Tips for Using
Visual Aids
Visual aids — like PowerPoint — are an aid to communication,
not a substitute for it. Here are ways to use them
effectively.
The
Seven Biggest Presentation Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
It is easy to make mistakes when you're giving a presentation.
Here's a list of seven presentation mistakes to avoid.
Effective Handouts
Handouts are an integral part of most technical presentations, so their design,
use, and distribution require careful planning.
How to Handle
Questions and Answers
Depending on your preparation, questions can unnerve and
sidetrack you or allow you to clarify and strengthen your
presentation. Preparation makes the difference.
Hallmarks
of an Effective Presentation
An effective presentation is like an animated conversation.
It's clear, honest and direct. It seeks to accomplish one
goal. And it's filled with lively detail.
DISC Behavioral Styles
DISC is a behavioral style analysis that can help you improve your interpersonal
communications and your business relationships by understanding other people's
and your own styles of communicating.
Communication Tips
Here's another page with links to even more tips and strategies that technical
presenters — and anyone else, for that matter — can use to increase their
effectiveness. (Links will take you to pages about "How to Resolve
Conflict," "The 7 Principles of Influence," "How to Remember
Names," "Strategic Listening," "People Skills Pay the
Bills," and many more.
Speaking Tips
Here's still another page with links to even more tips and strategies that every
type of presenter — leaders, aspiring leaders, happy-that-I'm-not-a-leader
people, technical experts — can use to become more confident and commanding
speakers.
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