Kylie Hutchinson on Simple and Low Tech Things to Increase the Effectiveness of your Presentations

My name is Kylie Hutchinson.  I am an independent evaluation consultant and trainer with Community Solutions Planning & Evaluation.  I give regular webinars and workshops on evaluation topics for the AEA and CES and Twitter weekly at @EvaluationMaven.

Have you ever felt bored sitting in a conference presentation, or frustrated by a presenter with poor delivery skills?  I know that I have, particularly when I see great content getting lost in a lackluster or poorly-paced presentation. At a recent conference I amused myself during several sessions by starting a list of 25 Do’s and Don’t for effective conference presentations.  Even if you’re not the world’s greatest public speaker, there are many simple and low tech things you can do to dramatically increase your audience’s engagement and effectiveness as a presenter.

Rad Resources:

• AEA Coffee Break: Tune-Up Your Presentation Skills.  Sign-up for this coffee break to learn some simple ways to keep your audience engaged and nail your presentation like a pro.
• You Can Be A Better Presenter: 25 Tips For Better Presentations.  For all 25 tips, download this free resource so you’ll be primed and ready for AEA2012.
• P2i Presentation Slide Design Guidelines.

Hot Tip:

• Plan to arrive at the annual conference on Wednesday October 24. The Data Visualization and Reporting TIG is teaming up with the Potent Presentations Initiative to hold a Slide Clinic, from 6:10-7pm. Bring your slide deck to get one-on-one coaching and advice from trained TIG members before you present. Keep an eye on the DVRTIG and p2i sites for details on the Slide Clinic’s location.

Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.