Presentation Tips Or A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Podium

FOREWORD BY GUY KAWASAKI Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the Net — presentationzen.com — shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today’s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.

"[Prochnow] . . . wrote the book on public speaking." --The Chicago Rotary Club "A wonderful collection! This is must reading for all who give speeches." --James W. Robinson, author of "Better Speeches in 10 Simple Steps "A veritable treasure chest--all in one volume." --"American Banker Add sparkle to your speeches and introductions. Enliven your conversations with humor and memorable facts so that important ideas will not be forgotten. With more than 2,000 epigrams, literary quotations, anecdotes from biographies, humorous stories, inspiring illustrations, and interesting facts, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Podium is the essential reference you need to present your ideas colorfully and effectively. Inside you'll find: - 500 humorous stories - 500 epigrams and quips - 160 unusual quotations from world leaders through the ages - 292 humorous definitions - 100 stories and comments from unusual lives - 190 statements on important subjects by great thinkers - 209 wise and witty proverbs - and so much more! A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Podium is great for any occasion and makes for enjoyable browsing too!

This is the first book to offer detailed advice on the effective use of humor in business situations such as presentations, meetings, or seminars. The author is a speech writer who has written for the CEOs of AT&T, Xerox, Monsanto, and the Bank of America. He has also written comedy for entertainers such as Rodney Dangerfield. Presents the basics of writing humorously in a clear, step-by-step fashion, and reveals invaluable tricks of the trade for creating one's own custom-tailored jokes using techniques employed by professional comedy writers. Also provides short one-line jokes arranged by subject, as well as longer, story-type jokes arranged by the meaning or the point that the story illustrates.

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

The ultimate interactive public speaking guide from tech speakers Poornima Vijayashanker and Karen Catlin that prepares and encourages techies to discover their expertise, confidently share it, and successfully level up in their careers. Techies around the world can now jump start and grow their speaking careers with the book, Present! A Techie's Guide to Public Speaking, written by tech leaders, Poornima Vijayashanker and Karen Catlin. The book serves as a resource for technology professionals who want or need to develop the skills to communicate their expertise effectively, whether in a meeting at work or delivering an engaging talk at a conference. Poornima, who is the founder of Femgineer and the founding engineer of Mint.com, collaborated with former Adobe vice president and founder of Karen Catlin Consulting, Karen Catlin, to compile and share their lessons, tips, and techniques learned from their own experiences as professional tech speakers. "Karen and I wanted to write this book so that our fellow techies would have a comprehensive resource to help them with their own public speaking endeavors. So many folks in the tech industry have amazing ideas and experience, but they often feel stuck on how to present them effectively. Also, our hope is that more women will be inspired by our stories and encouraged to get out there and share their own valuable expertise through public speaking in order to boost representation of women tech speakers," Poornima said. Present! covers public speaking from A to Z. Through stories, examples, and interactive exercises, Poornima and Karen dive into topics including, overcoming stage fright, exploring personal speaking style, creating the right talk for the right audience, polishing presence and delivery, and nailing any type of talk, whether it's a lightning or long-form talk or being part of a panel. Karen said, "Even though Poornima and I are professional speakers, we felt it was important to share our own feelings of nerves and uncertainty, and bumps we've had along the way - and sometimes continue to experience. It was important for us to communicate that no one is perfect and it really is okay when talks don't always go according to plan. Our hope is that by being open, we'll be able to give others the confidence and the techniques to handle situations when they arise, deliver an amazing presentation, and most importantly, have FUN"!

This timely and hugely practical work provides a score of examples from contemporary and historical scientific presentations to show clearly what makes an oral presentation effective. It considers presentations made to persuade an audience to adopt some course of action (such as funding a proposal) as well as presentations made to communicate information, and it considers these from four perspectives: speech, structure, visual aids, and delivery. It also discusses computer-based projections and slide shows as well as overhead projections. In particular, it looks at ways of organizing graphics and text in projected images and of using layout and design to present the information efficiently and effectively.