Presentation Skills
August 7th, 2006
Three of the most important things developers need to learn in order to succeed in the real world are how to run a meeting, how to give a presentation, and how to give value when attending one. When I run the world, all three will be taught in a mandatory first-year course, along with basic time management skills. And chocolate will be free, tasty, and good for you.
I completely agree with the three above, I have found that as my skills in the above areas improved, so did the number of potential opportunities (such as jobs or responsibilities). I think these skills will also help students when they are involved in group projects and even the project course, it’s vital to convey what you’ve learnt, and what you can learn. I like to take each meeting as an interview to something further, there’s so much that can be said for these skills.
Greg mentioned in lecture that he likes to use precise nouns/words when saying things to avoid ambiguity, but he used an ambiguous word near the end of that same sentence
I couldn’t agree more!
There’s no more point in being good at your job but unable to tell people about it that there is in a book with the pages glued shut. No matter how interesting the pages are to read, if people can’t get to them they can’t read them.
I’m a voice & presentation skills trainer, so I know there IS no “simple, instant fix” but if there was one it would be this:
Remember that giving a presentation isn’t about telling people what you know: it’s about telling them what they NEED to know, in the way THEY need to know it.
The numer of times people on my presentation skills courses have emailed me afterwards and commented that this simple mantra made all the difference……
Simon