no powerpoint!!?

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I have just found out that I have to give a seminar/workshop WITHOUT POWERPOINT! I feel as though my powers have been taken away from me - what about my nice graphs!?

Any tips for how to get by? - its not an academic audience, I'm feeding back my results and giving them tips on how to adapt their lifestyle

M

Can you print and give out handouts with your pretty graphs in?

R

How about making a few big posters? Powerpoint is overrated anyway!

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I can give print outs yes, but my main fear is that usually I use the screen as something to read off - not verbatim but use it as a cue and I don't want ot be reading off paper the whole time.

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I have not been to the venue, so not sure about posters (it might not have walls!) I was thinking about borrowing a projector, but again if there are no walls (or white walls) then there is no hope for me.

C

Beamer? :p

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Quote From cleverclogs:

Beamer? :p


You've lost me on this one - are you talking about my hatred for BMWs?

C

Quote From sneaks:

You've lost me on this one - are you talking about my hatred for BMWs?


That would be a bit random. Beamer... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamer_(LaTeX)

H

Is there an overhead projector (yes - I still remember those) so you can make up transparencies. Or a white board - you can draw stuff?

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but I won't have a computer :-( or a projecter screen :-(

H

Overhead projector is a box with a lamp and possibly a fan. No computer. Guessing you wont have one of these either.....

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I could get a portable projecter to go with my laptop, but i have no idea if there will be something to project it on to. Also, as I have a majorly crippled back, I can't physically get these things to the venue. So it looks like I will have to go with some sort of hand out. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas of how to liven it up a bit, as I won't have such a visual aid as before.

I think it will be a small group 5-15

T

Fear not! The best presentation I ever gave was when I decided to ditch the powerpoint and just talk to people :) it was scary (especially since everyone else was powerpointing like crazy) but it went down so well, I even got a little prize.

Plan your topics and make sure you know the flow of your talk (if it's a long one a few cue cards are fine), and tbh, then just improvise. If it's a non-specialist group then an informal approach is often more helpful, you can interact much more with your audience, rather than constantly looking back at a screen. If you're giving lifestyle tips, can you can ask them questions and make it more of a two-way experience? I always think that the more audience participation the better.

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Thanks Teek, I was planning on a bit of audience participation. I really do like to hide behind powerpoint though so will be a new (read terrifying) expereince for me!

T

Hey Sneaks,

Sometimes Powerpoint gets in the way of a presentation. I've done a couple of (short) presentations with out PP and found it to be a refreshingly honest way to talk. At the end there were more questions than usual, and I got the feeling I had really engaged with the audience. One trick a pal of mine used in a talk was to take a relevent prop with him. he used the prop as a unifying theme throughout the talk - it worked really well. Good luck and enjoy

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