Posts Tagged ‘ TED ’

Jacek Utko’s Awesome English Presentation

Here is a fantastic example that shows that even when English is not your native language, when you have a strong ‘foreign’ accent when using English, if you compliment your slides with what you are saying it really does not matter how clear you are at speaking English.

Jacek Utko, a Polish newspaper designer spoke at TED (Technology Education Design) recently. His talk was only 6 minutes long, but he was able to convey his message with passion, flow and seamlessness. Because Jacek was able to synchronise his words with his slides it was very easy to forget that he was speaking with a foreign accent.

To view this with subtitles click here

I do accept that Jacek’s English is very good, my point is that his accent could easily distract an audience of native English speakers. However, Jacek’s ability to synchronise his words to his slides enabled him to make his words clear and sharp.

But one of the best things about this little presentation is the story. Jacek started his story off with a question about the future of newspapers, the answer, if any, was that the newspaper was doomed. However, he then went on to describe a solution. He was able to show some examples and even gave the statistics that proved that by designing beautiful newspapers there is a way that newspapers could saved.

This is a very good demonstration of a man who does not speak English as a native speaker, yet has the confidence to stand up on a stage and speak to 2000 people in a foreign language and deliver a presentation that is 100 times better than most native English speakers could do.

Remember Jacek’s final words?

“To be good is not enough”

That’s a good lesson we can all learn.

2010
01/13
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Content
Delivery
TAGS



Write comment

Talking Numbers

One of most badly delivered parts in a presentation is numbers. Quite often when someone is delivering a presentation andaregivingtheir audience a set of numbers whether it is sales figures, production costs or any kind of statistic they just create a chart or graph in Powerpoint or Keynote with just the numbers on it.

What this is to an audience is a group of numbers arranged on a chart. It has no real meaning.

In their book Made to Stick Chip and Dan Heath talk about giving those numbers meaning. here is a great example from that book.

“Bottled water costs about 8.4 cents per ounce. Municipal water in San Francisco costs about 0.0022 cents per ounce. When you read those two statistics, what you take away is this: Wow, there’s a big difference there. Bottled water costs a lot more than municipal water! But our brains aren’t very good at intuiting much more than that…”

However, they go on to give an example how the same example about municipal water and bottled water compare in price.

“The writer Charles Fishman, in a magazine article about the bottled water industry, figured out a brilliant way to make this statistic come alive. Here’s what he wrote: “In San Francisco, the municipal water comes from inside Yosemite National Park. It’s so good the EPA doesn’t require San Francisco to filter it. If you bought and drank a bottle of Evian, you could refill that bottle once a day for 10 years, 5 months, and 21 days with San Francisco tap water before that water would cost $1.35.” Now your brain can begin to apprehend the full scale of the difference between these numbers—it’s not a big difference, it’s a gargantuan difference! It’s a 10-and-a-half-year’s-worth-of-refilling-a- water-bottle difference.”

What you need to do is give some meaning to your numbers, rather than just stating a list of numbers.

Here is another example of  great way to show statistics by the great Hans Rosling. This guy has an awesome way to present numbers and data.

The above video is available in 7 different languages at the TED.com website

There is a simple trick in English that you can use :

“We have now sold over 500,000 units of piping since we started in 2007. That means if we put all those 500,000 pipes end to end it would stretch from Seoul to Pusan and back! That’s about 500 km.”

All we have to do is present the statistic or number and then relate something that your audience can relate to. For example, if your audience has just come back from a coffee break and you are giving statistics on the amount of gasoline used in an average car per year, you could compare the number with the number of cappuccinos Starbucks sell.

So, change the way you present numbers and see your audiences eyes light up.

2010
01/06
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Content
Design
TAGS




1 comment

The Art Of Story Telling

When you give a presentation, it is important to tell a story. The story could be about the way your company has grown, the development of your product, what you or your company has done over the last few years. Whatever you talk about in your presentation, you need to tell a story.

The reason for this is to keep your audience interested. It also gives your presentation a flow, a path forward. Without a story, your presentation will feel flat and uninteresting.

Below are a couple of examples of great story telling in a presentation.

In this video Mike Rowe tells his story without the aid of Powerpoint or Keynote. He just stands, up front and centre and tells his story, with amazing power.
(To view this video with your language’s subtitles click here)

In this next video Adam Savage of tells his story using a few slides, but not too many. The impact of this presentation is actually in the story of how he made the Maltese Falcon, and he does this with amazing skill

(To view this video in your language click here)

The point here is that you tell a story. It gives greater impact and interest to your presentation and it makes speaking in English much easier. Telling a story is like having a conversation with your audience, and if you are using English everyday in your work, then you are likely to be telling stories everyday.

So remember, when you are planning your presentation, think about your story, what it is, and how you will tell it. The time you spend doing this, you will reap the rewards later.

2009
11/15
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Delivery
TAGS




Write comment