Technical Tips for Presentations

Like most of us, I have listened and watched as countless people have made presentations using a data projector (with or without IWB) – in classrooms, at small seminars, or at large conferences. I often find myself frustrated over what I would describe as the lack of professionalism in such presentations. I'm not meaning the quality of materials which maybe presented "on the big screen" (although that is sometimes a factor), but the fact that you often see the presenter rummaging around on the desktop or through folders, and generally seeing all kinds of junk and "action" that has nothing to do with the topic at hand. So I have given some considerable thought both to how I go about presenting so that there's more professionalism and less visual baloney. That's what I'd like to share here - some initial thoughts (mainly tips of a more technical nature), some of which you might know, others you might not. And no-doubt we will all discover new and improved techniques and useful software in the future. I should note, though, before going any further that I work in a Windows environment. I've nothing against Macs – I just don't happen to have one; so what follows is not for Macintosh users. I also use XP – again, nothing against later versions, I just haven't upgraded yet. Another agenda is the use of free or opensource software wherever possible. So what follows should be applicable to both the teacher working with an electronic whiteboard in a regular classroom or a larger scale presentation. And it should also fit the budget of schools, and serves to demonstrate that you do not need to have the latest and greatest to achieve a good effect. A number of ideas don't require any installation and those which do are straightforward, so should be minimum grief for a technician.