Making The Environment Right For A Presentation

Writen by Mary Casey

Giving a presentation to your colleagues at work needn't be a horrific experience. All it takes is a little planning and preparation on your part to impress the boss and keep your coworkers awake while imparting the information you want to get across.

The environment of a presentation can be key to success or failure. Many a fine presentation was ruined by an uncomfortable or unsuitable environment. The make the environment as comfortable and productive as possible try to arrange the following items:

1) Room size and location. You want to have the room fit the number of people attending your presentation. Too small a room and your listeners may have to stand, or even sit on the floor. Too large a room, and your listeners could be scattered all over the four corners of the place, making it difficult to establish eye contact, or draw in your audience. If at all possible, have a good idea how many people are attending your presentation before you book a room.

The room location should be clearly indicated in any brochures or advertisements for your presentation. You don't want your audience wandering all over a building looking for your room and missing half your presentation. You also don't want your room location to be too close to a potential distraction, like a swimming pool, or a bar.

2) Room temperature, seating, tables. You want the temperature to be cool enough to keep your listeners awake, yet warm enough so they aren't uncomfortable. Ask your listeners before you begin if they are comfortable. Show them where the thermostat is so they can adjust it during the presentation if need be.

Seats should have good back support, and there should be enough seats for everyone. The seats should have armrests and be adjustable.

Tables should be clean of any extraneous items and allow for a unobstructed view of the speaker. You may want to be sure the tables are grouped together to facilitate team work and exchange of ideas. Prepare the tables with any materials the participants need for your presentation, such as paper to take notes, outlines or copies of the slides you are presenting, pens, markers (if needed), and name tags.

3) Comfort. Nothing is worse for a presenter than a room full of caffeine or food depraved listeners. If you have a morning presentation, it is pleasant to offer coffee, tea, juice and other breakfast type items such as cereal bars or muffins for the participants to have prior or during your presentation. For a later day presentation, pitchers of ice water, soda, and energy bars are appreciated. If your room is near a place that offers food, such as a cafeteria, or vending machines, please point these out to your participants prior to getting into your talk. In addition to food, please tell your listeners where the bathrooms are.

Now that your environment is conducive to good listening and your listeners are comfortable and feel a little pampered and special, all eyes and ears will be on you, not on their growling tummies or sore backs. All it takes is a little preparation.

This article has been submitted by Mary Casey in affiliation with http://www.Facsimile.Com/ which is a site for Fax Machines.

Mary Casey, MS, PT has given many presentations at major teaching hospitals on the east coast.

Projection Lamps And Premature Burnout

Writen by Mark Boehm

Over the past 25 years I have had the unique opportunity to talk directly with many of the professionals and instructors who use Overhead Projectors as an integral part of their profession. Through these interactions I have accumulated notes and information that has inspired me to write these articles that pertain to some of the most common problems experienced by owners of today's and yesterday's Overhead Projectors. This is the ninth article in a series of articles that will be written from a professional Electronics Technicians point of view in regards to some of today's most common Overhead Projector problems and questions.

This is part two of my article titled "Projection Lamps; how long should they last?" Because of the response I have had from the first article I thought it might be a good idea to continue our discussion of the subject of projection lamps and premature burnout.

One of the most frequent questions we receive from our customers is what causes early projection lamp failure. A lot of people are making simple mistakes that end up costing them a lot in burned-out lamps.

For instance, did you know:

• Moving the Overhead Projector while the lamp is on or even shortly after turning it off can cause premature failure. A hot lamp filament can easily be damaged if handled roughly while still hot.

• If an Overhead Projector lamp does not burn out immediately, but burns out within an hour, the lamp is probably defective, not the projector. In many cases diode failures are the cause of many burned out lamps. However, a diode failure will usually cause a lamp to burn out instantly!

• You should never move a lamp changer lever (if your machine is so equipped) while the on/off switch is in the "On" position. This will jar the lamp and cause a hot lamp filament to fall apart. Moving it when the power is off will assure the lamp filament is cool and able to handle rougher treatment.

• Excessive heat will shorten lamp life. A fan motor running slow due to lack of lubrication or excessive dirt will not cool a lamp sufficiently or damage to the fan blades will reduce the cooling efficiency of the fan. A regular maintenance program will help prevent this from occurring.

• You should never allow anything to block the airflow of your projector's cooling fan. The intake and output grills must not be obstructed or overheating will occur, shortening the life of the projection lamp.

Mark Boehm is the president of M-B Electronics He has over 25 years of experience in the Audio Visual and Electronics Industry. You can contact him by calling 800-872-9456 or by e-mail at: etbinc@comcast.net

Additional info about this subject: http://www.mbelectronics.com/view.aspx?id=299

Presentations Dont Need Fancy Techniques

Writen by Graham Jones

Even though it was a dark, dreary conference room, the speaker at the front stood like a beacon of light, attracting everyone towards him. In spite of the worn carpets, the smell of conference coffee and the dry, air-conditioned atmosphere, suddenly everyone in the 1,500-strong audience felt alive. Somehow, the speaker's presentation breathed life into the building and we all felt fantastic.

Yet, as I sat at the back of the room, I knew a secret; I knew that if the conference had been held a week earlier we would all have focused on the worn carpets, the dreary atmosphere and the lingering smell of coffee. A week earlier, that speaker – Alan - would not have captured our hearts so well. You see, just one week earlier I had listened to him rehearse his presentation and it was, frankly, dire. Alan had asked me to review his presentation because he was nervous. He had never spoken to such a large audience before and he was concerned that he should get everything right. But almost everything was wrong. He simply read out his numerous slides, he mumbled and he fidgeted.

So, with just one week to go before his big day I told him to throw away his presentation. "You're being a slave to your slides," I told him. "Chuck them out and simply face the front and speak from your heart. Tell us your story," I said. So, we rehearsed again, this time with Alan simply standing in front of the room telling his story. At times, the excitement of some things captured his imagination and he delivered his information with the real passion he enjoyed. At other times, the sadness of some of the things he was talking about choked his voice and we shed a tear with him.

"Perfect," I said, "Don't do anything different. You are absolutely brilliant when you are being yourself." After the conference itself was over, Alan found me in the lobby and came to thank me. "That was the best piece of advice I've ever been given about making a presentation," he said. "If only I'd known years ago that the best way to make a presentation is to be yourself and speak from the heart I'd have never worried about public speaking."

One tip; one changed man. All I did was suggest he stopped trying to be a 'presenter' and carried on being himself. It changed Alan's entire presentation – and the audience reaction. Far too many people think they need learn special techniques to be a great presenter. They don't; all you need to do to make a perfect presentation or a super speech is to be yourself and speak your true mind.

Graham Jones can help you make great presentations. He provides online courses in presentation skills and also provides information on how you can overcome the fear of public speaking. He also writes presentation tips free of charge.