From 1982060abfe8631f325af4c50a5639423f1f5df9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Daniel Wagner-Hall Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2024 17:30:21 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Add guide on presenting, and specifically demoing We rely on demos in a bunch of places (weekly demos, Piscine demos, Launch demos, CYF+ demos). This guide attempts to prevent some of the really common issues we see in these demos. We can expand this over time. I've specifically carved out a "Presenting" guide with "Demos" as a sub-section, because a lot of this advice applies to all presentations. We can add more presentation types as sub-sections as needed. --- org-cyf-guides/content/presenting/_index.md | 50 +++++++++++++++ .../content/presenting/demoing/index.md | 62 +++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 112 insertions(+) create mode 100644 org-cyf-guides/content/presenting/_index.md create mode 100644 org-cyf-guides/content/presenting/demoing/index.md diff --git a/org-cyf-guides/content/presenting/_index.md b/org-cyf-guides/content/presenting/_index.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..14901c343 --- /dev/null +++ b/org-cyf-guides/content/presenting/_index.md @@ -0,0 +1,50 @@ ++++ +title = 'Presenting' +description = "Sharing information with people" +emoji = '📢' ++++ + +## Types of presentation + +When presenting to people, it's important to know what style of presentation you're giving. Some common presentation styles are: +* **[Demos](demoing)**: Presenting something you've done (maybe a working product, maybe a new feature, maybe just a mock-up). +* **Lectures**: Teaching information that you know, that the people you're presenting to don't already know. + +This page contains general advice for all presentations. There are also links to specific information for some of these kinds of presentation. + +## Time + +Know how much time you have for your presentation. Make sure you stick to it. Practice your presentation to ensure you can do it within that time. + +Make sure you know if any time for questions is included in your time, or if there is extra time afterwards for questions. + +If you're using slides, you should aim for about one slide per minute of your presentation. If you have more slides than this it will be hard for the audience to take in your presentation. + +## Audience + +Make sure you know about your audience. Think about: + +**What do they _already_ know?** +* Are there things you need to explain so that they can follow what you actually want to talk about? +* Can you skip some things because everyone in the audience already knows them? +* Do you need to _check_ in your presentation to make sure they actually know what you think? + +**What do they _want_ to know?** What are they excited about? e.g. Talking about a cool way of achieving a code problem probably isn't interesting to someone who doesn't know how to code. + +**What do you want _them_ to know?** Do you want them to take some action based on your presentation? Do you want them to use something you're explaining? + +**What do your audience care about?** An audience of non-developers may be more interested in your UI. An audience of developers may be more interested in your code. Target your presentation to your audience. + +## Focus + +Pick a focused message - one or two things you want people to take away. + +If you just say everything that you know/did, it's hard to pick out what was important. + +Explain **what** as well as **why**. If you're talking about something you did, explain why you did it the way you did it. + +## Ordering + +Try to introduce things in the order they're needed. Avoid needing to say "I'll explain that later" or "You'll understand this later". + +## Guidance for specific presentation types \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/org-cyf-guides/content/presenting/demoing/index.md b/org-cyf-guides/content/presenting/demoing/index.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..fbf60891d --- /dev/null +++ b/org-cyf-guides/content/presenting/demoing/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ ++++ +title = 'Demos' +description = "Sharing something you've done with people" +emoji = '📢' ++++ + +Make sure you've read all of [the general presentation guidance](../presenting). This page adds to that information. + +## Purpose + +Think about the purpose of your demo. + +Are you **pitching** - trying to get someone to use/buy/support your product?\ +If so, you probably want to focus on features, value, and why your product is unique. + +Are you **seeking feedback** - asking people for suggestions or ideas?\ +If so, you probably want to tell the audience what feedback you want, and make sure they know how to give it. + +Are you **teaching** - trying to help someone understand something they don't know?\ +If so you probably want to be checking understanding as you go. + +Are you **celebrating** - showing off something you're proud of? + +Make sure you think about this when you prepare your demo. Make sure the audience know what you're expecting from them too. + +## Pick what you show + +If you need to log into your product, the audience probably don't care about watching you log in. Set up a tab which is already logged in so you can jump straight to the interesting stuff. + +If your project requires you to add some data, but what you want to demo is how the data is presented, add the data _before_ your demo so you can jump straight to the interesting stuff. + +You don't need to show the audience everything in your app. Focus on what matters. + +## Pick what you tell + +You should have already picked a focused message. Only tell your audience what they need to understand that message. + +If you're demoing a product experience, you probably don't need to talk about creating a git repo. It's something you needed to do, but it doesn't contribute to your focused message. + +## Preparing for a demo + +Know the scenarios you are going to demo. Practice them! + +Make sure your product/code is already up and running. No one wants to watch you start your project. No one wants to watch you try to open a project and find it's not working. + +Have tabs already open and prepared for each scenario you want to demo. + +If you need to be logged in as multiple users (e.g. as a buyer and a seller) log in to one in your regular browser and use incognito mode to log in as the other one. + +Consider pre-recording anything that could go wrong - that way you can switch to a video if you need. + +Anticipate questions your audience are likely to ask you. Think about answers to them! + +## Demoing as a group + +Make sure you know how you're splitting up the demo between the people. + +Make sure everyone is talking for about the same amount of time. Don't let one person take over. + +If you're handling questions, make sure everyone answers similar numbers of questions. One person shouldn't answer most of them. + +**Don't ever swap laptops**. Have everyone present from the same laptop.