I read some great advice today while researching effective presentation skills in order for me to prepare my presentation for a future SQL Saturday.  Being my first ever SQL Server presentation, I am doing research and everything.  What was the advice you ask?

“People want to hear a story, not a PowerPoint!”

Wow, that is so profound and so true and yet so simple.  Now to translate that into my presentation  and that will be easier said than done.

Thinking about other presentations, I’ve seen some great ones and some not so great.  I’ve seen simple ones and complex ones.  However, the great ones, in my opinion, are engaging, sometimes humorous, and always humble.

So in order to be successful, let’s recap:

• I need to not read the PowerPoint
• I need to be funny and charismatic
• I need to be humble and not tell people they are wrong and stupid (this one may be hard to do)
• I need to have a relevant and interesting topic
• I need be knowledgable about the subject that I am speaking about

I think I figured it out, I need to hire someone to be me for the presentation. Enjoy 😉