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Woo Hoo! Kent used my line for the Daily Insider!
Too bad I can't claim copyright. 
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
I’m begging you for the benefit of everyone, don’t be STUPID.
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What's it going to be, then, eh?
As good an opener as I can think of.
modified 1-Sep-23 11:21am.
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Given it's a PPT:
Once upon a time there was an audience that could read the PPT slides themselves, and if they didn't have to all gather to listen to the presenter read the slides, they would live much more happily ever after.
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Telling a good story is all about context.
Here's what I mean:
Try to memorize a list of 15 random things: gorilla, apples, tree, bulldozer, etc...
Average person can remember about 4 +/- 3 of the random things.
However, as soon as you make a story out of those 15 things (and especially if you create a bizarre story) then most people can remember them all.
Context generally provides things with meaning. The random list has no context or meaning and is easily forgotten.
From that, we have 3 good principles:
1. Whenever you present data, turn the data into a story.
2. When you tell a story, do your best to provide it with a context that relates to the audience and it will instantly be far more memorable.
3. When you provide a solid context to the audience the story will have meaning to them -- so consider what might be meaningful (to your specific audience) in the data that you are presenting.
Good luck!
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A while ago, I found a big article speculating that PowerPoint is created mainly to support people who work for a corporation, and who have nothing to say but want to make an impression of saying something.
The author was amused by the empty-minded content of most presentations and the fact that so many elements take up so much room giving no essential information. Exactly according to the previous statement. We even have a nickname for such people — “office plankton”. 
Anyway, as I always had similar feelings, I took it pretty seriously and realized that I should permanently give up not only those commercial presentation tools but all kinds of Office products, not only Microsoft's. How could I work for corporates? Pretty easily, I must say. Moreover, I usually deliver many big presentations on a regular basis.
First, I realized that I could simply show a sequence of pictures, using what I already have. You need a good picture viewer, and you can find some. Later, I came up with a similar idea (first of all, the pictures you already have) to create a more advanced show.
These two noncommercial open-source products I offered to Code Project readers are alternatives, and they are similar. They show what one can create using just a Web browser and a pair of hands:
Web Presentation, an Application in a Single File, now with Video
Web Presentation, the Other Way Around
They provide Live Demo for both, so it would take a few seconds to find out what they are. This is one Life Demo, and this is the other one.
Enjoy!
Thank you.
—SASergey A Kryukov
modified 1-Sep-23 2:18am.
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thanks for the great story![Rose | [Rose]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
diligent hands rule....
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You are very welcome!
—SASergey A Kryukov
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Nice thing. I'll check it a bit more in depth when I get time for it, right now I am just bookmarking your post.
A small feedback from what I saw:
- In "life Demo" (the html one) you have a Typo in the slide after the bird video. You have "a" twice "A a cross platform..."
- In both demos:
No final slide, it is and endless loop (if intentionally done like this, then I say nothing)
Additionally... (In powerpoint) If a slide has presentations that might take time and you need to skip them because you are needing longar than needed, the first click makes the slide to its final form. The second click makes next.
If you click once in your presentations you jump to the next slide, without seeing the end slide and might miss things that should be shown.
Might be a worthy modification (maybe another shortcut for that?)
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
modified 1-Sep-23 3:16am.
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Hi Nelek,
Thank you very much for the advice and especially for reporting my typo. Speaking of which:
I. Ilf wrote: It was decided to make it totally error-free. They produced twenty proofreading prints and nevertheless on the title page it was printed: "Encyclopidae Britannica".
I'll certainly fix it as soon as I get to it.
As to “no final slide”… you know, I've used it for many presentations already and never felt someone needed to know a final slide. Even an accidental step to the next round was perceived normally. And I did not quite understand how it was possible to miss something. Anyway, it looks like no concerns of this kind ever visited my head. However, there is something to think about — Thank you again.
—SASergey A Kryukov
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That with the final sleed is not so important. I would consider more the "skip presentation" option. That can really be helpfull for the users.
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek,
Thank you for sharing the ideas!
There can be many things to think about. The issue with skipping is that you need to have some information on what to skip. This information can be the presentation frame itself. Maybe you did not pay attention: such a frame can already be skipped at any time, even if a video, based on an external video file, is playing. I still don't want to get away from a single file conception (the system is a single file, and the other files belong to the user). I also don't want to get far away from having just a list of external files of different types in a directory. It should always remain a primary usage pattern, the most basic and quick one. Also, in case you are thinking of something more complicated than that: the presentation users always see the same screen the presenter works with, there is nothing hidden.
I am not at all trying to dismiss your suggestions. Just the opposite: I want to understand. I think the idea of the last frame (or first frame because you also can move backward) could be a valuable option. Perhaps, with the skipping, I haven't grasped the idea.
Thank you.
—SASergey A Kryukov
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Ok.
I now got it, the animation is actually an extern file (i.e. *.WebP) so you can't jump to "the last line" of it.
Forget it then...
-------------
The final slide would be more a sort of "BOOL execute once = TRUE", you don't need to make the "end slide" because this is responsibility of the user. But if I were going to use it, I would like to be sure that a not planed click doesn't start it over again... that could look a bit unprofessional depending on the audience. So the "execute once" would be a nice thing to avoid it.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek,
Thank you for the clarification.
Nelek wrote: the animation is actually an external file (i.e. *.WebP) so you can't jump to “the last line” of it...
Not quite. The animation comes in several ways: 1) animated bitmap file (for example, multi-layered (animated) .webp, 2) animated SVG, 3) just video, such as .WebP, that is, any media files, representable by a browser. If the video frame type is specified, it is done not directly, but by placing in a standard <video> element. Therefore, all these presentation frames (not to be confused with video frames) could be navigated to the next or previous presentation frame, at any time.
But that's not all. The presentation doesn't have to be an external file. Also, it could be some HTML section, identified by the system by some simple rules, and that HTML fragment can be either static or it can use CSS animation. But CSS-animated HTML content is nothing more than just a state of a Web page, so it also can be navigated to the next or previous presentation frame. In fact, during the presentation, no one can even see the difference in the nature of the presentation frames. The only exception is the characteristic look of a <video> element with its well-known controls, but only it is not operating in a full-screen mode.
I would say, all the power I see in this approach is its uniform behavior of all frames, no matter what is their nature.
Thank you for the discussion again. I'll greatly appreciate any notes, ideas, suggestions, and especially any criticism.
Thank you.
—SASergey A Kryukov
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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov wrote: Thank you again for the typo reporting!
You are very welcome
Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov wrote: I also credited your reporting in both articles.
Thank you, although it would not have bothered me not to. At the end was only a typo, nothing technical.
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek wrote: At the end was only a typo, nothing technical.
Even though it is true, there are some unwritten rules of politeness in publications.
Thank you.
—SASergey A Kryukov
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OK. Then I will just say "Thank you" and shut up 
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Sergey A Kryukov
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A long time back, I used to use this strategy:
First 20 percent of the presentation (in terms of duration) - What we're trying to solve, motivation, introduction. Basically setting the context.
Next 60 percent - The content proper, all the stuff you want to present. This is the core of the presentation.
Last 20 percent - About what we just discussed/solved. Conclusion. Can include a short quiz to test audience attentiveness, and give chocolates as gifts. This is one way to make them remember your presentation for long.
Numbers can vary. For example it can be 25 - 50 - 25. Or even 33 - 33 - 33 in the extreme case.
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Death By Presentation is alive and well!
Presentations turn people off. Get them round a big table and have a conversation instead.
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Based on the military idea of tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them?
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No idea. I haven't had to give a presentation since I graduated college (1992).
These days, I write a document and send it out to the people who need it, and ask them to send me back any questions they may have for clarification. I never receive any questions. I doubt they even read the document. But I think they are grateful for not having to attend a presentation about something they don't care about.
Similarly, whenever I receive a meeting invite, I ask the sender to send a document I can read before the meeting. They never do, and I never attend the meeting.
[ Insert quip about meetings being like Socially Transmitted Infections -- no one want to get one, no one wants to give one. ]
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Depends on the presentation and audience.
I once had to do a 10 minute presentation about myself and my company to my peers in an informal setting.
Doing things differently was encourages.
I started like this:
"Hi, I'm Sander Rossel and I'd like to start at the beginning.
It all started 13 billion years ago [slide of some cosmic big bang].
I'm looking at the time so I'm going to skip some slides [skips slides of dinosaus, stone age, a medieval setting, second world war, ends on a slide of me and the year 1987].
So stuff happened and then it was 1987, a very important year because that's the year I was born."
And from there the actual presentation started.
This small joke (took about 10 seconds I guess) had the audience laughing and wanting more.
I put a few other jokes in there too.
This was a weekly meeting with about 20-30 business owners and we had a presentation like this every week.
Guess which one everyone remembers.
Not saying you should become a stand up comedian though, it would be out of place if you're presenting your product to potential customers, for example.
But try to find something to make you stand out and to immediately captivate your audience.
Also, keep your sheets minimal.
If there's too much text, people will (try to) read the sheets and they can't read and listen at the same time.
At the end, people will forgot what they read and they won't have listened to you.
So, say features of your product are sales and stock, list them as such:
Features:
- Sales
- Stock
Rather than:
Features:
- Sales, a module for making, and keeping track of, sales orders
- Stock, a module for keeping track of real-time stock.
You have to explain that last bit.
Also, don't read from your slide or a piece of paper.
Practice a dry run in front of the mirror at least three or four times and then again a day later.
The more natural you come across the better it will stick.
Hope that helps!
Good luck!
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Record yourself talking so you pretend you're hearing yourself. If you're not engaging to yourself, you won't be to others.
Practice telling it to yourself. If you're nervous or have the jitters, you'll lose the audience no matter how good the story is.
If you're funny crack a joke. If not, don't. Self-awareness is key.
Always have a character arch, plot twist, etc. Even short stories shouldn't move in a straight line where peeps know how it's going to end from the start.
Jeremy Falcon
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What will be the actionable intelligence (ai) that you are trying to offer, and do you expect folks to gather that (ai) from what you say, or what they will read, when they get a copy of the slide deck?
If you know those things, clearly, and concisely, then you have a chance. However you also need to know what the readers, listeners, and attenders of the presentation want to hear - what is their particular 'doubt' that you need to address.
Now you have a proper handle on the importance and priority of just how good your story needs to be. In some cases it's just a place holder so you can pick it up later, other times it's a 'now or never' commitment.
Plenty of preparation prevents p*ss poor performance!
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