Organization and Prep Tips

(Based off of the tips from Garr Reynolds found here.)

I think Reynolds's key points were Audience Expectations and Attention, Keep It Concise, and Know What You're Saying and Own It. He mentions the audience a lot. A presentation shouldn't be presented in a unorganized and cryptic manner. They won't understand, they'll get irritated, then your presentation is, at best, useless. I liked that he mentioned that a good way to keep the audience's attention while keeping the presentation understandable was by including stories, especially personal ones.

Of course our presentations, hopefully, won't be 30+ minutes long, but we can still use these tips. We need to plan and organize what our point is. We need to make sure it's interesting and engaging enough so that our point doesn't fall upon sleeping ears. Not to mention, the tip about not information overloading is key. Many times people just talk and talk and have this big, long paragraph as a presentation- both very bad!

Just like designing a product, the a presentation has a task that it is supposed to be doing- like conveying a message or persuading an audience. They needs to do their tasks. Also, there are presentation that can fall into the design categories; visceral, behavioral, and reflective. They don't exactly work in the same way but they can still fall into those categories. Take behavioral. A behaviorally designed product has a purpose and does it, no frills. A person could have a presentation that is meant to inform people of a product and it can go the no frills, info-style presentation path. Of course, neither are expected to truly hold on their own without the help of a little visceral and reflective designing. There is always a balance. (That's like the #1 saying at this school!)

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I understand that nearing the end of this quarter we will only have time for three design topics to be discussed, but I don't exactly understand what it means by "design topic." Which "area of design?" I don't know. What are the "areas of design?" I think having a list would help me pick three out. Like, I would be interested in knowing how they test designs? Is that an "area of design?" Sorry. I know this isn't helpful.