11.12.2005

Public Speaking with PowerPoint

Just in case you haven’t seen Time magazine (11/14/05, p. 96) there are some interesting notes on public speaking. For example, according to Microsoft, PowerPoint is used in an estimated 30 million presentations throughout the world every day—not that many when you consider that PowerPoint has over 400 million users. No statistics on how many of these users are in our public speaking classes. Among the new developments: a digital remote with a laser pointer built in, Ovation software that enables you to create a scrolling teleprompter onscreen, and Keynote 2, an inexpensive alternative to PowerPoint from Apple. Among the public speaking suggestions offered in this brief piece: begin with a bang (avoid apologizing, thanking people, or explaining how you picked the topic), keep your slides simple (limit bullets to 6 words), use multimedia (pictures, video, and music), and tell a story with colorful anecdotes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, my name is Jennifer. I am currently enrolled in an interpersonal communication course that makes use of your text. An assignment recenlty given calls for interviews and/or surveys of either expertes or laypeople. The topic of the asssignment is self. I was wondering if you could elaborate on self and if I could interview you. I have not came up with a list of questions yet to ask but if you could assist me, it would be greatly appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Jennifer--I'm not sure this is coming through--at any rate, contact me via regular e-mail: jadevito@earthlink.net
Joe