Most people complain about boring presentation that uses slides that looks like walls of text.

The brain don’t have the ability to listen et read all that text at the same time.

According to Microsoft, the average slide shows 40 words.

The BBC published an interesting article about the subject

You think bullet points make information more digestible? Think again. A dozen slides with five bullet points on each assumes that people are mentally capable of taking in a list of 60 points. If it’s a 30-minute presentation, that’s a rate of two-per-minute.

This looks a fairly interesting visual aid

This highlights the biggest problem with slide-based presentations, which is that speakers mistakenly think that they can get far more information across than is actually possible in a presentation.

I invite you to read the BBC article.

Share with me: How many words do you have on your slide?

Related posts:

• How to reduce the text in your slides
• To boldly go beyond pie chart
• Presenting data: be creative with charts

Posted by: Denis Francois Gravel

P.S. – Remember to update RSS feed to the new URL. http://feeds.feedburner.com/PRESENTabilityWithDFG

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Denis Francois Gravel

Denis François Gravel aide les organisations à performer en contexte de présentation pour que leurs prestations donnent les résultats souhaités. Il les accompagne dans l’acquisition de meilleures pratiques et dans le développement des habiletés de leur équipe.

Il est le fondateur de PRÉSENTabilité, le cofondateur de TEDxQuébec et a été l’hôte de PechaKucha Québec. (2)

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The post Why You Should Put Less Text in Your Slides appeared first on Denis Francois Gravel | PRESENTability.

I learned a few lessons from this week second Pecha Kucha in Quebec City. The event took place in “Le Cercle” on Tuesday night.

For those not familiar with this formula, each speaker present his project or his ideas in 20 pictures. Picture changes automatically after 20 seconds. So, you have 6min and 40 seconds to present your stuff. After that, next speaker.

This formula his very dynamic. We have the opportunity to share lots of new ideas and to be touched by very different styles. This week program goes from illustration to architecture to experimental music. It was a wonderful evening.

The quality of the speaker surprised me. Most of them never speaks in public and they all did a great job.

Seeing so many different speakers in so little time was a real pleasure for me. I had the opportunity to compare their style and learn a few things (and refresh some old theory about speaking).

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Here are some of my observations:

• Be natural. The best advice for a speaker is: be natural. Don’t try to overdo things. Speak naturally as you would speak to a friend.

• Be who you are. Respect your personality. There were 9 speakers at Pecha Kucha. Each one of them had a different style. Some presentations were more “logical”, other were more “artistic”. That is the richness of those evenings. Don’t try to emulate other speakers. You won’t be has good has them. You could only be good by being yourself.

• Be enthusiastic. Your subject is important enough that you choose to speak about it. I must feel it. I must be transported by your enthusiasm.
• Be proud. What you have done is so interesting that you were invited to speak about it. Don’t be shy. Be proud to share your project or idea with the crowd.
• Be solid. Problems happen. It is normal. Slides go to fast or not enough. You forget something you wanted to say. Don’t let those small problems stop you. Acknowledge and move over, the audience will follow you.
• Be smiling. Have fun. You like your project. You like to talk about it. Then, smile and enjoy the ride.
• Be funny. Nothing seduces the audience more than some humor (not too much, just a little bit).

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Observing other speakers help us enhance our own ability . I will attend the next Pecha Kucha and I will certainly learn a thing or two.

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Share with me: What did you learn by observing other speakers?

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Related Posts:

• Presentation design styles
• You will never be a good speaker
• Speak with Emotions

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Posted by Denis François Gravel

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Denis Francois Gravel

Denis François Gravel aide les organisations à performer en contexte de présentation pour que leurs prestations donnent les résultats souhaités. Il les accompagne dans l’acquisition de meilleures pratiques et dans le développement des habiletés de leur équipe.

Il est le fondateur de PRÉSENTabilité, le cofondateur de TEDxQuébec et a été l’hôte de PechaKucha Québec. (2)

presentability.com

The post 7 Speaking Lessons from Pecha Kucha Quebec appeared first on Denis Francois Gravel | PRESENTability.

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Three bloggers have been invited to blog live during the web conference held for the “Protect your identity online” campaign. Sandra Bellefoy, Mario Asselin and myself.

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10:00

I am in the room, ready for the “Conference on cyber security and prevention”. It will begin at 10:30

It still time to register if you want to participate (in French only).

Speaker: Captain Frédérick Gaudreau, manager of the computer crime coordination office, Sûreté du Québec

Facilitator: Denis Talbot

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10:10

Denis Talbot & Captain Frédérick Gaudreau are getting ready for the conference

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10:30

Denis Talbot start the web conference. He Introduces his new friend: Dominique Vien, Minister of Government Services.

There is 50 participants in the room. More than 100 online.

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10:35

Dominique Vien calls Denis Talbot her “new friend”.

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Why? Because, she is the mother of a teenager who think she is worrying too much about online security and who said WOW about his mom meeting Denis Talbot.

After that, his position about security change and it was the beginning of discussions about security with his mom.

This demonstrates, as I wrote in previous post, that Denis Talbot is a good choice. As spokesman, he has the necessary credibility to persuade Internet users.

Dominique Vien is talking about the growing  online offering of the Quebec government.

ClicSECUR is used by the government to secure the access to those services.

The message of the Minister is clear. Enjoy the power of Internet, but enjoy it securely.

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10:40

Captain Frédérick Gaudreau, manager of the computer crime coordination office, Sûreté du Québec.

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He’s talking about fishing: Fishing is using HTML email. So it looks like regular email from a business. Whit the information in hand, They are able too send a personalize email.

Redirecting the users on specific Web site.

They ask for specific information like your ID or password.

After that, it is easy to use your identity.

They send many millions of email. They only need a few response…

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Popular fishing: You have a lot a money waiting for you in Africa…… Did you received it?

Now it is easy to find information about anybody. Just Google them. We Google ourselves to see what’s available online. People give to much information.

« The policeman finds more information online than on their own database!!! »

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Botnets

It is a network of computer that are compromised and used by hackers.

• They can use your bandwidth and your computer without you knowledge.
• Send spam
• Send fishing email
• Deny of service attack.

Botnets are hard to find.

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On the ISIQ site, their is a list of simple thing to do to protect your PC and your identity online.  One of them is to have an up-to-date antivirus.

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11:20

Conference is over. The question period is beginning.

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• .Kids are the sysadmin of the family network. Adults are not always able to guide their children.
• How many in the police team : around 20. Add the GRC team and the rest of the police officer team.
• Question : What’s new? Is there new technique since last year campaign?  The real question is, how come people are still victim of the same old attack?
• Is there a government web site where you can refer fishing ? Yes http://www.phonebusters.com/
• Don’t put the computer in the bedroom.

Be interest in what you kids are doing. Ask questions. Guide them. Kids are lefts alone online. You have to tell them that Internet is a serious thing. It is a good tool, but their is some risk that they should be aware of..11:48The conference is over. Thanks to Denis Talbot, Captain Frédérick Gaudreau and Dominique Vien, Minister of Government Services..

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Today’s blogging team (and Twitter team)Blogging side-by-side with Sandra, Pascale and Mario was a blast. You can’t say that by looking at the picture, but we had fun.

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From right to left: Pascale Soucy from ISIQ and guest bloggers: Denis Francois Gravel, Sandra Bellefoy & Mario Asselin

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Share with me: If you follow the conference online, how was the experience?

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UPDATE: The streaming of the conference is now available on line. You can watch it here

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Denis Francois Gravel

Denis François Gravel aide les organisations à performer en contexte de présentation pour que leurs prestations donnent les résultats souhaités. Il les accompagne dans l’acquisition de meilleures pratiques et dans le développement des habiletés de leur équipe.

Il est le fondateur de PRÉSENTabilité, le cofondateur de TEDxQuébec et a été l’hôte de PechaKucha Québec. (2)

presentability.com

The post Conference on cyber security and prevention – Live Blogging appeared first on Denis Francois Gravel | PRESENTability.

“Protect your identity online”

The third information and awareness campaign was launched on Monday by ISIQ (security institute of Quebec).

I like this campaign because it is useful for every Internet user, and because it does not use the “FUD factor”.

Campaign Web site: click here

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Disclosure

ISIQ asks me to cover the campaign. I accept but only within my editorial line, which is: presentability.There is no money involved. My collaboration is my small contribution to help make the Internet safer.

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No “FUD factor”

The FUD factor is a technique used in sales and marketing to convince people. It is based on Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. It is easy to apply and really effective.

The problem is that this technique had been overused, and it has created a side effect. Everybody is afraid of everything.

The goal of this awareness campaign is not to convince us to get off the Internet and to never go back again.

The message is simple: Enjoy the power of Internet safely. As in real life, there is some risks, and you should follow some basic rules (see the “Web site” section down this post). No FUD factor here.

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Spokesman

The choice of the spokesman, Denis Talbot, is perfect. He is hosting the TV  Show “M. Net” for the past 10 years. He is well known, he is renown as an “Internet expert”, and he have the needed credibility to endorse the campaign.

More information on the spokesman: denistalbot.com or TV show “M. Net”

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Web site

On the Web site, you will find a tons of useful information. Everything is clear and easy to find. It is written in plain English.

I would have prefer the site to be more “jazzy”, but maybe it would have been less accessible for new net surfers.

Some of the tools you will find on the site

1) An online code of conduct. Here are some of the rules:

• Keep your software up to date, particularly your security software.
• Copy and safeguard important files.
• Restrict access to your personal network, especially your wireless network.
• Other rules on the campaign Web site.

2) A social network guideline for Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.

For the other tools, visits the Protect your identity online Web site.

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Raise the awareness

The ISIQ awareness campaign is well started. The list of tools is big enough to satisfy the majority of Internet users. Spokesman Denis Talbot is a good choice.

In the next days, there will be some Web events in French (registration required). The first one is the “Conference on cyber security and prevention”, which will be held Monday November 16 at 10 : 30 (Eastern time).

You can also follow the campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #jpmi

See you Monday at the Web conference.

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Share with me: What are you doing to keep your Internet usage safe?

Posted by Denis Francois Gravel

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P.S. – Remember to update your bookmark and RSS feed to the new URL. I moved my blog to my new domain name recently.

Blog address: https://presentability.com

RSS Feed: https://presentability.com/feed

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Denis Francois Gravel

Denis François Gravel aide les organisations à performer en contexte de présentation pour que leurs prestations donnent les résultats souhaités. Il les accompagne dans l’acquisition de meilleures pratiques et dans le développement des habiletés de leur équipe.

Il est le fondateur de PRÉSENTabilité, le cofondateur de TEDxQuébec et a été l’hôte de PechaKucha Québec. (2)

presentability.com

The post Protect your identity online appeared first on Denis Francois Gravel | PRESENTability.

I have finally moved my blog last week.

I left the free hosting of WordPress.com. I am now hosting my blog on my new domain name. Thanks to WordPress for hosting my blog in the last month.

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So Welcome everybody to :

PRESENTability.com

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I suggest that you update your bookmark and your RSS Feed. 

Blog new address: https://presentability.com

New RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/PRESENTabilityWithDFG

Until you do, the old address of the blog is automatically redirecting to the new one, but it is quicker with the direct link.

There is still some bug to correct. Moving was a bit harder than I thought. Of course, nothing goes as it is supposed.

First post looked like this. I had some editing to do to fixe this.

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I lost my statistics. After some research, I discovered that you can’t bring your statistics with you when you move away from WordPress.com. So, all my post now have 0 or near zero views (I don’t have hundreds of thousands of readers, but I have more than 2 or 3).

I am working to fix the last bugs. If you find some errors, please report them to me. courriel(@)denisgravel.ca (sorry for the mail address, but it’s SPAM proof).

In the next weeks (or months?), I will change the design and continue to add some functionality.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing your comments with me.

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Posted by Denis François Gravel

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Denis Francois Gravel

Denis François Gravel aide les organisations à performer en contexte de présentation pour que leurs prestations donnent les résultats souhaités. Il les accompagne dans l’acquisition de meilleures pratiques et dans le développement des habiletés de leur équipe.

Il est le fondateur de PRÉSENTabilité, le cofondateur de TEDxQuébec et a été l’hôte de PechaKucha Québec. (2)

presentability.com

The post Welcome to PRESENTability.com appeared first on Denis Francois Gravel | PRESENTability.