The Oncoming Storm: How NOT to look like an idiot on presentation day...

Not strictly relevant to what I've written in the past, but with the looming presentation, I have to admit, I'm nervous. With that in mind, I'm cast back to my heady days of public speaking competitions. After one particularly gruelling round, I sat outside with one of the older competitors and mused about presenting a speech. We considered the fact that what NOT to do could in fact make a great speech itself. Applying it to presenting a game idea wouldn't be such a bad thing, either.

Now, I've always been good at speaking in public. I was never nervous about talking to a crowded room, so much the pity since I usually get dumped on for it frequently. But there are some advantages to being a good public speaker (and no, it's not that my drama marks were great).

A few tips from an old hand:

1. NEVER insult your audience's intelligence. They won't thank you for treating them like idiots. Put it in layman's terms, sure. We're all human. But treat them like two-year-olds watching Play School and you'll get a baaaad reception. Assume a basic intelligence and talk to them on that level, remembering appropriate explanations.

2. Keep it interesting. Many's the time I've "fallen asleep" in class because the lecturer was talking in a monotone. Genius they may be, great public speaker they are not. Keep people listening by speeding up, slowing down, changing pitch for emphasis, the works.

3. Know your subject. There's no point presenting rocket science when you know more about interpretative dance. It's not brain surgery, its games! Talk about what you know, what you have played, what you have read. This way you don't have to jitterbug through a jive when you have not a darn clue what you're really talking about.

4. Present relevant material. Seems like an obvious one, but you wouldn't believe the times I've sat through presentations and thought 'And this has to do with the topic.... how?' You'd think that the people would understand how certain things correlate. So if you start talking about meteorological phenomena during the presentation of a game design, I'd say you were a mite off-course.

5. No-one likes a mumbler. It might have been cute for the penguin, but the penguin's marks weren't riding on this. Speak up, please. We can't hear you at the back.

6. Anecdotes R Fun. Fun stories about your own gaming blunders are always amusing. Share some, but keep enough up your sleeve for the afterparty.

That's about it for now. I should think of some more, but I'm tired. Oh well.