Here’s a really small hyper-detailed recommendation: If you’re using Apple’s Keynote for presentations, make two copies of your opening title slide.
I do quite a few public-speaking engagements. I prefer, when possible, to use Apple’s Keynote package; one reason is its superb presenter display; the idea is that when you’re presenting on the projector, your laptop has a handy display showing the current slide, the next slide, your notes to the slide, and the elapsed time you’ve been speaking.
(I gather that other presentation packages now have cool presenter displays as well.)
Anyhow, the central issue here is the time display. I pride myself on using the amount of time the organizers ask me to; no more, no less; so I rely on that display.
The time starts counting when you hit “next slide” for the first time; not when you hit “Play” on the slide show. Now, in many cases, when the audience comes into the room, you want to have your title slide showing so they know they’re in the right room.
Thus the recommendation. So you walk up to the podium, hit “Next Slide” and because there are two copies of the title, the screen doesn’t change, but the time clock starts counting.
Hey, it’s not a big deal; advice worth exactly what you paid for it.
Contributions
Comment feed for ongoing:
From: Commenter (Dec 21 2010, at 23:17)
Good Tim, have a virtual beer on me
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From: Gary Cheeseman (Dec 22 2010, at 14:17)
Great Keynote tip, thanks.
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From: Jon Jennings (Dec 23 2010, at 01:28)
Nice tip.
The other payoff for this (and where I originally thought this tip was leading) is that it lets you test your remote before you actually start talking.
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From: vanderwal (Dec 28 2010, at 20:57)
This is a great tip and one that would have saved me many times. Thanks!
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