I’m currently working on updating a talk I gave last year in Sydney which I have been invited to give later this month in Brazil. I’ve been hunting around for ideas for improving the presentation and have found the Presentation Zen blog to be full of helpful ideas and examples. Most of it is common sense, but it’s nice to be able to see good examples of using Powerpoint/Keynote.

I’m an advocate of keeping designs as simple as possible - not simplistic necessarily - but without all that clutter. It’s a constant tension which exists when creating a presentation - possibly more so. A presentation isn’t my script, it’s there to help illustrate my talk. Garr Reynolds’ illustration of this is a great reminder of reducing unnecessary text and engaging the audience not to read your slides but to glance at them while listening to you talk.