How to present like Dave Coplin
Yesterday at FutureCommerce 2011, I had the ‘simple’ task of presenting straight after Dave Coplin, Search Evangalist at Microsoft. I say simple with a touch of sarcasm, based on the fact that Dave is THE best presenter I have ever had the pleasure of listening to and watching.
Following Dave’s presentation I felt compelled to write up what I felt are some of the key ingredients to how Dave does his stuff. So here goes…
- Roam around the stage
- Use plenty of single image slides
- Tell real life stories
- Reference things that have driven you on
- Know your content inside out
- Don’t conform to the usual presentation style/delivery
- Engage the audience
- Take the piss with some of your content (particularly data & graphs)
- Use clever, striking photos, not the usual stock photography crap
- Don’t take yourself too seriously
- Grow your hair
I chatted to Dave after my presentation, and he was upfront in saying that he presents very regularly, although doing something regularly doesn’t necessarilly mean you’ll become a master in it – but Dave sure has in my opinion.
Anyway, you can follow Dave on Twitter and read more about him on his blog and his Linkedin profile.
Right I’m off to grow my hair…
Tags: presentations
Six days later he left me the same feeling. Luckily enough I never had to leave my seat and join the speakers. How could anyone top Dave Coplin, how can anyone take the stage after that? And you know what, he is so good, that despite his high MS position he almost NEVER gets to mention MS products. No sales pitch there. Someone from the audience said it best: “I want Dave Coplin to be my dad.”