How to do a great presentation: take-aways from David Milne's course (level I)

• “Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.” (Coco Chanel). 
• If you present badly, the audience remember you and how bad you did it. If you present well, they remember the message.
• What people know influences what they remember from a presentation: during the course with David, all the people who listened to one of my presentations were asked what they remembered from it. They all remembered different things! This is not that strange. What really called my attention was how few things they actually remembered. And this was done some minutes after the presentation!  Imagine what people remember one week, one month or one year after the presentation!  
• This is why I now prefer to focus the whole presentation to conveying one single message that will stick for a longer period of time. It may even be simply: this idea is really good (I do not remember the details but I remember its name and and can look the details up on the web).
• Preparation is key. Rehearse as many times as necessary.  (this is not about memorising in your head. Stand up and present to your family, partner, trusted colleagues or friends!
• It is not about what you say; it is about what they (your audience) are thinking
• There are no rules. What is appropriate?
• Does a word have different meanings (e.g. "markets")? Watch out with the jargon: avoid it at all costs!
• Get their minds to join their bodies (the latter may be in the room but the former not)
• Catch their attention from the start
• Presentations are just a communication tool amongst many others such as videos and documents. Use them for the right purposes. Can the message be delivered more effectively with a piece of paper? If so, why are you spending time on a presentation?
• The competitive edge of presentations is the emotions the presenter can convey, the direct contact with the presenter and the interactions between audience and presenter.

• Killer thoughts your audience should not have:
• Get on with it!
• I've heard all of this before
• I bet you say that to everyone
• So what?

• About numbers:
• Certain numbers can be remembered; especially big ones
• Use numbers carefully
• Use only one or two numbers or figures in your presentation
• Numbers can be confused easily

• About attention and memory: 
• Even pictures can distract the audience
• Certain slides can help memory
• Concepts are easier to remember than specific details (use details to stick the concept in people's heads)
• Information sticks to people's interests and experiences
• People remember relevant stories
• People remember things you don't expect
• People remember logical sequences
• People will forget the vast majority of the details of a presentation
• People will notice the emotional state of the presenter
• If the audience have a concern, they will not listen to you. What is their concern? Knowing their concern requires educated guesswork and intelligence gathering.

Note: all of the above were insights I had or ideas provided by David Milne during his course "Winning Hearts and Minds" level I