1. Uhms and Bunny Hands:
Tips for Improving Your
Presentation Skills
Cathrine Wilhelmsen
DataGrillen · June 21st 2019

2. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Session Description
Are you considering becoming a speaker, but feel nervous about getting on stage for the first
time? Have you already presented a few sessions and want advice on how to improve? Do you
learn more from seeing examples of what you should NOT do during a presentation instead of
reading a list of bullet points on how to become a better speaker?
Don't worry! I have made plenty of presentation mistakes over the years so you won't have to :)
In this session, we will go through common presentation mistakes and how you can avoid
them, as well as how you can prepare for those dreaded worst-case scenarios. Don't let those
"uhms" and "uhhs" dominate your presentation, help the audience focus on the key message
you're delivering instead of making them read a wall of text in your slides, recover gracefully
from any demo failures, and stop distracting your attendees with floppy bunny hands.
All it takes is a little preparation and practice. You can do this!

4. @cathrinew
cathrinew.net

5. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Warning
Audience participation required

6. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Spoiler Alert
You will fail
:D

7. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

8. Person

9. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Make Eye
Contact

10. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Look Around
People, screen, computer, shoes?

11. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Be
Enthusiastic

12. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Be You
Personality, experiences, stories

13. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Speak
Clearly

14. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Filler Words
Uhm, ehh, like, so, ok, actually, yeah

15. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Voice Variation
Monotone, monotone, monozzzz…

16. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Breathe

17. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Words per Minute
ItIsEasyToSpeakTooFastWhenYouAreNervous

18. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Stand Tall

19. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Common Poses
Floppy bunny, soldier, wonder woman?

20. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Gesture
Intentionally

21. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Mirroring
Left to right or right to left?

22. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Pointing
Don't turn away from the audience

23. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Move
Consciously

24. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Fidgeting
Drying palms, scratching, flipping hair

25. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Pacing
Walk, turn, sway, walk, turn, sway

26. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
1. Make Eye Contact
2. Be Enthusiastic
3. Speak Clearly
4. Breathe
5. Stand Tall
6. Gesture Intentionally
7. Move Consciously

27. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

28. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Props

29. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Slide Deck

30. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
No Sections
How am I supposed to remember all this?

31. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

32. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

33. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Wall of Text
Should I listen or read the slide?

34. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

35. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

36. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Fonts and Colors
*squint*

37. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

38. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

39. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Too Many Things
What am I supposed to look at?

40. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

41. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

42. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

43. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

44. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
No Visualizations
I read the words, but I don't get it

45. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

46. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

47. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Demos

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Font Size 8
*squint*

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Scrolling Too Fast
*whoosh*

50. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Talking to the Screen
Hello?

51. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Not Talking At All
Hello?

52. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
No Explanation
Wait, what?

53. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Missing Backups
…and did you test your restores?

54. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
DEMO
Demo
of Demos

55. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Scott Hanselman's Microphone Issue
https://youtu.be/rd0Rd8w3FZ0?t=9264 (watch for 1 min)

56. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Scott Hanselman's Microphone Issue
Takeaways from this video:
• Things will happen
• Things happen to everyone
• You can't always control everything
• It's OK when things happen
• Keep going, don't freeze or panic
• Have a friend in the room! :)

57. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Scott Hanselman's Screen Issue
https://youtu.be/VGQNXMJtcxk?t=630 (watch for 1.5 min)

58. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Scott Hanselman's Screen Issue
Takeaways from this video:
• Other things will happen
• Things happen to everyone
• You can't always control everything
• It's OK when things happen
• Keep going, don't freeze or panic
• Have a friend in the room! :)

59. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
1. Keep it Simple
2. Visualize Content
3. Explain Steps
4. Have Backups

60. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)

61. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Performance

62. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Preparation

63. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Timebox
Cheat sheet and stopwatch

64. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
75-minute session

65. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Buffers
5-minute intro
5-minute summary

66. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Content
3-5 sections
10-20-30 minutes

67. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Rehearsed Timings

68. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Timeboxes

69. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Clock Warnings

70. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Rehearse
Memorize first 5 minutes

71. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Know Your Audience
Be aware of jokes, phrases, and words

72. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Ask a Friend
Get feedback and support

73. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Delivery
Mistakes

74. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Negative Expectations
"I'm not an expert…"

75. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Apologizing
"I'm sorry this text is so small…"

76. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
False Compliments
"This is simple, you all know this…"

77. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Poor Timing
"I'll just skip over these last forty slides…"

78. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Weak Ending
"We have five minutes left… any questions?"

79. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Common
Fears

80. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
I forgot what to say!
Just keep going

81. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
I don't know!
Never pretend you do

82. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
My demo failed!
Have a backup plan

83. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
No one showed up!
It happens :(

84. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Interactions

85. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Questions
Now or later?

86. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Polls
Call out the results

87. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Feedback
Focus on what's actionable

88. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
1. Come Prepared
2. Be Confident
3. Learn to Fail
4. End Strong

89. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Improve one thing each time you present

90. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
There is only one you :)

91. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
Celebrate!

92. © 2019 Cathrine Wilhelmsen (hi@cathrinew.net)
@cathrinew
cathrinew.net
hi@cathrinew.net
thank you!