Presentation tips? Ideas?

imported
#1

Looks like I’m doing a presentation on thruhiking the AT in a week and am looking for some ideas. Audience is probably 20-40 generally well traveled people - a few of whom have plans to go NOBO next spring. Aiming for roughly an hour in length. Haven’t ever done a presentation before, just curious how those who have organized theirs? Any thoughts on how to make it flow well and still cover some details on thruhiking? I’m in Antarctica, so I’m pretty much stuck with doing a powerpoint type thing, but fortunately have all my AT pics on hand and a net connection so I can get others. Thanks!

Skittles 03

#2

I give training lectures with the Navy from time to time and I would have to say
1.Introduce yourself
2.Break your talk into topics ie;gear,logistics,people,food,camping, cost and so forth.Write your thoughts on paper in order and put that order to memory
3.Be open to questions during the presentation, but dont let the questions stray too far from the immediate topic
4.Bring things to show,such as some gearstove water collection and maybe old boots.
5.Show some pics,but dont rely on them to save your presentation.(Too many pics may get boring and serve no training for future hikers.
6.Look out across the room and not at your feet.Make eye contact with individuals throughout the room.Dont bring your eyecontact to the same person over and over.
7.Use an excited glad to be here tone,but dont make the presentation all about you.
8.Have fun and tell what you know,if it comes from experience rather than from something you heard it brings more credibility to what you say.

Virginian

#3

  1. Introduce yourself. Tell them why you are there, and what experiences disntinguish you.

  2. Make a proposition for them. “Everyone in this room can walk 500 miles this year.”

  3. tell your story, with pictures. Let the crowd ask questions during, or hold a time for later (let them know they will ask questions later, or better yet ask THEM questions, and LISTEN to what they say)

4)keep your pictures under 45 minutes. Do not exceed this time. Research has shown that adults and kids alike will not stay tuned after 45 minutes (usually shorter).

  1. Mix it up. Keep them on their feet. What will he be doing next?

6)Broker inspiration.

Tha Wookie

#4

Skittles: Are you at McMurdo? I know it’s high summer there right now but how big of an audience do you expect? Kind of a captive crowd aren’t they? Always wanted to go there… visit the family and all that.

Penguin

#5

Flame and I are still doing these since our hike in '02. We did one last Saturday for about 60 people and have another to do in March. We put together several powerpoint programs for different groups. We took several hundred pictures of wildflowers and that is popular with garden groups (we also have a picture of most of the privies). The one that we get the most request for is “A funny thing happened while walking to Maine.” We talk about the food, craping in the woods, pack weight, the trail, shelters, the weather, the towns, the people, the hikers, Trail names, etc. We have used it for training new hikers (YMCA, church groups and scouts that want to take a weeklong hike). We get the message across with humor. Just share with them Your Hike. Have fun.

Papa Smurf

#6

I created a screensaver like slideshow that I let play in the back ground while I talked. I told my basic story, when I started when I finished, how long it took, my favorite parts, least favorite parts, resupplying, pack weight etc. Then left it open to Q&A since most people have tons of questions. The Q&A will eat up all your time plus some. It is also fun to have your pack and all your gear so people can see it all and how you fit it all together and what things had multiple uses etc.

Blip

#7

The part I love is when you lay out the first aid kit and it is: Neosporin, duct tape and Vitamin “I”!

Papa Smurf

#8

I give lots & lots of presentations. If you have never given one before, I would suggest that you trial the program with some friends or family and ask them for some candid feedback.

Here are a couple of tips;

:nerd Talk about how you went from dream to reality.
:lol Tell some funny stories. Huumor is super important in a presentation.
:pimp Discuss the emotional aspect of the hike - how you felt at different times. How you overcame adversity.
:boy Have fun with it. Make sure you conclude on a high note with a positive message.
:cheers Tell us how it went afterwards.

BTW, Restless told me to look for you on the CT this summer, but you were already ahead of me.

Jeffrey Hunter

#9

GottaLaugh at Tha Wookies 45 minute guideline and Virginian’s “too many pics”. Our presntation was 200 pictures in almost 90 minutes and the feedback that we got was that it was too short. They wanted more pictures. If anybody attended and thinks we showed too many pics, please email me so I can hear your opinions.

Our advice:
practice it first. Show the slides at home and talk thru the presentation with no one there. A few hours later, do it again. You’ll find it gets better each time you go thru it.

Keep it light-hearted and keep the pace moving. Tell about the good times and the tough times. But don’t make it sound so hard that you scare people off from attempting the hike. Make it fun for you too.

We like to show our gear on a table before/after the show. The last time Marcia gave s short talk about the gear to the “armchair travelors” while I was setting up the computer/projector. It was so well received that we decided to add it to our schedule the next time.

I have experimented with different methods of showing slides. I am now back to using Powerpoint so I can control the speed of each slide. Some slides require longer times because of the story associated with it; other slides show for only a few seconds. Some slides we show as a series telling just one story.

Ending on a high note is good. That makes a final impression that you enjoyed the hike.

BTW we have at least 6 more presentations on our schedule. Haven’t heard from REI yet, but I expect to. We have done 4-5 for them in the SF Bay Area for other hikes.

Ken

Ken

#10

Hey guys, thanks for all the suggestions! Have today off work, so will work on getting things organized and impliment some of your ideas! Unfortunately, nearly all my AT type backpacking gear is several thousand miles away, but I’ve got pictures and all that so it shouldn’t be too hard to get an interesting presentation together. Will toss another reply up here with results in a week or so!

Penguin - Yeah, I’m in McMurdo. It’s towards the end of summer down here actually, people are starting to migrate north again and the windchill is getting back below 0 on a regular basis. The presentation I’m doing is going to be one of our weekly travelogs, which generally draw something like 20-30 people, but it sounds like there are is a lot of AT interest so I’m guessing this will be one of the larger showings.

Jeffery - Sorry we missed eachother on the CT this summer! Will likely be back at some point - ended up getting off the trail a bit early and might just hop back on to finish it up or even just do the whole thing again since it was such a good time. Do you have a current email addy for Restless?

Skittles 03