Train wreck (noun)
1) An accident involving a train
2) A software engineer trying to present his work
By day I am a software engineer, but by night I’m a performing magician. Both professions are great if you’re slightly obsessive, if you aren’t then spending a day chasing down every edge case sounds just as bad as spending a day practicing some obscure sleight of hand move.
I have a LOT to say about software engineers and making presentations, so probably won’t do the whole diatribe all at once. But if your kids can’t sleep, go find a developer talking about his work. It’ll put them right out! And you too, so don’t download and drive. Safety first.
I was thinking about this last week when I was in a show for about a thousand people. You have to make them actually want to watch you – and that isn’t easy! My first show was a boy scout Blue and Gold event. I hadn’t learned how attract and focus attention yet and oh MAN will a large group of ten year old boys let you know! I still get flashbacks late at night. But I got better – and doing Blue and Golds became some of my favorite events.
When I was working to get better, I paid close attention to speakers I saw, in any context. I saw people talking about stuff I was REALLY interested in, and I was drifting off and had the worst time paying attention. I saw people talking about things I had no interest in at all, and they SOLIDLY kept my attention. I tried to analyze the experience each time, and I ended up with two main lessons.
Know what you are going to say! This doesn’t have to be a full script, but at least have things planned out. You can tell who planned and who didn’t – some people get the mic and hit meaningful point after meaningful point, have relevant and interesting examples, and then get to the end and stop. And some people get a mic and just start rambling. Even with a powerpoint presentation or something to keep them focussed they basically just use that as a starting point for a stream of consciousness monologue and go.
Don’t forget the big picture, and don’t get bogged down in the details! This is best described with an software example. I saw an engineer talk once about a system he’d got configured and running for people to use. I knew vaguely what it was, but that was it so I was looking forward to learning more. He launched into what was CLEARLY a well planned presentation and spent the next half hour talking about how you could insert scripts to customize the system, with lots of helpful examples. At the end of his presentation I still didn’t really know what the system was, I didn’t know how to use it, I didn’t know really anything except how to write scripts to configure the system, which as a user of the system I was quite certain I was never going to do.
But why did he do that? Because that was where he’d spent the last few weeks. He’d done several REALLY clever things in there, and he was dying to show us the clever things he did. This is common for software engineers. We spend so much time deep in the details of a system we forget no one outside the team cares about anything except how well it works!
There is one surefire test for this, and I do this for both magic and software. Take your best shot and do the show (or presentation.) And then be aware of the people watching you! Are they watching you? Or are they looking at their phones? Did they open their laptops and are getting some work done?
And … actually watch your audience. I once watched a magician send an audience to sleep. I know they were going to sleep because I watched them. After the show, he excitedly told me how great the reactions were and how they were on the edge of their seats!
I just smiled and nodded.
And yes, I had actually useful feedback. But some people want it. Some people just want to be told how well they did. Guess which ones have better shows? Does it seem obvious to you?
It does seem obvious, doesn’t it? Well, did you ever ask anyone for honest feedback after giving a presentation at the office? Did you adjust your next presentation using that feedback? … speaking of which, column coming on how to take feedback and actually make it useful! Feedback is sometimes great and sometimes you get just awful suggestions – but good or bad, it can be amazingly useful if you know how to use it.
This picture I took backstage at the show – everyone who wasn’t performing was watching the people who were onstage. Shows and presentations are fun. They are MUCH more fun when people actually like what you’re doing!