Insight on Chapter 4

After  reading Chapter 4 in the book They Snooze, You Lose by Lynell Burmark, I learned that we must try to engage our audience within the first sixty seconds of our presentations.  The challenge is to keep them engaged for the duration of our presentation.  In reading, Dr. Burmark mentions that in order to effective we must do two things:

1.   Get their attentions.

2.   Make the presentations stick.

        She mentions in the book, how the inventor of Velcro, scientist George de Mestral, got the idea after a hunting trip with his dog.  Upon his return, he noticed that both were covered in burrs of burdock.  After looking under a microscope, he realized that the burrs of burdock were “hooked” at the end to anything that had a “loop,” thus the birth of Velcro.  She relates this story, to how we must “hook” our audience members.  Some ideas, as mentioned in the book, to hook your audience is to:

·         Connections

·         Humor

·         Images

·         Music

·         Emotion

·         Story

·         Senses

        The hooks do not need to be used all at once in a single presentation but using at least a couple will enhance the presentation.

Work Cited:

Burmark, L. (2011). They snooze, you lose: the educator’s guide to successful presentations.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Boss

Insight on Chapter One

After reading chapter one of the book They Snooze, You Lose by Lynell Burmark, I appalling in knowing all the mistakes I have made in my PowerPoint presentations all these years.  I realized that there were many things to consider when creating a presentation for my colleagues or students but never did I take into account some of the information mentioned.  When creating my PowerPoint presentations, I am (or was) a strong user of the templates already created by the software.  My theory was why create a template and make changes to something that someone has already done for me.  Besides, many of the templates that they offer fit what you are looking to use.  I never gave it much thought to create my own template.

            After reading this chapter one, thing that I never took into account was the view of the audience viewing my presentations.  I used the colors that were attractive to me.  I picked out fonts that I liked and looked good on my presentation.  I just put my presentations together as I saw fit and what I thought looked good.  After reading, I realized that the purpose behind my presentations were not for my purpose or benefit but for those individuals that I was presenting to.

Insight on Chapter One