Power of presentation
Singapore 22nd July 2011
It has been one of those days where I was mostly submerged in the preparation of presentations. I have a a couple of them coming up over the next few weeks. Generally it is last minute work but this time it is nice to have a bit of a head start for a change. A good preparation is half the work as the saying goes! Powerpoint has been the main driver used for our presentations and with the bells and whistles the latest versions provide we can add some dynamics. I have seen somepeople also adding sound and music, but I think that is a bit too much. Less is more. A presentation is always about simplicity and leading your audience step by step and getting them excited along the way.
I have done many presentations over the years and know that a good presentation is about anticipation. Know your audience and know what they want, what they expect. We are in command of that aspect. Lighting is very visual so inherently any lighting presentation is about visual interest, no matter how much technical details you wish to convey. A picture tells a thousand words. The rest is up to our expertise in filling in the dots.
While my team is putting the base presentations together I involve myself personally in the fine tuning of the presentation as I have my own way of presenting and normally up to 5 mins before I go on “stage” I may still tweak the sequence depending mood and feeling in the audience. In the coming weeks I have a pitch presentation for the lighting of railway stations in India, a lighting concept presentation for a hotel client in Indonesia and a key note adress to local governement authorities in Australia about upgrading lighting for sports and recreation facilities…different lighting applications, different audiences, different countries. The power of the presentations however if well done is the same!
In Light Watch ode to the end of an era. Last night saw the final landing of the Atlantis space shuttle marking the end of the Space Shuttle program after some 30 years. I have been a space enthusiast since my teenage years, its amazing how far we have come since Yuri Gagarin’s first space flight! Fittingly the landing occurred at night under guidance of artificial lighting and electronic radar systems. See the landing at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-21/end-of-an-era-as-atlantis-returns/2805206
courtesy of ABC news.
Light Watch 127: Atlantis returns to Earth
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