At some point in your career, if you want to move from Developer to Architect or Team Lead or Manager or something you are going to need to stand-up in front of people and deliver a worthwhile presentation.

It might be a presentation for a new idea or initiative or perhaps a status update on a project you are on or a simple roadmap update.

Whichever one it is, you’ll want to, no need to deliver a compelling presentation in order to get your message across.  As developers, we typically lean to the verbose, with lots of information on the slides but in a presentation this will not help you and in fact will distract from your message.

Some suggestions for your first presentation as a developer when developing that crucial deck;

  • Keep the deck simple – minimal words, some basic types, no crazy animations on every slide – READ: eliminate the distractions so the audience focuses on you.
  • You are the centre – people are here to listen to you, not the deck the deck is a compliment to you with some supporting points to what you are talking about – READ: do not read from the deck.
  • Stay on Point – how long do you have to talk?  15 minutes?  Deliver the message in 10 – your points should be punchy and delivered in a manner that conveys your confidence but also covers your bases – READ: don’t get up there and blubber on about your life history in the component you are reviewing
  • Get feedback – the best way to deliver a successful deck is to send it out for review to a full key people that will be there, get them involved and invested in what you are doing – READ: validate your message before delivery.

If you are able to do the above well and on target, then you will most definitely be able to end on the last item that we all want to deliver after each and every presentation.

Drop the mic, exit stage right, see you at next week’s status meeting.

Want more? Check out my book Code Your Way Up – available as an eBook or Paperback on Amazon (CAN and US).  I’m also the co-host of the Remotely Prepared podcast.

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