Friday Post #6: Creating Better Presentations, Health-Blogs and More Stuff on Cephalopods
May 2, 2008 by creaky15
Creating effective presentations - and advice on blogging - start off the Friday Post #6 for this week.
Are there any of us who haven’t dozed off in the middle of an overly-long Powerpoint presentation? You know: it’s after lunch, you stayed up late the night before… the room is very warm, the lights are low and suddenly you’re face down on the table making little snicking sounds. Embarrassing, but very common.
However, if you’re the person presenting rather than listening, you definitely want to avoid putting your boss and colleagues to sleep. Thanks to Clinical Cases and Images for posting about this excellent tutorial by Alexei Kapterev on how to create more effective presentations called Death by Powerpoint (and How to Avoid It).
Three faculty members from North Carolina State University have made their tutorial on creating effective poster presentations available at this link: http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/index.html
Thinking about starting a Blog? Read the 10 points to consider that Trisha Okubo has given in her presentation, “Blog Your Brand“. You might want to reconsider the blog. But hers is an example of a great presentation. It is entertaining, crisp, her points are clear, the slides are uncluttered, she uses thought-provoking headlines, her key points do not cause members of the audience to get stuck in that dreaded “stop-and-ponder” loop… as in, missing the content of the next 7 slides because you’re still trying to figure out what the speaker said four minutes ago.
Next: A blog for journalists and public relations specialists, Bulldog Reporter, offers up a lengthy List of Health Related Blogs. If you are looking for new content to connect with, try this comprehensive international list. It is very l-o-n-g. (Thanks to David Rothman for the link).
Next item. Weird marine animals… cephalopods in particular. I like ‘em. (See a previous posting about the work of Roger Hanlon here). Following are two videos of scientists investigating the carcass of a giant squid found in New Zealand in April 2008 (links and video - courtesy of BBC News):
- Technicians in New Zealand are shown defrosting the body of a rare colossal squid (Apr 28 2008 )
- Giant squid is examined prior to dissection (Apr 30 2008 )
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Finally… Octopus Tossing? Not being a hockey fan, I’m out of the loop but… Holy Cow! Is this any way to treat a cephalopod?!
