I've decided to highlight some interesting resources for you all. Hopefully they help you in your presentation as well as your viva presentation later on.
Theme for August 2010 - Data Presentation
Last month Hans Rosling, the Swedish global health professor, statician and sword swallower released a desktop version of Gapminder World, his mesmerizing data visualization tool. Named one of Foreign Policy's top 100 global thinkers in 2009, the information design visionary co-founded Gapminder.org with his son and daughter-in-law aiming to make the world's most important trends accessible and digestible to global leaders, policy makers and the general public. The software they developed, Trendalyzer, (acquired by Google in 2007) translates static numbers into dynamic, interactive bubbles moving through time. The desktop version of Gapminder, which is still in beta, allows you to create and present graphs without an Internet connection.
You won't comprehend the full power of Gapminder unless you watch at least one of Rosling's TED talks. His passion and style makes him a joy to watch. As TED notes, "With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called 'developing world.'"
Prezi is the antithesis of the slide-to-slide PowerPoint style. Your presentations are mocked up on a large canvas, with bits of text, images, charts, and now videos embedded where you want them, and connected where it makes sense. You can set up a "path" to run through when giving a presentation, creating a kind of Disney-like rail ride through your points, but the real value comes when your audience has a question—zooming back to a point and expanding on it is easy and intuitive, and connecting two points doesn't require a slide hunt.
In short, once you tried Prezi, you wouldn't want to go back to PowerPoint Presentation.- Finally, all presenter should read Guy Kawasaki's 10/20/30 rule of presentation. Entertain your audience. After all, we love a good presentation such as the one given by Steve Jobs.
Now, go forth and impress the world.
For more resources, please visit Ask the UM MBA site
Good luck in your classes.
