If you see a great technical presentation that is engaging and makes complex topics approachable without watering them down, you might consider yourself lucky. That shouldn’t be so. Many technical folks have a lot to say and although their domain is complex, it’s possible to engage the audience while delivering serious content. This book will help you do so based on hundreds of technical presentations that I have given around the world.

Why You Should Read This Book

Although there's no shortage of great books on giving impactful presentations, they largely focus on body language, dramatic storylines, and theatrics. That’s helpful but not geared to someone who is going to explain how Helm charts simplify the management of container orchestration platforms.

Let's face it - not every presentation is meant to be a well-rehearsed TED talk. And not every talk will be about an emotional life event or can be reduced to an analogy of microwave ovens. As an engineer, your job is to convey complex technical topics. You won't be on a big, well-lit stage but you'll be expected to bring substance.

This book is a book for engineers, architects, product managers, or IT decision makers. It assumes you have complex technical topics that you need to get across to a variety of stakeholders without watering them down. The advice is presented in short chapters with concrete examples so let you grasp the essence quickly. After all, I have never seen anyone in IT who isn’t busy.

Contents

Part I: Presenting is like DJing

Part II: Planning Presentations

Part III: Building Presentations

Part IV: Delivering Presentations