I am currently preparing not one but two GDC talks, and someone asked for tips on giving presentations, so I figured I would write a quick blog post about how I approach this.

Note that I don't know if I give great talks - I find it hard to get truly useful feedback - but generally I get decent ratings and am invited back to events.

First, I come up with an idea. I write a pitch and convince someone I should give a talk. This is worth its own blog post but it's not this one. Then I start to actually work on the presentation.

Then I feel I am not the right person to give the talk, or my argument is stupid, or I am not capable of giving it. I panic and consider cancelling the talk, changing my name, and living in the forest. That's a normal part of my process and I just need to push through it.

I start to arrange my argument. I write lots of notes and I practice in my head.

I'm currently using a new approach from a book called Get To The Point! by Joel Schwartzberg. I haven't even finished the book yet, but in chapter 2 he gives three tests for a point:

1. The "I Believe That" test. Can you fit your point in the phrase "I believe that ___"?
2. The "So What" test. Is there a reasonable counterpoint? Can you spend more than a minute defending this point?
3. The "Why" test. Avoid using generic, meaningless adjectives like "important".

I wrote the point of the talk I am currently working on in this format, and I feel it helped. I even put it on an early slide. I feel I could probably write the point of each section or perhaps even each slide if I wanted to.

At some point I feel I know the structure, so I break it up into rough slides. I currently like using Obsidian for this, it's very easy to make slides in there, and even to see them using its slideshow functionality (or, even better, with the Advanced Slides community plugin).

The key here is to try to avoid putting yourself in a situation where you could make nice-looking slides. This is why I don't work in, say, Keynote.

(Fun fact: I built and presented my 2015 GDC presentation using a program called Deckset, which only allows you to use Markdown. It worked, but in the end I found polishing the slides a little too fiddly, and not using something like Keynote a little too risky.)

I'm very, very sensitive to the order information is presented in, so I try to be careful about how I order things.

There are different slide styles for different kinds of talks, so I won't go into that. I like slides that you can read later. I put what I say in the presenter notes. That can end up being a transcription of what I say during the talk, if I have enough space.

I am bad at making images and diagrams, but I make do somehow. I once wrote an entire talk as a custom JavaScript application, so I could have nice diagrams. These days I just use images and Keynote graphics.

I create the real slides in Keynote, then I do a first practice run. It is inevitable terrible. I panic, consider cancelling the talk, etc. Again, I have now recognized that's a normal part of my process and I just push through it.

(I once gave a talk without ever practicing it. It was a disaster. Luckily it was only for a very small crowd at a local event.)

I start iterating on the slides. I find images, make diagrams, shift things around. I like moving slides to an Unused Slides segment at the end, instead of deleting them.

I keep practicing my arguments in my head when I am not working on the slides. I do more practice runs. It goes better each time.

Keynote's Rehearse mode has a timer, which I use to see if I need to cut material. For some talks I timed individual sections using a stopwatch app.

I obsess over the transitions between slides. I think of these as the "hinges" of the presentation. Ideally, I want to switch to the next slide, and immediately know what I need to talk about. The slide itself jogs my memory. Alternatively, I end a slide with "but then" or some other hinge phrase, and then switch. But that means I need to remember what the next slide is, so I prefer the former.

I like using a repeating structure slide (like a table of contents) so people know what I will be talking about. It's a pretty common technique. I hate talks where I feel like I'm listening to idle warm-up chatter and then the talk is over. It's also useful for people skimming the video later.

At some point I know the material and it becomes easy. Then I polish the slides, set up animations, maybe do some dry runs for other people. I try to practice a few times close to the actual presentation to refresh my memory.

And that's it! The most important thing (and the most common advice, but it really works) is practice, practice, practice.