Public Testimony on Private Parks Management
I will be testifying in Pennsylvania in a hearing on public-private partnerships, with my 20 minutes on private parks management:
Tuesday, April 6th, 1:00 PM
Grove City College Hall of Arts and Letters, Sticht Auditorium
100 Campus Drive, Grove City
Topic: Public Private Partnerships
Grove City Campus: http://www.gcc.edu/Campus_Map.php
My presentation slides are here: Keeping Parks Open with Private Management
richard:
I think you should change slide 5. It is not so clear what you mean by this. Maybe use colors to define where your responsibility lies.
As a general note: You use a lot of words. I would cut the total words in half. People will listen to you and use the slides as a confirmation. They won't read the slides independently.
During your presentation, please remember it's not what you say but how you say it. How people see you. If people think you are a honest & hardworking guy trying to do the right thing, they will give you the benefit of the doubt.
April 6, 2010, 2:01 amJim Collins:
Damn. Grove City is pretty close to my home. A little more notice and I'd have taken a day off to come.
April 6, 2010, 5:37 amJimbeaux:
I agree with Richard. I'm a professional graphic designer who's taught classes on PowerPoint, and what I always told my audience was:
Say more than you show
Hand out more than you say - AFTER you've finished. If you give handouts at the beginning of the presentation, the audience will be going through the handouts rather than paying close attention to you.
In addition, the rule of thumb for effective presentations is to have no more than four or five bullets per slide, with only five or six words per bullet. You want the bullets to hit them hard with short, simple statements. You can say as much as you want - the slides are there to add drive home your point. The problem with the presentation as you have it is that either 1) the audience is going to be reading the slides instead of listening to you, or 2) you're going to be reading the slides to them - which is the bane of a good presentation.
Let me know if I can be of help.
April 6, 2010, 6:42 amJimbeaux:
The Frequently Asked Questions slides, for example, should really be limted to this text:
Does your company own the park?
Are you going to build condos and a McDonald’s?
Are you going to let the park run down to make a profit?
Won’t private companies cherry-pick the best parks?
- next slide -
How can the state afford to pay?
Doesn’t the state lose out?
Are you going to just jack up fees?
Why should the public trust a private company?
What is your biggest benefit to the public?
...then you say the rest of the text you had on the slides.
April 6, 2010, 6:49 am