A good reminder of Presentation Zen and Stickiness principals

Yesterday I filled in for a colleague who was away and couldn't teach his class, and we watched the DVD of Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds for part of the class with the students.

I had read the book, but the DVD is definitely a good way to introduce the concepts to students. It was also a good review for me.

My favorite formulation of good presenting came in the form of The 6 SUCCESS principles of Stickiness, quoted from the book by Chip and Dan Heath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_to_Stick

The book's outline follows the acronym "SUCCES" (with the last s omitted). Each letter refers to a characteristic that can help make an idea "sticky":

• Simple — find the core of any idea
• Unexpected — grab people's attention by surprising them
• Concrete — make sure an idea can be grasped and remembered later
• Credible — give an idea believability
• Emotional — help people see the importance of an idea
• Stories — empower people to use an idea through narrative

Good stuff. As an educator, my goal is to make important things stick and stay for a long time and I have much to learn from this.