Reply to: Interview presentation...!!

[SueEllen]

10 slides in 5 minutes is too many.

6 slides in 5 minutes is too many, to be honest.

Agreed.

Even if the first and last slide are the introduction and the end that still leaves you with 4 slides.

And that is far to much to talk about in 5 minutes with 3/4 bullet points on the slide.

[TheFaQQer]

I made a 10 slide ppt, only 6 contains real content...more visual stuff, planned to deliver with oral details...hopefully that will do...!!

ppt alone will not make much sense, so hopefully every one will listen to me.

10 slides in 5 minutes is too many.

6 slides in 5 minutes is too many, to be honest.

[Darren_Test]

I made a 10 slide ppt, only 6 contains real content...more visual stuff, planned to deliver with oral details...hopefully that will do...!!

ppt alone will not make much sense, so hopefully every one will listen to me.

[Platypus]

My plan is to make a 5 slide PPT pesentation & given them print outs prior to presentation for reference

In my opinion and experience, DO NOT give out hand-outs beforehand. Give them out afterwards. As I said in another thread, if people have handouts, they just switch off, ignore you and read the paperwork. If they do ask questions, it'll be about a slide you haven't got to yet, which is very disconcerting and mucks up the whole sequence.

[ilovehr]

Does he give them the yellow pencil to talk about or is it an imaginery yellow pencil. Makes all the difference.

I've never asked but I'm sure he's not so evil to make it quite so tough!

I know he has used other items that have come to hand such as paperclips, chicken and stuffing sandwich (that one was far too easy) and a red rubber band.



Did you know that part of the interview process to work on QVC (the home shopping channel for the uninitiated) is to talk for 15 minutes about a teapot whilst someone else speaks to you though an earpiece.....

[SuperZ]

He now gets new potential scenes of crime officers to talk for 3 minutes about a yellow pencil during their selection process.....evil barsteward!

Does he give them the yellow pencil to talk about or is it an imaginery yellow pencil. Makes all the difference.

[ilovehr]

My old man had to do a presentation for a promotion interview in the police on a subject of his choice for 15 minutes. The presentation was designed to test his communication skills rather than any sort of technical knowledge....

So he spent fifteen minutes explaining how to tell the difference between left and right and to assist his audience he used a powerpoint presentation with photographs of golf balls illuminated from different angles.

He got the promotion (director of scientific support services for a major force) and has now become the stuff of legend!



He now gets new potential scenes of crime officers to talk for 3 minutes about a yellow pencil during their selection process.....evil barsteward!

[Pondlife]

Make sure you take it in a format that can easily be read, rather than relying on them having the same version of the software as you do.

WFS

and FFS make sure there is nothing stupid* on the pen drive.


*stupid covers cartoons/pics that will be shown as thumbnails, dodgy software, mpg/wmv files, docs you've nicked from other clients, pron etc.

[BolshieBastard]

**** me some people are anal! A 5 minute interview and people are talking about laptops, memory sticks cD's AND paper. It'd take 5 minutes to give that lot out and make sure everyone is looking in the right place etc.

You're not going to get much in about 2 projects in 5 minutes. Work it out.

And what do people think an interview is if it isnt a presentation of you and your co?

An old boss of mine once said 'if you cant talk about yourself and experiences for 10 minutes off the bat then you must be pretty disorganised'!

Tell the what you do, how you do it and why you do it.

[TheFaQQer]

I got confirmation from HR that just I need to get stuff in a pen drive..So that part is clear..

Make sure you take it in a format that can easily be read, rather than relying on them having the same version of the software as you do.

[stingman123]

5 mins?

A presentation is very much like going to the lav
Prep

a few mins to get comfy

relax

Let it all happen naturally

And I'm spent!

TBH I couldn't even tulip in 5 mins! ask them exaclty what they expect to gain from 5 mins?

[Darren_Test]

I got confirmation from HR that just I need to get stuff in a pen drive..So that part is clear..

[TheFaQQer]

DO NOT do animations or any BS like that. So obvious but it never ceases to amaze the c**p people put up.

Make sure you start with a photo of a topless girl, and give the old "gosh, how did my holiday photos end up in here" line. It's bound to raise a laugh and show the interviewer exactly how professional you are.

[centurian]

Is this permie or contract ??

[northernladuk]

it was 10 mins and I did 10 slides.

Yuk!! Your kidding? 1 slide a minute?

Should I take laptop for this interview or just get presentation on a memory stick..???

Lots of good advice about what to take. Pendrive AND CD AND paper. Not all companies allow untested external pendrives to be installed so take a CD aswell. Give them a paper copy as well so they have something to fiddle with and write on. More distraction so they have less time to think bad things. You talking, screen and paper should keep all senses alert.

Personally I wouldn't bother with a laptop or informing them for need of projector. You gotta assume some level of competence from the customer. If he asks for a presentation then can't organise a laptop/projector you want to think long and hard about taking the job.

DO NOT do animations or any BS like that. So obvious but it never ceases to amaze the c**p people put up.

Use google and do a search for power point for the company. It is amazing how often you can get the companies master template from online ppts. Bonus points for initiave and stops you making mistake with garish free templates.

Some people saying these methods are rubbish. I strongly disagree. You can get someone that is a terrible interviewee and people that can BS it. You can be a totally different person leading a presentation and vice versa. It gives you the chance to see how someone answers questions as well as conducts themself when leading the information flow. For 5 mins it's worth the effort to the interviewer in my opinion... for certain jobs of course. It's a good tool when used correctly.

...I am not sure I will be able to go in deep on specific projects

Thats not really your experience at a high level though. Read every word of what they are asking for over and over and then think about the guys interviewing you. Ring the company to ask their positions if you know their names. They are the audience and it's all about them not you. What do THEY want to hear. If you can get to the bottom of the rest is easy. Are they techincal guys wanting details, are they senior managers wanting adaptable people, are they the actual end customer of the project and want results. These will shape your presentation.

Use at least one diagram! Senior managers like diagrams. Breaks up the tedium of bullet points. Use a mind map to cover all the projects if you are PM without listing them. Same map if you have many skills etc, then talk around it. Again you can't go deep in to projects but using MM you can put projec then off that the skills involved on each. Too many to talk about but they can read at their leisure.

Hope that helps