1. Garr Reynolds explains ten aspects of making a good speech in his article. While they are all important to keep in mind, three points in particular stand out. His first point, “Start with the end in mind,” his third point, “Content, content, content,” and his sixth point, “Have a sound, clear structure.” His first point is a very holistic, overall approach to a presentation, and one’s goal for the end truly dictates how the rest of Reynolds’s points are handled. One can more easily determine what information is pertinent and how much time must be spent on certain topics if he or she knows what exactly is to be conveyed and emphasized. His second point about content is also very important. If a person does not have detailed, accurate information to present, then the presentation is simply a waste of time for everyone involved. The content should be provided in a clear manner so that it is easily understandable to everyone. This ties into Reynolds’s sixth point about having a sound, clear structure. The audience needs to be able to follow the presentation easily. There should not be too much extra fluff in a presentation because anything that digresses from the main topic could confuse the audience.
2. All of Reynolds’s advice is useful when thinking about how to prepare a presentation. Naturally one should prepare for a presentation, but Reynolds’s ideas of drawing everything out on a big board so that one can actually see the flow seems like a good idea. Also, it helps to be hard on oneself while preparing a speech. Thinking and answering questions that the audience might ask beforehand allows the presenter to be more prepared when the questions do actually arise. Reynolds’s tenth point about building confidence by practicing is greatly helpful because what he says is simply true. The best way to have a presentation flow smoothly is to practice and know the ‘ins and outs’ of everything. That way, even if something were to come up such as time being more limited than expected, the presenter knows the key points and what to cut out.
3. It is interesting to compare Norman’s thoughts on product design and Reynolds’s thoughts on presentations because there are in fact similarities. The biggest similarity is reflective design. In both product design and speech presentation, either the designer or the presenter wants to leave the audience reflecting about how good the product/speech was. Both Norman and Reynolds agree that it is important to know the audience because whether one is selling a product or selling an idea, so much depends on the type of people that are listening. The clarity of a presentation is also akin to the clarity of a product. Both a presentation and a product need to be easily understood by the user/listener. Thus, behavioral design as a whole contains many tenets that help with delivering an effective speech.
4. One aspect of design that I find quite interesting is what companies look for when designing their logos or mascots. How, for example, did Ronald McDonald come about? So many of these logos and mascots are iconic in culture, and it would be interesting to know a designers approach to creating these things.
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