What the heck was I thinking?

I’m no expert Jeff but I would say keeping the audience interested is important. Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know something about the software or can’t answer a question. Be calm and cool and a few jokes never hurt. I know you can pull off the joke part Don’t talk about baseball.

Hey Rob,
Thanks for the advice. I’ve heard from a couple of other people and things will be fine.
Why shouldn’t I talk about the best team in the league? Do you think that the locals here in Seattle would be upset if I were to go into how great the Red Sox are compared to the lowly Mariners? Could be worse…I could start talking about the Pats!

Jeff,
I agree with everything Rob said. Here are a few things I’d also like to add.
Make it fun for those in attendance. I always try to come up with at least a few SolidWorks related humorous items to throw in each presentation. It could be a wacky model or images that help support a topic direction. If you can find a common problem or occurrence in SolidWorks that a majority of users have run into before and can relate to, then show them a tip or trick to help deal with that issue, that ALWAYS goes over well!
The biggest thing is to relax, smile a lot, and have fun with it. If the presenter is ultra uptight it tends to make the audience get that way as well. Good Luck with your presentation. I’m sure you do very well. If you need any help with presentation content let me know.
Best Regards,
Ricky Jordan
http://www.rickyjordan.net

Jeff,
Go through the predictable ordinary stuff, but every now and then throw in something wild, like using gussets or forming across bends, which most people will tell you can’t be done. Show other applications for sheet metal, like cardboard boxes, or things you can do with lofted bends. Try to make a 4 sided box several ways – edge flange, insert bends, miter flange, ask for opinions, and like the other guys said, get people involved. Do a little research on corners and the Closed Corner function. I’m sure that is stuff that most people don’t know and will find useful. Maybe a discussion on bend allowance/deduction/tables.
If none of that works, you can try to get naked in a tub of jello, but I’m sure you were already thinking along those lines anyway.

Here’s a great example of how to keep an audience engaged, even if your material is, well, a bit bland.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL_-1d9OSdk

First, Matt that video is fricken hilarious!!
Second, thanks everybody for your input. I really appreciate it. I think my post was taken a little too seriously. While I’m sure I’ll be nervous when the time comes, I’ll be sure to be fully prepared. Can someone tell me what a base flange is?

Jeff,
I have a decent cardboard box example using sheet metal features in our model gallery area of the NASWUG site.
http://www.naswug.com/Model_Gallery.html
You’ll have to scroll down a bit to find it.
Best Regards,
Ricky Jordan
http://www.rickyjordan.net

Jeff, for the few that I’ve done, I’ve always started off with, “Let’s learn something together”. Most have said here that getting the audience interested is important, and I agree, but you have to remember, ‘The topic is King’. Discuss ways to make parts different, like my favorite new feature was the ability to mirror flanges. Talk about grouping feature and putting them a folder. Talk about naming these features. I hate nothing more that opening a model and seeing :Extrude1, Extrude2, Cut1 and Cut2, etc.
Use this oportunity to not only teach sheet metal but to teach modeling in general.
Have fun…
Steve

I’m a little late on this since being out of town and I started writing something that got lengthy so it inspired me to just do it as a post. hope these help…
http://www.solidsmack.com/4-quick-tips-for-speaking-in-public/2007-06-06/

Jeff,
I have done a few presentations at various meetings and I still get a little nervous. Steve said it best, ‘Topic is King’. If you are comfortable in your knowledge of the topic, then you will do fine.
The attendees are not there to judge the presenter, they want to learn from someone who has already been there.
People do realize that the presenters are also users. The attendees primarily want to see how other people create models in an attempt to learn something that may help them in their daily work.
Look at the presentation as an opertunity to remind people of a few features they may have forgotten about.
Good Luck,
Lenny

I don’t really like this magazine, but my brother showed me a good article that explains a lot.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20070227-000002.xml

Thanks, everyone for your input! You guys rock!
I promise that I won’t let the “Blog Squad” down.
Jeff