I have just found out that I have to give a seminar/workshop WITHOUT POWERPOINT! I feel as though my powers have been taken away from me - what about my nice graphs!?

Any tips for how to get by? - its not an academic audience, I'm feeding back my results and giving them tips on how to adapt their lifestyle

Can you print and give out handouts with your pretty graphs in?

How about making a few big posters? Powerpoint is overrated anyway!

I can give print outs yes, but my main fear is that usually I use the screen as something to read off - not verbatim but use it as a cue and I don't want ot be reading off paper the whole time.

I have not been to the venue, so not sure about posters (it might not have walls!) I was thinking about borrowing a projector, but again if there are no walls (or white walls) then there is no hope for me.

Beamer? :p

You've lost me on this one - are you talking about my hatred for BMWs?

That would be a bit random. Beamer... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamer_(LaTeX)

Is there an overhead projector (yes - I still remember those) so you can make up transparencies. Or a white board - you can draw stuff?

but I won't have a computer :-( or a projecter screen :-(

Overhead projector is a box with a lamp and possibly a fan. No computer. Guessing you wont have one of these either.....

I could get a portable projecter to go with my laptop, but i have no idea if there will be something to project it on to. Also, as I have a majorly crippled back, I can't physically get these things to the venue. So it looks like I will have to go with some sort of hand out. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas of how to liven it up a bit, as I won't have such a visual aid as before.

I think it will be a small group 5-15

Fear not! The best presentation I ever gave was when I decided to ditch the powerpoint and just talk to people :) it was scary (especially since everyone else was powerpointing like crazy) but it went down so well, I even got a little prize.

Plan your topics and make sure you know the flow of your talk (if it's a long one a few cue cards are fine), and tbh, then just improvise. If it's a non-specialist group then an informal approach is often more helpful, you can interact much more with your audience, rather than constantly looking back at a screen. If you're giving lifestyle tips, can you can ask them questions and make it more of a two-way experience? I always think that the more audience participation the better.

Thanks Teek, I was planning on a bit of audience participation. I really do like to hide behind powerpoint though so will be a new (read terrifying) expereince for me!

Hey Sneaks,

Sometimes Powerpoint gets in the way of a presentation. I've done a couple of (short) presentations with out PP and found it to be a refreshingly honest way to talk. At the end there were more questions than usual, and I got the feeling I had really engaged with the audience. One trick a pal of mine used in a talk was to take a relevent prop with him. he used the prop as a unifying theme throughout the talk - it worked really well. Good luck and enjoy