TIMOTHY PRESTERO: DESIGN FOR PEOPLE, NOT AWARDS

PUBLIC SPEAKING

INSTRUCTOR: J. MELTON

PRESENTED BY: TSUNG-TSE HUANG

TIMOTHY PRESTEROis the founder and CEO of Design that Matters , a not for profit product design firm based in Cambridge, MA.

“DESIGN FOR PEOPLE, NOT AWARDS”

Timothy explained the fundamental purpose of design is to solve problems in a practical way.

DESIGN VS PRACTICALITY

Timothy first captured the attention of the crowd with a simple question - why is it that this year's new cars look pretty much exactly like last year's new cars even though we’ve all seen the futuristic concept cars?

HOW DESIGNS SHOULD WORK.. Design is not simply about the aesthetics appeal - everything has to work together. Timothy explains that a good design is human-centered and practical.

Following the 10 commandments of TED talks, Timothy explained his “failure” in a very engaging fashion – His design of the Neo Nurture Incubator.

“THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A DUMB USER. … THERE ARE ONLY DUMB PRODUCTS.”

Timothy also defines good designs to be intuitive – the way to operate a product should be the simplest way.

DYNAMISM RATING:

The presentation was very well structured; however, Timothy was not very animate throughout the presentation. Timothy maintained a very professional attitude, but he talked fairly fast. I felt he could add some pauses and possibly slow down the pace.

3/5

Timothy’s power point slides matched Nancy Duarte and Garr Reynolds’ presentation tips very well. All the slides were clear and to the point and image-oriented. There was little to no descriptive text.

The images Timothy presented were all very good supplements to his argument. He used the photos to first illustrate the potential problems of certain designs, then Timothy presented the proposed solutions.

TIMOTHY DELIVERED HIS MESSAGEin a clear, concise manner. His attitude was very professional and his delivery was direct and straight to the point.

TIMOTHY DELIVERED HIS MESSAGEwith a strong, passionate voice. You can tell by the way he spoke that he firmly believes in his argument. This is the kind of trait that makes a public speaker effective.

TO COMPARE..

Timothy Prestero and Sir Ken Robinson are both very passionate about their beliefs and that they have the desire to persuade and change the world. They both followed a similar format of presentation that describes the current state, the problems that are currently present, and their proposed solution.

IN CONTRAST..

Sir Ken Robinson, in my opinion, had a better paced delivery - He knew when to pause and when to pick up the presentation. Not only that, Sir Ken Robinson also kept the attention of his audience better by weaving jokes into his presentation.

TIPS!

Be confident and passionate about what you want to present. You simply cannot persuade someone if you do not firmly believe in your own argument.

MORE TIPS!

Be realistic and use stories to found the argument. The stories could be about failures or success because real life stories make for a more engaging experience for the audience.