Chapter 17 and 18 readings

Chapter 17
I have three presentations to give in the next couple weeks, it was a good time to read this chapter. Mainly because I got a lot out of it. A couple things that I think were helpful were focusing on main a few main points, looking at the audience, ways to overcome nervousness.
The book mentions that it is harder for listeners to concentrate for extended periods of time. This is important because in a presentation your listeners have nothing to look back on like when reading a paper. It is important to focus on a few main points, describe them clearly and talk at a steady pace so they can stay with you.
I have a lot of trouble focusing on my audience. The book provides a good strategies to help with this. Looking at the audience before starting the presentation, targeting a feature of your listeners face,establishing a rhythm when going from looking at your notes and your audience are examples of how to keep your eyes on the audience.
I always get nervous before a presentation. Every time. the book says to accept it. Its true though, I probably always will get nervous before a presentation and my goal is to just always try to improve each time. Guideline 11 is about what not to do. My biggest problem with guideline 11 is the fidgeting or moving around part.

Chapter 18
When designing a web site one of the most important things to do is to define its objectives. Who aer the readers? What do they want? How are you going to give that to them? When I am searching for something on the Web I want to find it easily and be able to get the information I am looking for quickly. If I end up on a site that I do not get that information quickly and it is hard to navigate I go somewhere else. This means you have to know a lot about your readers in order to keep people going to your sites rather than somewhere else. Similarly you have to also design web pages that look good but are also easy to use. This chapter gives a good list of tips on how to make it easier for your readers to navigate around your site.