help with presentation of network

[carl_townshend]

Hi all, I know this is a strange question, I have been given the task of giving some colleagues a presentation of the past, current and future details of our main network and plans. I need to talk about design,kit,issues etc.

Can anyone help me where to start on this, Ie what should i start with etc

thanks all

[kerryjcox]

Depends, is your presentation to management suits or to fellow technophiles. If to management use a nice presentation tool such as Visio or OpenOffice if on a non-Windows (or Windows even) platform.

When clueing in presidents and upper-level types of companies, I find pretty pictures help. Visio is nice in this respect. Plus, there are plenty of Cisco images for use with Visio. Here are some useful links:

http://visio.mvps.org/3rdparty.htm

http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac50/ac47/2.html

The latter link is very helpful when using Visio.

I have several detailed descriptions of my network I would be willing to share, but not on a public forum. Plus, they are on my machine at work. I can be reached at kerryjcox-at-gmail-dot-com if you need further Visio example files.

Hope this is what you are looking for and that this helps.

[paul.matthews]

As has been said, knowing your audience is crucial - who is the presentation for, and what is the purpose of the presentation?

Is it to management to justify their investment? Is it to network techs so they understand the network better? Is it to a panel or board for a promotion? Is it to a customer to sell some of your capacity?

These are just four of the options - there are a whole host more! And the purpose of them all is different.

If to management to justify investment, you need to talk about things like availability and the effect on the business - how it was not as available, and how much the outages cost the business. How the availability has improved, and how that investment to date has been/will be recovered by the reduced cost of outages or better performance meaning staff spend less time waiting.

If to fellow techs, you will need more detaila baout the devices, and what they may be more interested in is the weak points in the network - basically where is it likely to break?

If for a promotion, you need to emphasise your contribution to the improvements, and what you would like to do to further improve matters, inculding how you will improve bisuness profitability and productivity.

If for a customer, you need to emphasise availability.

Hope that help,

Paul.

[carl_townshend]

Hi there

The audience will be other i.t staff and some management that are in another country but work with us.

I need to show them our current LAN, the new design, and why we are changing it.

How should is start and what with in this case?

It only needs to be about 10 mins

[MUHAMMAD SHAHEEN]

Hi Carl,

I suggest, you should do in this way in 5 steps

for 2 minutes, talk about history of what you support, who created and supported it, name some key people involved. include some pictures etc

for 2 minutes, diagrams of how was it when you took charge, people supported you, include some pictures, diagrams and the main problems and major issues you came across.

for 2 minutes, what did you do to resolve main issues, show them some new diagrams after making some changes, mention some key support persons/resources

for 2 minutes, what are you planning to do now? how you going to do it, include diagrams of what you want to see after it has changed and include people who will support you to achieve this. pin point key changes and benefits.

for 2 minutes, how will you manage the new setup? the key people to provide support? any backups plans you have? in case of failure of the new design then how will you go back to previous step and the how much will it cost to implement and support this.

I don't think 10 minutes are enough to discuss all what i have mentioned above but you can skim through most.

please do let us know how it went and what did you do in your presentation

HTH

Shaheen

[carl_townshend]

hi there, thanks for that

do you have any typical slides about this kind of thing ? like a template ?

[kerryjcox]

A couple people have asked me for examples. I am attaching a highly simplistic and sanitized version of an example network. Refer back to the links I mentioned in the earlier email for the same Cisco icons.

Hope this helps.

[paul.matthews]

Indeed 10 minutes will be a challenge. I would perhaps alter the balance a little, and put more emphasis on the changes planned and the benefits to be gained, especially if you can express the benefits as $$$!

I would perhaps cut back the "what if" section to make room, after all, it *will* work, simply mention that regression has been planned for in the case of unforseen issues but have the info available if asked for it.

A little aside from one who has been shoved in the deep end a few times, beware of the flippant "Oh 10 mins will be enough, we just want a quick overview" as *someone* may expect a detailed financial analysis!

Even if you don't plan to mention it, as much background as you can prepred is a good idea.

[carl_townshend]

Hi there

Also, what does everyone do for nerves in this situation, its something i dont normally do ?

cheers

Carl

[kerryjcox]

Take a Valium (diazepam) before you start...

Seriously, I would not recommend taking anything. Just be well-prepared and know what you want to say and how you are going to say it.

I would highly recommend giving the presentation to trusted co-workers several times and asking for their input. It will help clean out any rough edges, and will help tone down the technical jargon.

Ask someone not versed in geek-speak for his/her input. I have seen eyes galze over within minutes of most suits I present to. You need to keep everything on their level. Pretty pictures and diagrams help. If my 13 or 10 year old sons can understand it, then so can management (although that is not saying much since they are pretty computer savvy).

Practice your presentation several times and try it out on others. If all else fails, picture the audience without clothes.

[paul.matthews]

Nerves? Prepare as well as you possibly can. Have a couple of dry runs forst to make sure the slides really are in the right order, and that you have an idea what questions are going to come up.

Some people work best with an almost word for word script, some have litte cards with memory joggers for the key points. I tend to use my slides as memory joggers. Work out what works for you - dry runs are good for that.

Paul.

[carl_townshend]

Hi there

yes nerves are the issue here, i dont know how to control them to be honest, any other tips would be most appreciated, I think im most concious of them actually accepting what I say to them and not criticising it. I have about 14 slides, about 4 or 5 bullet points on each and a few diagrams.