We do a lot of presentations with diverse audiences ranging from startup businesses to artists all the way through government employees in local councils or federal government public affairs departments. It’s always a challenge to think about what content is going to resonate, what are your key ‘take-aways’ and have you achieved your clients learning goals at the end of the day.
But the latest issue on the professional speakers checklist, and very much on ours, is not what did your audience think ‘after’ the presentation and what will they say about you ‘back at the office’ – now we have to think ‘What are they going to say during the presentation and how will this talk look in the social media space’.
I read a great article from Drew Neisser who blogs on Fast Company in which he shared he ‘new rules’ of presenting that add a social layer the old rules like ‘don’t bore the shit out of your audience with powerpoint’.
Drew’s article deals with ‘Real Time learning distribution’ and audience engagement through social media. Or put simply, how to use your audience that is present onsite to connect with an audience that is present online.
Here’s the top tips (full article on Fast Company):
1. Don’t Panic if They Aren’t Looking at You
2. Stifle the Temptation to Ask for a Device Moratorium
3. If You Aren’t Nervous, You Should Be Now
4. If You Don’t Speak Twitterese, It’s Time to Learn It
5. Congratulations! You May Be Speaking to Millions You Can’t See
6. The Reviews Are In–In Real Time
7. When All Else Fails, Surprise the Audience with Honesty
I have had mulitple experiences of people tweeting and posting content real time but still haven’t mastered the ‘on-stage’ reply.
Some good food for though….now I’m off to post this to our facebook.…
– Todd
