21st-Century presentation skills

You all have good 20th Century presentation skills, or you would not have achieved the level of success to be at this conference. But the 21st Century has kicked expectations up a notch or two. International news networks, the Web, mobile phones, MTV, laptops and screen projectors, videogames, and other innovations have altered forever what audiences demand: a fast-paced, technically savvy, meaningful presentation with lots of interactivity and a share of the control. How do we deliver that?

Well, Mark Twain said it took him six weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. The same is true for us today. A silver tongue is nice, but careful preparation will win the day. We’ll start by looking at an example of what happens when presenters refuse to upgrade their skills. Then the audience will pick from a menu of topics to show how to deliver what audiences demand. These choices will echo themes presented throughout the conference.

Topics will include:

• Focus on your audience, not the *%#*@% computer.
• Capitalize on your intellectual capital.
• Interact with your audience without losing control.
• Think globally, present locally.
• Make it more of a videogame and less of a bullet list.
• Simple steps that eliminate 90% of the problems.

Handout file: PDF 7.5 MB (Be sure to right-click on the link and choose to download the file to your computer.)

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Presentation: Presenting to international audiences