Worked with several presenters in the last few days. In most every case we are making great progress getting them into a unique approach that will capture their audience’s attention and being true to their message, their personality, and their comfort. But in every case, I’ve sent them off with enthusiasm abounding to finish things up, and watched as they’ve come back with… same ol’ same old. And it’s not their fault. It’s just when the energy starts to wane (several responses have been after midnite), anyone will revert to that which is familiar. And the thing that is familiar to most technical presenters is… long lists of bullets and lots of inane quotes and stolen marketing diagrams. Which is to say: not compelling.I am convinced that the real limit to a good presentation is creativity. Garr Reynolds’ blogs today about there never being a (good) excuse to be boring. And I’d respond that there is an excuse — most folks just don’t know better. We are faced with parenting friends of our kids and are amazed at some of the things kids do and do not know. And it’s not their fault. If they’ve never been told not to say “yeah“, to say “yes, sir“, how to hold a bat, or not to dump a bucket of sand on someone’s head (and that’s just our lessons from THIS week!), then they do what they’ve seen or just feels right. Which is not, of course, always (often?) the right thing to do. It takes looking at things differently and daring to be different. It’s the things that are different that we remember.All it takes is the energy to think about things a little differently. Just because everyone else does it doesn’t make it right (we’re back to parenting).
Be creative. Try something wild and different. And effective.
