A world-renowned organizational anthropologist was giving an interesting presentation when she lost all credibility.  She displayed a visual of a whale leaping up out of the water to eat from a human hand and said, “I heard this is true…”.  Most of us knew this slide was urban legend material lifted off the Internet and was, in fact, not true. Although I quietly sat there, I couldn’t accept another word she said. What else was not true as well?  Several people got up and left.”

Today’s audiences are exceptionally savvy.  They are expecting up-to-date, cutting edge information they can’t get elsewhere.  They are expecting more than a regurgitated book report or sensationalized statistics.  They can get that on the Internet.

Question:  If they can read it elsewhere or download the same information, why should they make an effort to come listen to you?

When I first starting researching the different techniques to make a presentation more engaging and interactive, I would watch other speakers and observe the various techniques they would use.  I remember going to the library at the National Speakers Association in Tempe, AZ and viewing video after video of keynote presentations.

When I was doing this research back in 2005, I thought it might be cool to take very short video snippets of the different techniques as it can be so much more powerful to see it rather than read it.

So my friend, Bill Gillis, and I put together a video which had to be cut up into two parts (it’s a youtube thing!):

Part 1 and Part 2

Enjoy the video!  My intent is to start the video library and start adding clips of speakers as I can!