The Presentation Situation

Obviously, strong presentation abilities are crucial. If you are interested in being successful within any sphere relating to commerce you must be able to captivate your audience. From my perspective, presentations are just another sales technique. Not that I am a supreme god of sales, but I have worked in a few "boiler rooms" and I have seen all the tricks. Regardless of what some stupid book on presentation skills and or effective sales techniques tell you, the meat of wowing people is in your enthusiasm, attitude, and knowledge of the information your are pitching. "Sell the sizzle, not the steak."


Now, with that said there are many presentation tools available to aid in the "take no prisoners" approach to presentations, but I question are they really viable? Of course the old power point can help to direct and focus ones presentation, but all to often it becomes another boring sideshow. I have sat through countless classes throughout my scholastic undertakings where the typical dried up and boring Power Point slide show is at the crux of the courses dissemination of knowledge. The professor will babble along word for word to their PP presentation only diverting from the wording or imagery on the slide to interject tidbits of original speech. This can make for a long semester. This same model of presentation is going on all over the world in conferences and board rooms globally.

I believe there is a huge potential for those who can get up in front of a group of relative strangers and captivate the audience before them. This skill does not happen over night. Just as with any ability, practice makes presentation. To be an effective presenter means that you have been working at it and at times have failed at it.

I have trolled the net looking for interesting video about this subject but have mostly bumped into boring sales pitches and Nero linguistic hypnotherapy self help gurus pitching yet another Ebook. I did bump into a few funny clips.

THIS GUY LOOSES IT!

Here is a comedian who has utilized Power Point and the outdated model for corporate presentations within his act.

How Not To Use Power Point

This guy is great- very funny. He demonstrates my general assumption about affective presentations. He has obviously practiced this presentation countless times, has a vibrant attitude and enthusiastically drives his message into his audience.

This last video clip demonstrates a new imaging network software that reminds me of Prezi but takes it to a completely deeper level.

Of course this new software is not strictly geared towards presentations and could bog down a presenters performance with fluff and confusion, but as a visual thinker I can see where this type of software could be utilized in captivating ways within the contexts of a presentation.

Becoming a hot shot communicator and public presenter is high on my list of goals. As a "New Media" artist and designer, the ability to persuade will be pivotal to my personal success. Utilizing software in innovative ways to enhance presentations will be key to my personal development as a presenter, but I believe it is all the things that I can not use a presentation template for: such as enthusiasm, charisma, and practiced knowledge that will seal the deal.