Presentation Tips and Takeaways from Social Media Plus Summit

I just finished my last session at the Social Media Plus Conference in Philly.  I was excited to attend because there were a number of presenters whose blogs and twitter ID's I follow and wanted to meet face-to-face.  You can see my conference related tweets on my Twitter feed with the hashtag #SMPlus.  It was my first wholehearted attempt at live-tweeting at a conference. 

These conferences give me the opportunity to see a bunch of smart people present about topics (I think) they're passionate about.  Unfortunately for them, I can't watch a presentation without my presentation designer's eye.  It's the same reason I won't play in a backyard volleyball game.  If you've played volleyball for 15 years like I have, you know what I mean. 

I was pleasantly surprised with the caliber of presentations.  Not only from the content perspective, which is generally good at conferences that cost hundreds of dollars, but by the presentation design and delivery.  I blogged about the Search Engine Strategy Conference presentations a few months back and I'd say that these were better, especially for a smaller conference.  Now, the content at SES was higher level, but that's neither here nor there.

Instead of walking you through the presentations I thought were great, I'm going to simply list the things they did well and a couple pitfalls a few presenters fell into. 

• Leave the confines of the podium/stage and engage the audience
  I was pleasantly surprised when Frank Eliason, aka @ComcastCares (who I was excited to see present), immediately left the podium, walked off the stage and stood in the middle aisle amongst all the audience members.  He told us "I don't do presentations...I don't do "decks"...I have conversations."  Fantastic.  I've said before that while I believe PowerPoints can help enhance your message in certain situations, they aren't necessary for a successful presentation.  Jason Falls also made his way from side to side on the stage to make sure he made eye contact with audience members on all sides of the room (a much bigger room than Frank presented in). 
  
  
  Frank Eliason presenting from within the crowd
  


• Use big, high resolution images
  A number of presenters including Rohit Bhargava, Jason Falls, and Bill Lublin used big images and very little text on their screen (although I tweeted that Bill could have lost the unnecessary template which only added noise).  Naturally I found all three of these presentations very interesting and engaging.  Not simply because I enjoyed the content matter or because I'm a presentation designer.  They were interesting and engaging because my attention was nearly always on the presenter and their images reinforced their messages so I understood their points better.  I usually only see one or two presenters in an entire conference use the "big image, few text" style of presentation design, so I was pleasantly surprised to see 3 in one day.


• Be interesting and even a little funny
  Trust me - I'm the first one to tell you that being an interesting and funny person isn't something you can just "wish" upon yourself.  If it were I'd have a gaggle of girls sitting beside me right now, laughing at all my jokes.  I found Frank Eliason, Jason Falls, and Bill Lublin all to be extremely engaging and at least made an effort to keep insert some humor into the presentation (it can't always be work, work, work, right?).  Naturally, not every joke worked, but that's okay.  Even when I didn't think the joke was all that funny, I appreciated the effort.  When a presenter is on stage presenting content that they don't even seem interested in or find enjoyable in any way, it's utter agony for the audience.  Perception is reality when it comes to presenting.  If you seem like you're having fun up there, the audience will have fun too.  Jason seemed like he was having a great time and I'd give him the award for best presentation of the day.  He offered great content and let his personality shine through.


• Always think about your audience - Would you want to see that??
  I did sit in on a few forgettable sessions and the Twitter feed confirmed I wasn't the only one who felt that way.  While the presenters will remain nameless, a few designed their presentation in the "old way".  They used long lists of bullet points, slides cluttered with text and small images all over the place, and font so small that I guarantee only 10 percent of the audience could even read.  If they were in the audience instead of presenting, would they want to see these slides?  In those sessions I found myself starting to multi-task.  I was catching up on work emails, news, and other sorts.  It's a shame because I was excited for the content that these particular sessions promised to provide.  Maybe they did provide it, but I doubt many people retained any of it.  Their poor presentation design and lack of concern for their audience's well being as students eager to learn left a bad taste in many audience members' mouths.  

If you're looking for a business-to-business social media conference and you're new to the space, I'd recommend it.  I think they have a good thing going if they offer the caliber of presenters next year that they did this year.  However, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Conferences that team up with a presentation designer (i.e. TED and Duarte, although not formally) to help create effective PowerPoint presentations will have much happier audience members at the end of the day.

Comments

[Cari Sultanik]

Jon, great insights on the presentation quality. I enjoyed live tweeting the event with you! I definitely intend to comb your blog for more good presentation advice.

[Jeff Tincher @SpringhouseEduc]

Jon, same as what Cari said. great recap and thoughts. I didn't get to see @ComcastCares "conversation" but did attend Jason Falls and agree that moving around on stage, looking at the audience and his humor made his presentation rock! I was engaged the entire time with his presentation, which I cannot say for some of the other "sales pitches".

I'm going to spend some time scanning your blog as well.
thanks again!

[ChrisDrinkut]

Solid advice Jon. I hate that I didn't meet you at #smplus

I really think your advice about photos is worth deep consideration. I dig what Jason Falls does - he's great - but even in his presentation I'd say there is room for improvement in applying the right photos.

Two things: (1) the photo should be an extension of the point you're making, like you said above. It should emphasize the point, and "the big image, to abbreviated text" is more solid advice.

And (2) Using the 'right' image is about in part finding room to say what you need/want to say. Finding an image that provides you (a) room enough, and (b) the right coloring (ie enough light space in the image to contrast your dark words, or vice versa) is a tough job at times but if done correctly makes a stellar slide.

Here is Jason's presentation from #smplus notice that a couple slides the white words fade - get lost - in the light backgrounds. Whoops. *Still a great presenter & presentation. http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/conversational-marketing/

[Rohit]

Thanks for this post and sharing your expertise Jon. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you in person at the event as well, but enjoyed reading and learning from your post.

[Jonathan Thomas]

Cari,

Much appreciated. Your tweets were quite insightful as well. The back-channel conversation adds a whole other level of insight for audience attendees. Just another way Twitter adds value (for those of you who think it's just a "time-suck").

- Jon

[Jonathan Thomas]

Jeff,

Jason was great, wasn't he? It may sound conceited, but I have the utmost faith in the methods of presenting that I teach here, and while Jason certainly didn't learn how to present from me, he used the same tactics that led him to be the unofficial best presentation of the conference.

Thanks for scanning the blog as well. I hope you enjoy it.

- Jon

[Jonathan Thomas]

Chris,

Good points about presentation photography. I tend to be long-winded in my blog posts and going down that tangent would have made this post a daunting read. You're exactly right though.

I did notice Jason's presentations had some design flaws, but that's okay. It was ten times better than the average presentation. I often tell people that on a scale from 1-10, the current state of PowerPoint presentations is at about a 3 at best. If you can improve your presentation to a 6, you're going to be twice as good as your competitors.

Your comment is much appreciated.

- Jon

[Jonathan Thomas]

Rohit,

My apologies for not catching up with you at the conference as well. Hopefully we stay in touch and connect at a future conference.

Keep up the great presenting. I was really impressed with your image choices and restraint with text.

Thanks so much for commenting.

- Jon

[Bill Lublin]

John: So glad you enjoyed the presentation - and the deck - thanks for the kind words and your insight - I look forward to our next face to face meeting!