Social Media Speaker, 4 Tools for presenting
In support of friends, peers, and professionals that I know coordinating Social Media Speaker and Social Media Club Seattle, I wanted to share some of the tools and tips in my bag of tricks for not only delivering presentations with a little technical flavor, but also getting people to attend!
Before getting too “geeky” for everyone, keep in mind that presentations are meant to be educational, informative, entertaining, and insightful. Being a good social media speaker also requires a little bit of audience engagement, a few points of character, and a little bit of influencer analysis.
REMEMBER
Don’t get bogged down by losing your audience
with too many flashy tools (like the ones below!)
Closr.IT – provides an image service that allows interesting visuals on-screen. It basically allows you to have an insanely high resolution image that you can zoom in/out and pan around on. In past presentations I’ve used it to allow attendees to use my wireless mouse as a “exploration playground” of the topic.
Slideshare – is a great tool for archiving and sharing your presentation deck. You can save your audiences *a lot* of attention problems if you disclose slides will be available online. Slideshare also has variety of features: the ability to embed presentations means that event organizers can help promote/share your information, while lead capture forms built into Slideshare can help you connect with visitors who like your material.
Animoto – provides a simple way to share photos and videos of the topic and the event. It is a great way to take your snapshots of an event and distribute them as an event “thank you”, while it can also be used to provide a new way of sharing your slide content. (A quick sample with Flight of the Bumblebees below)
Prezi – is a presentation tool that takes you away from presenting “slides” and provides your content with a visual edge. In order to maximize your information, you really have to think ‘out of the box’ when drafting your presentation. (Sample from Paolo Tasolini )
Microsoft Case Study: Using Mobile and Media to Connect Communities
Personal Recommendations, Bring It All Together
If you really want to connect with your audience as a presenter, give A LOT of thought to the level of understanding in the audience. As a social media speaker myself, part of my own presentation style includes multiple audience questions before the event, as well as ‘level check’ questions during my presentation. You also need to introduce tools that create interest and open conversation, always weighing tools against the chance that they may be distracting or overwhelming.
On a hardware and technology level you should also give thought to what happens when everything goes wrong. Whenever possible you want to make sure that you have back-ups of presentation materials on a thumb drive, and that you minimize any need for using WIFI or network connections to give your presentation (if you use a video, try to get a downloaded version of it)
*Bonus tip: always create a 5 to 10 minute “intro topic” to talk about. If a technical glitch occurs during your setup or an event needs you to fill extra time, having a micro topic that is related to your primary message gives you the ability to demonstrate additional knowledge and value.
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