The Ideal Communicator

Several months ago, I watched a speaker at a conference deliver a riveting talk on marketing, branding and social media. He was polished, interesting, and the slides and videos that he used brought the perfect mix of humour, fun, and insight. All around, a great presentation.

And yet, his audience was cheated.

What happened? At the end of this well-structured, well-delivered and value-driven speech, he immediately left the stage. The audience had barely started their applause in appreciation of his talk, but he didn’t see it. And what was worse, the audience gave him a standing ovation. Of the approximately 300 people in attendance, almost everyone was on their feet, trying to show their appreciation for sharing his views through their applause.

But he was gone. Out the door. Without a clue that 300 people were trying to show their appreciation. We thought he’d come back, but he never did.

So I, as the rest of the audience, applauded an empty stage. Awkward.

Did he not care? Did he have somewhere more important to be? Did he not have 10 extra seconds to hang around and accept his applause? Read the rest of this entry »

This 20-minute speech was forwarded to me by a very valued reader, who prefaced it with a simple “Wow! Check this!” And what I saw did not disappoint. Eve Ensler is known as the original creator of the Vagina Monologues and V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women and girls, which has so far raised $70 million to prevent violence and protect abused women. And after watching this video, now we can also get to know her as a passionate, intense speaker with a somewhat unconventional speaking style.

I’m going to assume that for many of the astute readers of this newsletter, you likely remarked on the same two issues that I did within the first minute of the speech: First, she’s sitting. Second, she’s got notes in her lap, which she refers to fairly often in the first 2 minutes, then minimally for the rest of the speech. This breaks some of the public speaking “rules” that we’re so familiar with: Stand up and move around, and don’t use notes (especially large papers stapled together). But what was also evident in the first minute of her speech was an intensity that caught my attention immediately, and made me want to hear more. Read the rest of this entry »