When a speaker has a command of the effective presentation skills to put him or herself into a presentation in a truly emotional, real way, I take notice.
These speakers stand out because so many speakers don't inject any emotion into their talks. And for those speakers who do inject emotion, it often appears to the audience (or at least "me" in the audience) as phony and forced.
Among multiple great speakers at the Gigabit City Summit, one speaker I was able to see was one of those rare standout presenters who could put effective presentation skills on display throughout her talk in a very real way, so I took lots of notice.
Susan Crawford, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, delivered a talk on “From Gigabit City to Responsive City.” The former Special Assistant for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy in the Obama administration, her talk on technology and broadband wound up following President Obama's address on the importance of broadband for communities across the United States.
This placement set Susan Crawford up to contrast her challenges six years ago in advancing broadband initiatives compared with the address President Obama had completed just a few hours earlier.
8 Effective Presentation Skills for Putting More of You in Your Talks
What were the effective presentation skills Susan Crawford used so well in her remarks?
Here are eight of them Susan Crawford used that ANY of us can use, if you or I are willing to move into a more real place to share our perspectives.
She spoke:
- About her hopes
- Of her challenges
- From the heart
- Using her own stories, not someone else’s stories
- To establish empathy with the audience
- With humor where it was appropriate – even in a serious talk
- With body language that conveyed her passion and emotion in very subtle ways
- In a way that took her to the edge of raw emotion without going too far
I was so completely pulled in to her talk, I missed an online message from conference chair Aaron Deacon of KC Digital Drive on how we wanted to wrap up the day’s events!
Susan Crawford at the Gigabit City Summit from KC Digital Drive on Vimeo.
Two days later, while delivering an update on a Digital Inclusion Summit report for Kansas City The Brainzooming Group prepared for the Kansas City Public Library. I tried using as many of these presentation skills as possible. I’ll keep the list close to push myself in future presentations. If you’re up to it, next time you want to put more of you into your presentation, come back here and see how you stack up against the effective presentation skills on the list. – Mike Brown
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