The point of a presentation is not a massive download of fact but transmission of an idea, a hope, a concept, inspiration or purpose. This is the intrinsic flaw in the approach of many to a “presentation.” Facts in themselves are not interesting, beyond the first few. They are not memorable unless one makes a conscious effort as an audience to study, which we don’t and if, heaven forbid, you are one of many presentations in an event you will find you, your presentation your list of facts and maybe even your existence are a limitation on socialising, drinking or staying awake. Is that why you are there?
To save your audience, to deliver your message and to impress you must understand the concept of story and move on from the data dump. What, exactly are you trying to say in your 15 minutes of fame? Can you describe your thought in one tweet? 140 characters to encapsulate all you are trying to say? No? Then don’t bother because you are just going to bore them.
I appreciate that is challenging and that, were there debate on the blog, people would respond with, “I need to give them lots of facts,” “it’s a teaching session,” “but audit data is boring,” etc etc. All of which is true but if you can’t come up with a single tweet summarising all of that then you are simply delivering a pile of facts and that would be better done by sending them a pdf for your audience to read. Hopefully the retort to that would be along the lines of, “but they are looking for my insight into the topic,” and THERE is your purpose. Do it. Give them your insight, make it relevant, make it worth while for the audience, not just a list of facts. Consider the audience and their needs.
So here is your challenge: tweet @ffolliet your next presentation. Please?