Repetisi

Imagine this situation…

Three presenters, about to talk on the same topic. The first already did his, quite extensive (used up all of his timeslot, eating a bit of mine). Some of my slides are even similar to his. I am the next one.

What am I going to say?

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to tell you a boring story about XYZ technology (in fact I'm repeating what the previous presenter just told you)."

Which is somehow what I said. Adding to the complication, I felt that I lost all my enthusiasm… I just hope that it wasn't that obvious — reflected to my voice tone or my body language. The irony is that I went there to "wow 'em like Steve Jobs", but, well, kinda lost it at the last moment. Forgot all the scripts, jokes, scenarios… because I have to think hard on what should I say.

Anyway, reflecting upon that, here's what I found:

1. Never ever lose your enthusiasm.
2. They might say the same points ten times before, but you can always add something. It's all about marketing: adding points of differentiation.
3. If you prepare enough, you can still entertain the audience; tell stories about heroes, anecdots, … (enthusiastically).
4. Deliver the main message. You don't have a luxury to deliver a complete storyline as previously planned — doing so risk boring the audience by repeating the introductory / background slides. But you should be able to still make your points, probably summarise the background — something like elevator pitch, and tell the main story.
5. Improvise. But careful… stick to the main message.

Now, in my case…

1. I tried hard not to switch to presentation mode… probably in the first couple of slides it's quite obvious, although I thought I managed to get over it and presented the story quite well.
2. What I added: my very recent experience on that topic. I was talking about communication convergence, and (fortunately) I just had an interesting experience about it.
3. Two funny slides… and one funny video (hey!)
4. Yeah… 30-sec pitch in the opening slide and 30-sec pitch on the last slide.
5. Hmm… difficult. Almost lost my main message. But tried that.

In general, I think I score myself 65 (out of 100). Better luck next time.

BTW, poor number three… (but he did quite well).