Developing a Presentation - Extracting Ideas From Social Media

The range of media available to us today can be seemingly endless, and each type of media allows opportunities to develop presentation ideas. When stuck for a message for a meeting or event, your solution could be in one of the newest of the many forms of media – Social media.

When I talk about social media, this includes sites such as Facebook and MySpace which allow you to see and interact with others online. Social media is an online presence where the content is produced and shared by the users of the media rather than the operators of the system.

These sites incorporate a function where users are able to provide updates about what they are doing and thinking about and users also have the capacity to upload pictures and clips which have caught their attention or interest.

A clip which is widely shared in this way is referred to as having gone Viral.  Introducing your presentation through referring to a viral clip or posting from social media establishes a link with those of your audience who had previously been exposed to the clip. It also demonstrates to your audience that you are aware of things happening in the broader community.

There are however things to be aware of in relation to the use of “Viral” media. The first is that the on-line world moves extremely quickly and where clothes might last a season (or more) things that are current and everybody is talking about today can be forgotten in a week or two. There are exceptions such as the audition clip of Susan Boyle which gained such a high and lasting profile in transitioned from social to news media, however for most viral media the shelf life is very short.

Also consider the audience when using social media references. Do you think the majority of the audience are likely to be familiar with social media? If so and you spend too much time describing the media article which they have already seen for themselves, their attention will soon wane.

From the opposite point of view, also be aware of making assumptions. If you introduce your presentation with a reference to a social media clip without enough content or background to explain it, those that have not seen the media item will not understand the reference. In practice it is a balancing act and the successful speaker will need to find a middle point to meet the whole audience.

Another social media platform is Twitter, and no, those posts from people using the site should not be referred to as a twit, rather they are called tweets and provide a very short comment about what the user is thinking.

An interesting function in Twitter is the trend information. Trend data allows users to see what topics and authors are currently popular and this, like the viral clips, provides an insight into what things are of interest to many people at any given time.

Incorporating content that you know is on broad interest is going to increase your opportunities to engage your audience and bring them with you through the presentation journey.

Tips for taking telling to a true transfer of ideas

·         Social Media can provide very up to date information on what is of interest in the community

·         Use social media that is fresh and recognise its generally short shelf life.

·         Provide an appropriate amount of context around the social media content, don’t over explain or provide too little background

Overcoming Writers Block

“Sorry that this update was late, I was just having trouble working out what I wanted to say” … well that might be an expected opening from someone suffering from writers block.

The experience of reaching a point in preparation and being unsure how to progress is one most people involved in developing presentations will be familiar with, and how you manage this will make a significant difference to your outcomes – resulting in either a presentation that is rambling and disjointed or a presentation that flows smoothly and is easy to follow

Despite the advances of modern medicine, in many cases the effective healer is time and likewise writers block can often be resolved though pausing and turning your attention to something else temporarily. While the fastest point between two points might be a direct line, pushing yourself through a block in the writing process can produce a product that is not as good as it could have been.

Of course using time to resolve the block to the writing process only works if 2 factors are present, time and commitment. If you have left the preparation to the day before you are due to deliver the presentation, you may feel that sense of stress that there is no time to wait for the presentation to develop at the back of your mind.

For this reason I always recommend that you develop the broad outline of the presentation a fair way in advance. The detail and examples you use to illustrate your presentation may be filled closer to the presentation date however a general structure, purpose and goal are good to develop in advance.

A commitment to the presentation is also required; it is not effective to allow the field of your presentation to lie fallow unless you are going to return to it.  Sometimes the ideas of how to move the presentation forward will come from a variety of places – things to see or hear in your day, television or newspaper articles – the sources of ideas are endless and so is the capacity to use these to overcome your blockages.

Discussing the issue with another person can also be an effective strategy to progress forward. Often the process of putting into words the presentation will help to clarify and define where you are and where you want to be.

A person to act as a sounding board to bounce ideas off or to explain the situation to can be invaluable, if fact your sounding board will often not need to say anything at all, just through stating the problem the solution will appear.

Without wishing to seem to be channelling a Cher song from the late eighties another strategy that can be applied is a process of turning back time. A speech or presentation is a journey and as such it may help to think of it as a journey through a series of caverns within an underground cave complex. You are leading your audience towards the light however from each cavern there are multiple tunnels leading onwards to more caverns.

The writer’s block may demonstrate that you have reached a dead end, a cavern with no exit, or at least no exits leading you towards the light of day – if this is the case moving back to the previous cavern and trying another tunnel, or if we are to move away from the metaphor, moving back to the previous section of the presentation and considering other options may provide a new path, or paths, towards the light.

If taking a step back is not assisting in providing some resolution, consider starting back at the beginning - what is your cause, your goal. As discussed above, the block maybe indicating you have wandered off the path and if you clearly understand where you are trying to get to, then that may provide the direction you need.

Sometimes however we set ourselves goals that on reflection we come to understand we cannot met, so reassessing the presentation goal as a whole may lead to you gaining an understanding that the presentation simply will not work or flow as you want it to.

Rather than persisting beyond this point, consider asking yourself the following “Is it good enough?”

It is very rare for me to be completely happy with any presentation, either in terms of development or delivery. This is not a reflection on the fact that the presentations are poor, but rather the constant feeling that it could have been better.

There is value, when you are stuck in the preparation at the point where every option you consider you find yourself rejecting to consider if you being too hard on yourself – while you are not happy with the next step in the flow of the presentation continuing on and using that segment that is not up to your standards may allow you to continue through and develop the rest of the speech and then see the problematic passage in the content of the whole presentation.

At this point you may see that the part that you were unhappy with is really not as bad as you initially thought, or alternatively the rest of the presentation provides ideas for improving that segment.

Tips for taking telling to a true transfer of ideas

·         Time – Allow plenty of preparation time some you can let the presentation lie

·         Talk – have support people you can discuss the issues with as vocalisation can lead to resolution

·         Turn – turn the speech around by back tracking to prior points or the presentation purpose

·         Try – work through a weak segment and see if the presentation as a whole leads to ideas to resolve the issues