Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Podcamp: Pistachio on Presentations

Day two of Podcamp started off bright and early with a session lead by Laura Fitton (@pistachio). "Presenting... (The People Formerly Known as) Your Audience" was the title of the session and understanding the nature of presentations was the game.

Laura began by telling us that media, even in this new media landscape, is about audience. It's not about you. And consequently, you should remember that podcasts--any form of media--are shows and conversations. You have to ask and listen, be active participants in the entire process.

Most importantly--Love your audience!
Show your audience some love with:
production value
distribution
tight editing
getting (and incorporating) feedback
listening
asking
talking
providing entertainment
making them think
informing / educating
helping
giving 'em something
content

You're providing content and you should actively be seeking out an audience that matches your content. Get out of your fish bowl and find them where they live.

During the her presentation, Laura had everyone take out a business card, pass it to the person sitting in the next chair over and call the person's voicemail. Your voicemail is a presentation of who you are to--and most of us cringed at the thought of being judged by it!

Laura had this mnemonic device in her slides:
Concise
Organized
Direct
Effective

I think it succinctly summarizes her points about how to engage an audience in a presentation in only four words.


The session concluded with members of the audience sharing tactics for getting their respective audiences to engage. People suggested asking friends and family to comment to break the silence. The diecast audio podcaster said he found some of his audience in local diecast enthusiast club meetings... The take aways were to make the audience feel comfortable and find them where are.

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