The Friday Thing #819

Friday 13th. Eek!

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The Friday Thing #819 comes to you from the road this week – I’ve been out presenting at conferences in Seattle and yesterday in Atlanta. Last week was LA – talking with directors, writers, and producers from Hollywood. Each time the topic was AI and it’s been great fun to be back out talking about technology but also listening and learning how others are reacting to and approaching this new era of AI. I can attest that I met with the writers in Hollywood feeling some trepidation given where they were in negotiations with the studios – including on AI. It was a great conversation though and I am grateful for the wisdom of that audience and their insights into how they’re thinking about using and adapting to this new technology. In Seattle and Atlanta, I was talking with groups of communicators and PR professionals about the impact of AI on our profession. There are fears for sure – but also optimism and excitement and it was fun to show some of the work my team is doing on the frontiers of AI in Communications. More on that soon, perhaps, perhaps.

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What was most enjoyable this week was thinking through the presentations I would give and specifically how to distill and simplify the message and use stories to illuminate and entertain. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking presentations are all about information transfer but I treat them as more than that. There is a value exchange of time for the audience vs. what they get in return – and part of that is to be entertained, to be taken on a journey and to learn something new. If not, I could just send them my slides via email.

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It’s a craft I continue to learn and enjoy and for this presentation, I was inspired somewhat by the London Tube map. Much has been written about Harry Beck’s glorious creation that eschewed geographical fidelity in favour of a map that was more readable and functional. His distilled complex information down its essence – which is what great communication is all about. It turns out Harry created another map – for airline routes.

…even more than this historic map of Imperial Airways routes, I love the reference in the middle of the map. So much information, in such simple terms. Brilliant.

I know that was a bit of a left turn from presenting on AI to 1930’s airline maps – but it’s a reminder that inspiration is everywhere. You just have to be in the lookout!

Okay, that’s all for this week. I’m off to another airport.

Music for this week is Red Rain by Peter Gabriel.

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-Steve?