Why did we change how we present?

One of the things so cool about the tech industry is the amazing talent and knowledge that public speakers delivered at numerous events. The beautiful art of the presentation, being able to sell me on a product by telling stories, to convince people to think in a different way by dissecting data or to get a room excited by explaining a new idea or giving a demo, I love it! Skill, knowledge, preparation, talent, flair, confidence all displayed in a 45 minute presentation that made every attendee a little smarter than before they entered the room.

So what happened? Why are a lot of online presentations missing this impact? This work from home world seems to be slowly killing these skills and replacing it with something new and it's not great. Presenting in public has always been hard and uncomfortable and the ones that mastered it, know that it was done with countless trial runs, dozens of deck versions, talking in front of a mirror, recording yourself to see what could be improved etc. In the end you were still nervous as you got on the stage but your preparation and confidence would pull you through. The people applauded without realising how awesome but nerve-wrecking it was for you.

Now with work from home, there seems to be a new, easy way out because nobody is watching you directly and they can only see what the camera sees. It feels like a lot of presenters have switched to reciting a script instead of presenting. I understand people choose to do this because it gives a fake feeling of safety, no longer do you need to be nervous as you are sure to pull it off without anyone knowing. They literally write out the whole script and have it in front of them and are reading it out loud. Sometimes trying to improve it by looking straight at the camera every couple of seconds, or by putting their text just below the camera so their eyes have this unnatural, slightly off angle to the lens. Others are trying to make it spontaneous with unnatural voice pitching at slide transitions or badly timed hand gestures. Dear presenter, if this is you, please realise that we know what you are doing, you are not hiding it well and it it hurts your message and in some cases, even your credibility. No really, it does. You are not presenting, you are reading out loud.

Someone that joins your session, spends their time listening to you because they value you and your expertise, they want to hear what you have to say and learn from you. For me, I want you to present it to me and have some fun, make mistakes, correct them, show your passion on the subject, ramble off topic for a minute if you feel like it and be yourself, be genuine. If you don't put in the work and just read to me from a script, I can read faster than you can present it so I could just get your message consumed in 1/3 of the time. By reading a script out loud instead of telling me about the subject, you have just taken your personal value out of the knowledge transfer and nobody really gains from that.

Please, online or offline, stick with these age old rules of presenting;

• Prepare, prepare, prepare
• Tell me a story
• Make eye-contact (Look direct at the camera lens)
• Show your passion for the subject
• Stand up while presenting if you can, use your body. (Camera at eye-level)
• If you really need it, only write down keywords to keep your flow. One word per 10 sec max, never write down sentences.
• Take a breath and don't forget to enjoy it

It will feel uncomfortable but I guarantee you that you will get a 10x better response from all attendees. It might be harder and more time consuming but it is so worth it and will keep your skills sharp for when we go back to presenting in our physical form, hopefully soon.

Thoughts, tips, disagree? Happy to discuss below.