Scott Klososky

Description

Why Augment a Speech With Technology? Having been in the speaking industry for the last 12 years, I’ve noticed audiences are getting more difficult to impress. Many people have literally seen hundreds of speakers and they yearn not only for fresh content, but also fresh methods of delivery. The attention span of Gen Y only makes this worse and they’re now entering the work force. These factors led me to experiment and augment my programs with various technology tools, that allow me to create a new type of conversation and relationship with the audience. In order to keep them engaged, I let them converse with me electronically while I speak. I provide simple ways for them to connect with me and to receive the materials I cover in the talk. This document provides descriptions and instructions for each of the presentation augmenting tools I use. They can be mixed and matched to create just the right feel for your audience, and you will be pleased with the positive comments you receive just for trying something new! Wifitti – Text based Q&A to the Big Screen DESCRIPTION – Wifitti.com is a free Web-based service I use to allow the audience to text message questions and comments right to the stage. I start off the presentation by teaching them the simple instructions, so the audience feels comfortable sending texts. Everything they send is anonymous and I have the ability to filter bad language, so only reasonable questions and comments get through. Providing this kind of capability to the audience creates a whole new feel to a presentation, because the audience gets to participate at a much higher level. What I love about Wifitti is that I can typically answer 20 to 25 questions per talk, instead of 3 to 5 at the end of the presentation. Many of the meeting planners who have worked with me to use this tool, have gone on to use it with other speakers as a way to spice up other programs. INSTRUCTIONS – Because this is a Web-based tool, an additional laptop with an Internet connection is required. A decision needs to be made as to how it will be projected onto the big screen. There are multiple options, including dedicating a specific screen to display Wifitti or providing a switching capability, so the presentation slides can be swapped for the Wifitti screen when I call for it. In this case, I need a confidence monitor, so I can see the questions coming in while I speak. HELPFUL HINTS – One thing that has to be considered is the impact on the timing of the presentation. The talk must be at least an hour long and there must be some flexibility with the end time, because we can’t predict how many questions will come in. The other consideration is the size of the audience. The perfect size is 150 to 1000 people. Any more than that, I normally get too many questions; any less, there are not enough questions and it feels funny because the audience is small enough to just ask me directly.

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