10 tips for journalists who want to be better presenters

Here are 10 practical tips gleaned from several years of teaching and attending conference sessions – the good, the bad and the ugly. These tips can help those of you who are preparing newsroom training sessions, as well.

Give yourself enough time to prepare

As journalists, we tend to wait for a fast-approaching deadline to inspire us. Unfortunately, that attitude will only lead to disastrous teaching. You’re good at what you do. But that doesn’t mean you’ve broken down what you do into steps and thought about the most effective way to teach those steps. That preparation takes time and care.

Focus, focus, focus

A good presentation is like good storytelling. You can’t try to cover an entire topic. Instead, you need to focus on two or three main points that you want to convey to your audience, and then shape your presentation around those main points. A side note: Some presenters find that using a PowerPoint presentation can help them focus their thoughts. Use PowerPoint if you’re comfortable with it, but avoid making so many slides that you have to rush through them at the end.

Know your audience

A group of editors, a group of reporters and a group of average citizens are all going to have different perspectives on your topic. A group that includes international journalists may not understand your cultural references or even some of your assumed journalistic standards. Tailor your presentation to the group.

Know your audience’s needs and experience

Take a minute at the start of your session to survey your audience. How much experience do they have with the topic you’re going to talk about? What tools are they familiar with? What are they hoping to take away from the session?

Avoid war stories

Our eyes glaze over whenever a speaker rambles on, talking about stories that he or she reported on back in the day. Yes, you want to share your personal experience — that’s why you’ve been asked to speak. But make sure to attach a clear, relevant lesson to each “war story” you tell.

Realize that panels are their own beasts

Panels are not excuses for winging it, and they’re not always the most effective approach to engaging an audience. The best panel sessions require preparation. Select your panel members so that you know you’ll get a diversity of perspectives — perhaps even disagreement. Include a few “ringers” — people who you know are reliable and who can present to great effect. Talk to your panelists ahead of time and e-mail them questions so you can get a sense of what they may say. Then, if you’re the moderator, be prepared to guide the panel with both a light touch and an iron fist. You want to encourage each panelist to have their say. But you don’t want any one panelist to dominate the conversation. If that happens, you’ve got to intervene for the audience’s sake.

Foster the people

Get your audience to interact with you. Most of us hate it when a presenter says he or she wants a conversation with the audience, and then proceeds to talk and talk. Give some thought to how you’re going to not only foster – but enforce – interactivity. If your audience is small enough, ask folks to pair up or break into smaller groups and work on an exercise. If you’re working with a large audience, ask folks to take a minute to write down their thoughts on the topic and then ask three or four of them to share what they’ve written.

Save time for questions

In your preparation work, edit your presentation down so that you have 10 to 15 minutes to spare. That will allow you to take questions at the end. Sometimes, the Q&A period is the insightful part of the session.

Make handouts

In this time of chaos and uncertainty, journalists who attend conferences want to know that they’ve left your session with some practical takeaways. Share your wisdom on the handout and pass it out at the end of your session. And take comfort in knowing that the handout can cover any bullet points that you weren’t able to address in your session.

The Social Robots Are Coming To The Event Industry

One of the biggest challenges faced by event professionals today is capturing the attention and respect of today’s more complex, tech-savvy and often quite jaded audiences.

From the White House to Elizabeth Arden, Ford, Motorola, Pfizer and many others, event strategists around the globe are learning to leverage a new generation of iconic, time-appropriate Social Robots. Borne out of research in Technology-to-People Behavioral Psychology, the Social Robots are earning their place alongside Keynote Speakers, hosting Opening Ceremonies, Press Conferences, receptions, and exhibits.

Oftentimes, they will perform all of these functions in a single day, making this event tactic uncommonly cost-effective.

How Do Social Robots Work?

Gone are the days of promotional robots operated by model-airplane radio controls at malls and children's birthday parties. Today's Social Robot is a sophisticated and impressively engineered computer-supported technology. Social Robots are wirelessly operated by professional and cultured entertainers using a miniaturized microprocessor-assisted wireless technology concealed within their clothing. Whether the entertainer operates the Social Robot from backstage in a scripted manner or delivers improvisational conversations while transparently roaming the event as if you he or she were just another member of the audience, these seasoned operators can help you to create a very memorable experience.

So Why Use Social Robots In Your Events?

Social Robots resonate well in today's society. As we have a growing fascination with science and technology including the rapidly expanding markets in Robotics people have a natural curiosity about these Social Robots. The adult-sized, programmable and remotely operated personalities are often able to circumvent many of the constraints of social protocol and bond rapidly with any age, social, ethnic or cultural group in your audiences while erasing stresses, fears, anxieties, suspicions, attention-deficits or defense mechanisms.

But perhaps the greatest advantage of using a Social Robot at your event is its diversity and cost-effectiveness. Social Robots can be used in a variety of ways and unlike human beings they don't tire out. Social Robots are being used as an event's "goodwill ambassador" appearing in scripted welcoming speeches or keynotes, making appearances on local Morning News shows, delivering motivational speeches on science and technology at local schools or visiting a cancer-care unit at a local Hospital. These Social Robots can do all of this and then host an evening reception with improvisational comedy, singing, dancing, and of course, lots of souvenir photos - it's all in a day's work!

What about the Compassionate Side?

It's probably not surprising to note that Social Robots are equally successful working with the Learning Disabled, Autistic, ADHD, Handicapped, special-needs and senior citizen groups. This compassionate side of the Social Robot can be leveraged by event professionals in the form of scheduling goodwill visits to local Clinics, Hospitals, schools, Senior/Rehab centers in concert with their events. There are few other ways that can match the Social Robot's aptitude for reaffirming a company's all-important Corporate Social Responsibility in these challenging times. Not to mention a Social Robot's humanitarian gestures can potentially generate millions annually in media coverage while earning you the accolades of local consumer, business, and government and media groups.

What Role Might Your Social Robot Play in Your Event?

So how do you position your Social Robot in your event? There are many roles your Social Robot can play from being a member of your research department or a time-traveling emissary from your company's future-- the possibilities are endless!  Some Social Robots have impressive credentials which you can also leverage, having starred in movies, TV Series, and concerts.

Altogether, the non-human attributes, coupled with its wonderfully engaging human-like idiosyncratic mannerisms makes the Social Robot a strong and now time-appropriate contender for a multitude of dynamic and memorable event strategies.

What are your thoughts on the above???

Source- Article

Trends in advertising – 2012

Thanks to technology, what's old is new again. At least that's what advertising executives predict for 2012.

Television and magazines ads have been pronounced dead more than once on Madison Avenue, of course. But technology breathed new life into those mediums last year, with YouTube extending viewership for TV ads and the iPad making print ads sexy again.

Technology is expected to continue to invade and rejigger every aspect of advertising in the new year, according to ad executives.

"In 2012, advertising will be more than ever the intersection of technology and storytelling," says Christian Haas, executive creative director at Good by Silverstein & Partners, a unit of Omnicom Group Inc.

Hints about what this future might look like have already begun to emerge. In a reimagining of sampling, one of the oldest forms of marketing, Kraft Foods Inc., for instance, is testing a vending machine that uses facial recognition technology and a bit of humor to dole out bites of its Jell-O dessert called Temptations. Targeted at adults, the Jell-O machine, equipped with an Intel camera, has a surprising message for kids who approach for a taste: "Sorry kid. You're too young to experience an indulgence like this. Please step away so the adults can get their free treat."

Even staid retail catalogs are getting a digital makeover, with Google recently unveiling an app that aggregates dozens of the mailbox-clogging books, including ones for Pottery Barn and LL Bean.

Still, a flair for technology won't be enough to stand out amidst the stupefying ad clutter. To grab attention, some ad executives expect to see more comedy in the mix while others foresee an uptick in raunchier promotions, peppered with f-bombs.

What follows are some of Madison Avenue's predictions for 2012:

Couch-Potato Gatherings

New downloadable apps will turn TV watching into a virtual community event. "Apps like Get Glue invite viewers to check-in to a program and have conversations with others watching the same thing," says Daniel Khabie, chief executive officer of Digitaria, a digital-marketing firm owned by WPP PLC. "TV networks will pump it up because it encourages live watching and thus commercial watching."

Foul-Mouthed Ads

"Ads with f-bombs? Get used to it," says Glenn Cole, chief creative officer of 72 & Sunny, a unit if MDC Partners Inc. "Major brands will start to take off the granny pants and create racier content that demands the attention and respect of younger audiences." Such content would be focused on the Web and certain cable-TV channels.

Getting to Know You

Along with small screens on store shelves flickering with product promotions, kiosk-like machines will offer personalized "product suggestions," says Michele Fabrizi, chief executive officer of MARC USA. "So if you want to buy the same shade of lipstick or even the same color of paint, it will be able to remind you what you purchased previously.

-    Websites Migrate

Fortune 500 companies will give up on stodgy corporate websites and move their "primary online identity to a social network—most likely Facebook," says Mr. Khabie of Digitaria.

Mobile Madness

Every year, "Black Friday" sends shoppers into an irrational tizzy. Now add two more days. "In 2012, 'Mobile Thursday' will join 'Black Friday' and 'Cyber Monday' as record shopping days," says Colin Kinsella, chief executive of Digitas North America, a digital-ad firm owned by Publicis. Mr. Kinsella is predicting that "the link between mobile and commercial will thicken" in 2012, which means more money for the mobile industry.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203899504577129021841047502.html