This is a bit off my usual track of written material, but it’s still info presentation, and I’ve been at an exhibition event recently so it’s something I’ve been mulling over.
Some presentations – seminars at events, evening talks, etc – leave you feeling satisfied and that the time is well spent, but I’ve been to many in the last few months that didn’t leave me feeling like that at all. So here’s what I think: perhaps you’ll find it helpful.
There are two types of talk. Entertaining ones are particularly suited to celebrities and well-known yarn-spinners, who can attract an audience just to hear them talk about their life and experiences in their special style. Most talks, however, aim at being useful: giving the audience new facts, insights and skills that they can add to their pool to solve problems and make progress in some aspect of their life.
Here comes the completely made up science part
You can think of your interaction with your seminar audience as a push and pull between two factors: satisfaction and annoyance.