We always encourage presenters to look far and wide for inspiration as they seek new and powerful ways to make their presentations more memorable and effective. When you’re looking to take a message (dare we say) “viral”, you’re probably not going to find the inspiration you need by scouring other people’s corporate presentations. The more you want a message to spread, the more entertaining it needs to be and the easier it needs to be for people to spread it on your behalf.
We think this video from Robin Thicke is perfect inspiration for presenters. Relying on hyper-stylized footage with jarring typography and bold hashtags, it’s hard to imagine people not knowing exactly how to add their commentary to the social conversation about this video. Not only that, but in the context of the song, blurred lines becomes not just a title but an extensible, applicable hashtag for real situations that people might find themselves in on a daily (or, more likely, nightly) basis.
So part one is making sure people are entertained. Part two is making sure they know how to participate in the conversation. Part three is making the interactivity extensible and applicable. Viral content is viral because it starts larger conversations; rarely will people just chatter incessantly about an isolated piece of content.
Pop culture is always a great place to find the latest applications of social trends. Entire teams are dedicated just to the concepts and precepts of disseminating content in a digital world, and we just don’t see that kind of intentional, dedicated effort when it comes to spreading the word about presentations. That’s not to say that presentations aren’t inherently suited for being spread; just that the people that make them aren’t dedicating themselves to the effort.
And you know what? That’s ok. We presenters don’t have to do all the workshopping and trial-running and envelope-pushing if we just keep our eyes open to what others are doing and incorporate their ideas into our work. It’s easy to employ the concepts in Thicke’s video in your next presentation: come up with the hashtags you think will start the conversation and get people engaged and then incorporate them into your presentation. And don’t make them small footnotes at the bottom of your slides, either; make them loud and proud so that people get the message. You may even want to tell your audience how they can engage using the hashtags you give them.
Perhaps the larger takeaway, though, aside from typography and hashtags and principles of social media, is that we always need to keep our eyes open to the world around us. Principles of communication are all around us, and we can always advance ourselves and our own abilities more quickly if we’re open to seeing what works in other contexts.
Question: How do you incorporate ideas from outside of the usual “business” world into your presentations?
