Maybe I'm missing something here. 

I have my smart phone, my kindle, my netbook (which I strongly suggest you do not ever even think about buying), my  laptop, my desktop... why in the world do I need a tablet? 

Thanks to all of this technology : 
  • I can get email everywhere - it can be back-lit, sideways, big, small, or only partially visible due to screen limitations. 
  • I can make phone calls from any device. I can call from my desktop, my phone, my laptop... The kindle can't be used as a phone yet but I bet it will do that too. 
  • I can get books from Google or Amazon on my phone, netbook, desktop, kindle... 
  • I have built- in cameras on every device except my desktop. 
  • I can play Angry Birds on any of these devices - well except the kindle, but I can get Halloween Mahjong on that. 
  • I can easily attach almost all of these devices to a projector. Tablets require special converters for this purpose and from what I have observed with my Ipad-loving friends, they require access to a technical support person to make it all work. 

Depending on how you look at it, the tablet is either a very nice replacement for a  pad of paper, an electronic photo album, or a flattened double-sided camera.

If I can't use it to show my presentations, it is going to be hard to find enough value in adding another (however cool looking) device to my rolling bag of "portable tools" plus the myriad plugs, keyboards, mice, extensions cords, screen cleaners, covers, and styluses that are needed to make them all work. Sigh.



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Humor sells 11/27/2011
 
When you have a point to make, your first inclination might be to pull out your soapbox and begin pontificating. Unless you are an actual preacher with your own choir and an  altar, you are likely to lose your audience.  (Even these guys could use a tad more humor in their delivery.)

Try making light of your subject instead. Find a humorous angle and let your audience draw their own conclusions. Lately, I have seen humor applied perfectly in three different instances:

1. The Verasage team has been teaching accountants to fight the notion of billing by the hour for years. They have been waging intellectual battles that are right on point. Recently, they have taken a different approach with the addition of Gregory Kyte to their team. I'm willing to bet a bucket of North Carolina barbeque that this video is already having an impact.

2. Software companies always provide sample data with their product. It's how you learn concepts and get started with minimal pain. But most of the examples are BORING. Who cares about a bicycle store or a nursery? Give me an example that holds my attention and makes me chuckle. Most people completely miss this opportunity to add fun to their solution. But the folks at www.Gliffy.com (an online flowcharting solution) have used it to full advantage.

Here is the flowchart example they provide as a template.
Who hasn't needed a flowchart that tells them "What to Do When Someone Eats Your Lunch Out of the Staff Fridge."

3. Your humor doesn't have to be fancy, and it doesn't have to include pratfalls or a drumroll. How about an image that suggests you aren't taking yourself seriously? Consider the pig on this website for online mileage tracking, www.bizmile.com. He gets your attention long enough to make you want to read more. And we're talking about mileage records, folks. 

Take a cue from the good people of Pelzer, SC and lighten up y'all.  
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In preparing for a note-free speech or presentation, you have to play by an entirely different set of rules. This is keynote land, folks. The very place I publicly announced I wanted to go.

Well, be careful what you wish for. My normal presentations last from 1-2 hours and are on fairly technical topics. Sales tax, financial statements, nerd communication, the usual exciting stuff. But I can use my notes and no one is filming me. 

My TEDx topic will be inspirational and it is limited to 18 minutes with no notes. The longest I have talked up to this point without notes is during my graduation from the Stand Up Comedy Workshoppe. That was 5 minutes of delivering a comedy routine on stage at the Punchline in Atlanta.  

Here's the thing though.  I had a hand held microphone when I was on that stage at the Punchline. That occupied my hands and kept them from shaking uncontrollably. This time, there will be a hands free mike. 

What in the world am I going to do with my hands???? 

In one of the many public speaking classes I've taken over the years, we were told about all of the wrong poses for your hands, there's the prayer pose, the straight jacket which involves stiff arms plastered to your side, the gerbil pose, and several other presentation no-no's. Joey Asher's Speechworks classes and his book, Even a Geek Can Speak, demonstrated all of the wrong things to do. Now in my hour of need, I can remember all of those clearly. 

But I can't remember what the correct occupation of my hands is supposed to be. I know he showed us. 

I need something to do with my two dangling arms while I'm talking. I know I should make sweeping gestures that reach out so as to not look frightened, but I'm not sure what part of my talking about a Basset Hound is appropriate for a sweeping gesture. 
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In my upcoming presentation, I am planning to expose my inner Nun to the light of day. Who knew Nuns could be so passionate?

Here are just a few of the messages my inner Nun is using in a desperate attempt to keep me off that stage: 

  • Who do you think you are? You have no business being on stage at TedxNapaValley.
  • No one wants to hear what you have to say.
  • You don't have anything to wear. (Which is actually true. Yikes!)
  • You won't sound professional enough with that topic.
  • You will embarrass yourself and your colleagues. 
  • Your failure will be publicly acknowledged and recorded. 
  • What are people supposed to do with the information you deliver?
  • Have you seen the list of other speakers? My gosh those people are amazing. Who let you in? 

So, what do I do with these words that are replaying on an endless soundtrack in my head?

First, I turn the words into a blog post (My Nuns hate it when I write a blog post about them.)  Next, I pet my Basset Hound, listen politely, and then get right back to the business of building a killer speech. 

That's how it works. 
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Last night I attended the third annual Nashville in Napa event which takes place at Baldacci Vineyards. The main event consists of top Nashville songwriters performing their songs on a stage inside the cave. It's an incredible experience to say the least. 

But of course, while enjoying the music, I was also busy looking for a presentation angle. I was not disappointed.

The entertainment included two musical sets with groups of 3-4 performers sharing the stage in each set. In presentationland we would call that a PANEL, ladies and gentlemen. That's right. It was a panel of presenters... I mean performers sharing a stage.

Here are my Nashville nuggets for your presentation pleasure: 

1. The banter between the performers added to the entertainment.  It was clear that they all knew each other. They shared anecdotes  and joined in with refrains or harmonies at various stages of the evening. Sometimes they would add backup guitar support. Rather than being a group of individual performers who just happened to be on a single stage, they acted like a connected trio/quartet whose members took turns being the solo act. The interaction between the performers made the shared stage a huge asset. 

The same kind of interaction is key to a successful panel.  (See my prior post.)
  
2. Personal stories sold the music. Each songwriter would add color commentary to the song they were about to sing. They would share something about their inspiration, or how the recording artist discovered the song, or that they were riding in their pickup truck (Ford F150, I believe) when inspiration hit. While the performances were the main event, it is those personal stories that touched the audience directly. After hearing those stories, we felt closer to the performer, like we shared a special bond. 

Personal stories do the same thing for presentations. They give it color and connect you to your audience in a meaningful way. 


3. It doesn't hurt to have great food and wine before or after your presentation. Just don't be the person whose talk makes people late to either a meal or the bar. 

4. Even a Caveman can be a great presenter. 

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When you create a panel presentation, it's all about the dynamic between the panelists. Use that energy or ignore it at your own peril.

If you are the person creating a panel, you need to select people who either have something in common or represent different perspectives on the same topic. It takes more work and extra planning to make this type of presentation work. You have to research the panelists and coach them in how to make the panel successful and then you need a moderator.

At last year's Green Wine Summit, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on green packaging.The panel included two representatives from a glass manufacturer, a passionate cork enthusiast, representatives from a winery that had a wine box, and a restaurant who was selling their wine. I asked them to each provide me with their three main points and submit photos that represented their perspective.  When they responded, I had enough information to create some dialogue between the panelists. 

I did however, get the photo below from the cork board representative.
Picture
At first, I removed the disturbingly graphic image from the items I planned to show. Eventually I added it back and the panelist was able to make some important points about the dangers of plastic closures in landfills. (And I was able to play off this image in questioning the panelists.)

While thankfully none of the other panelists had comparable images to share,  they were able to make their points using their own graphics.
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I just got my QR code - who needs words? 
qrcode
If you don't have a QR code reader, now is the time to go get one. Download it to your trusty phone and use it to decode the image. 

Unfortunately. you might find yourself stuck in an infinite loop...
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Small message on a big stage?
As part of my keynote quest, I have been talking to people and trying to learn everything I can about crafting and sharing an inspirational message. I have watched numerous TED videos and have had wonderful enlightening chats with Patrick Lencioni and Ron Baker. I have talked to event planners and read everything I can get my hands on.

I vacillate from excitement about this project to absolute terror. What do I have to share that is worthy of a main stage? Who do I think I am?  I haven't lead an organization, created a new device, built a non-profit organization, or had a breathtaking personal tragedy to overcome. I have never been a CEO or climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. By and large, I have had a pretty ordinary life. Sure there have been tragedies and heartache. I have had to work hard, change direction, start and stop and start all over again. I have lost sleep over finances and children and whether I was doing the right thing. I have struggled in jobs that weren't right for me and I have made tough decisions to walk away. I have spent way too many hours at work and haven't written enough thank you notes (just ask my Mom.)  And we won't even talk about those Nuns in my head.  But where are the big lessons, the earth-shattering truths?

And then it hit me.

That is precisely the point. The world is full of ordinary people trying to get by every single day. I have a passion for helping those people find their voice. I want to help them believe in themselves and do what they know in their heart is their thing. I want them to overcome their fear and take risks and do the thing they love instead of the thing that pays the best.

Everyone doesn't have to be a rock star or a CEO or the founder of a huge charity. Someone has to be the one cheering from the audience, the  staff member who gets the work done, and the person who donates $10 for a worthy cause. You don't have to be bigger than life in order to inspire others, just be whoever and whatever you are.

That's my message. It's all I have. I hope it's enough.
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I know you can find inspiration in the strangest places -- but this one was a shocker. In this case, inspiration came from Adam Carolla, the very same guy who tells crude jokes and starred in a show with Jimmy Kimmel. Yes,that guy. I went to see him perform at the Uptown Theater in Napa. It just happens to be a gorgeous historic venue, quite the contrast to the material I expected to hear on stage.

But here's the thing. Sure there were plenty of f-bombs and crude jokes but there was a lot more. The guy was actually likable, he was self-deprecating and really connected with the audience. He had a slide show and built his story around images. The visual part wasn't polished but it was real. The show was totally different from anything I had expected. And he was funny.

But inspirational? How could that be? I was stunned. The killer part of his presentation (or at least for those of us with heavy nerd tendencies) involved sharing his Social Security Earnings Statement. Oh yes he did. He put that baby right up on screen. 

It's that report you get in the mail that makes you either depressed or thrilled. It shows your earnings each year since the ninth grade (my Dairy Queen job) and how much you have paid to Social Security over time. It gives you a sense that you will need to keep working until you are 105. It's normally not presentation-worthy material.

Adam used that little report beautifully to tell the story of his life. He uncovered one year at a time as he moved through periods in his life, matching story to earnings.
 
He talked about his career ups and downs including a few zero earnings years when he was not doing what he loved. He spent the early years working construction and eventually managed to make a decent enough income. But then he showed the year it all changed. That was the year he followed his passion. He started doing stand up comedy and teamed up with Jimmy Kimmel and let's just say he was way above the Social Security maximum for that year. He earned 100 times more than he had in some of the prior years. It was amazing, impactful and funny.

Follow your heart and live your dream. Adam Carolla says it, Hugh MacLeod has written two books on the subject, and Gary Vaynerchuck is living it. Just do it. I am.

And save that Social Security earnings statement for proof of just how far you've come when you hit the big time.
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I just saw the movie The King's Speech. I really enjoyed it - hats off to Marilyn Goldsworthy, who is, in case you don't know, the production accountant for the film.

As I watched the movie, I couldn't help but think of the central character as a lucky man. The central character is, of course, the King who is cursed with a pronounced stammer. There were emotional issues that caused him to stammer and I am not making light of his struggle. It was painful to imagine what he went through as a child. But I still think he is lucky as the communication-challenged go and not just because he could afford to seek professional help. He is lucky because there was an outward sign of his struggle to communicate.

Many people in this world are cursed with an invisible, internal stammer. You can't tell by listening to them and they wear no tattoo that reveals their inner turmoil. But suffer they do, albeit silently. They suffer in every meeting at every party and sometimes even at the family dinner table.
 
They lose* their voice because they filter their thoughts and don't share their deep insights. Sometimes they take longer to speak up because they are actually reviewing alternatives,  considering options, thinking it through. They are often overtalked and overpowered by others (myself included) who freely share their sometimes mediocre, possibly poorly-formed ideas. But these others speak loudly, enthusiastically, without fear of consequence. 

Meanwhile, the deep-thinking internal stammerers face every communication opportunity with fear of being ridiculed. They don't crave the spotlight and have no desire to be confrontational. They freely give the floor to their fast-talking, domineering counterparts. These silent stammerers frequently find themselves at a communication disadvantage and sometimes get passed over for promotions or even terminated as a result.

The internal stammerers hold criticial roles in every business in the world - they might be scientists, engineers, project managers, accountants, or even winemakers. We need their input to help stabilize the loud talkers, the first movers, the group thinkers  who are quick to reach a decision and incite others to follow. These silent ones provide balance and stability and regularly keep the rest of us from running head first over a cliff.

The world needs to hear from all of us - no one voice is better or pithier or clearer or smarter than the others. The person with the highest volume is not necessarily the smartest person in the room - often it is that small voice in the corner that provides the truest and most meaningful insight.

I for one shall begin carrying a large roll of invisible duct tape which I shall try to apply to my own lips so that more of the internal stammerers have the time they need to share their valuable insights. What about you?

Lose versus Loose? Just corrected this 02/10/2011 to Lose.
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