Comments on: Presenting is like blogging

By: larak

larak — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:51:21 +0000

Andrea, thanks for your comment. I’d love to hear you speak sometime. I agree that comfort level and passion about a subject make all the difference. And there’s nothing worse than giving a presentation, then opening it up for Q&A and hearing nothing but crickets chirping! I’ve had that happen before – not recently, thankfully.

By: Andrea Hill

Andrea Hill — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:15:53 +0000

>presenting is like blogging.

it’s interesting you’d say that. I used to be a comfortable public speaker, and then when I hit my 20s, all my confidence went out the window. I’ve been blogging for a few years, and recently I was tapped to do a few presentations on accessibility, and I jumped at it (and have since volunteered for some other internal speaking engagments). I wonder if it’s related to my level of comfort with the subject… I definitely agree with you about the Q and A, though. For me, that’s a sure sign you’ve engaged people..

By: larak

larak — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:35:55 +0000

Megan, you’re the best. I am a big fan of your new blog and appreciate you giving me some comment love over here on mine! I’ll keep learning and I know you will too. Remember, TFFs have to stick together.

By: larak

larak — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:56:56 +0000

Thanks, David! I like this idea and will have to explore it further.

By: Catalysta

Catalysta — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:22:13 +0000

Lara- I love your site. What a nice husband you have for doing all the dirty work!

I have to say- I’ve never seen you present, but I have asked you questions and I love your open, honest feedback. I can always count on your for some optimism and some feedback on how I can work.

I like that you always have stories and facts to back up what you say. You’re never a person to go in and answer with an “ummm.”

Not sure if you already do this but sometimes it’s great to be an expert at a few of the applications. Really know the Ins and Outs and then slowly keep expanding to become an expert at all. So many times I see people going nuts and creating 100 profiles just to say they have one, but then they never DO anything with it. I personally think you are well on your way to becoming the Go-To Social Media gal because you are not bias and you always have substantiated facts to back up your opinions. I know you’re the first person I think of when I have a question about the wide world of social media!

By: David Mullen

David Mullen — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:59:10 +0000

First, mad props on the new site. It looks great! And that url is quite memorable.

Saw a guy present once…

Like – we all had laptops and went to each site with him. He had people actually create a LinkedIn profile, for example and start to populate it. Same with twitter, etc.

Missing – some of what he shared had nothing to do with social media. it was more pure entertainment with nothing “social” about it. Things like Joost.

I like April’s idea. Going through a LOT of social sites with folks who aren’t comfortable with any one of them may make the scene seem overwhelming for them. Doing a deeper dive on, say your 6 favorites, may seem less intimidating for many.

By: larak

larak — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:42:57 +0000

Thanks, April – that’s a really good idea. Ideally, I’d like to do a deeper dive type of presentation too where instead of just a glimpse at about 101 social media sites (like the presentation I gave to your group), we delve into a handful and actually go live to the site and explore it together. I think that’s the type of workshop I want to do for our agency next internally – maybe practice on them and then take it to some outside groups. Thanks!

By: April Casperson

April Casperson — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:31:07 +0000

Lara, great post. Thanks for the higher ed/development shoutout! One idea? May be hard to implement before an event, but see if the host organization emails out a list of the links you are going to talk about. Then attendees can do prep work and research before you arrive. Even for the social media n00bs, they can click through your suggested links and see a glimpse of what you’re going to be talking about.

Love your tweets, by the way.