The Presentation Summit is the premier conference for presentation designers. (What, you didn’t think we had a club? Think again!) Every year, it attracts people from all over the world who gather together to geek out about presentation design and to learn from the industry’s heavy hitters, such as Garr Reynolds, Guy Kawasaki, and Nancy Duarte.
Like most big events this year, it made the leap from real life to the virtual space, even though the founder has always made it clear that that would never, EVER happen. But you know what? Not only was the 2020 Presentation Summit much less expensive to attend, it also provided the same great instruction plus some valuable insights on how we can adapt to online presenting.
Here, I write about three of my favorite sessions. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find out how you can access all of the sessions from the 2020 Presentation Summit, even if you didn’t attend live!
VR meetings? You betcha!
Strategy and innovation consultant Lia “P-Spice” Barnakova hosted a live field trip into cyberspace via AltspaceVR during her session, Romping Through 3D Space.
The journey wasn’t without its bumps, ranging from my inability to enter the meeting using my son’s Oculus Quest and having to use a PC like a Neanderthal. But overall, it was a great and memorable experience!
Lia provided us with an exciting view of things to come. Altspace is relatively easy to use and has a variety of rich features. You can customize your avatar and interact with other participants. I was especially impressed that Lia could show a slide presentation in VR and that she procured a horse onstage! Check out the highlight reel here.
Get up offa that thing!
Some of the more dynamic presenters stood while talking. Keynote speaker Mike Parkinson’s session, At a Glance, was delivered while he was standing in front of a flatscreen TV showing his slides. By getting out from in front of his computer, Mike was able to use gestures and body language to help get his point across and convey his enthusiasm for his subject.
Things are different when you present online
When we present online or give webinars, we lack the immediate feedback that live audiences provide. If you can’t see your audience, you don’t know if you’re a smash, you’re bombing, or even if people are paying attention.
During his session, Bridging the Divide, webinar expert John Rahmlow talked about in-person vs. online presentations and offered some excellent strategies for engaging with remote audiences.
How you can still get a 2020 Summit experience
Another huge advantage of having a virtual Summit is the immediate recording and accessibility of all of the sessions. As an attendee, I have until next year to watch the recordings. But even if you didn’t attend, you can still view all of this valuable content!
When you register for the 2020 Presentation Summit (yes, even though the live event has already happened), you gain access to all of the session recordings. And there’s a helpful page on the Summit website, Convince the Boss, that could help you to get your work to pay the USD$395 cost of admission. Even if you end up paying for it yourself, with all of the things you’ll learn, this is a real bargain.
This was the third Summit I’ve attended. Just as before, I came away from this year’s event with lots of great new ideas and techniques I can use for my own presentations. The Summit organizers may have resisted the switch to virtual, but in the end it was a fantastic experience!