Joe Sabia – opening keynote at Brainshark #sharkmeet12

Joe Sabia – opening keynote at Brainshark #sharkmeet12

Video maker

TED Talk

http://joesabia.co

Joe follows viral culture.

What could be transferred to business communications? From the world of viral video?

Think about a presentation you’ve given in the past month.  Based on the principles Joe is going to talk about, how might you integrate those principles?

CDZA – creating videos for this music channel.

Keeping people on the edge of their seats…don’t reveal it all at once.

Joe starts off and shows us two videos on detecting extra solar planets.  Two methods:

Take 1 – talking head,  dull voice over. But more information. If you watched it 10-12 times you might get more out of it.  Facts, but dense.  Dry and boring.

Take 2 – exciting visuals, more memorable. Made reference to pop culture to pull people in. But all over the place and distracting.

 Neither really very effective.

Two questions any presenter must ask:

How do you present info in a way people will learn?

How do you present info in a way people will pay attention?

How do you present info in a way people will learn?

1. Brevity
2. Clarity (no confusing graphs!)
3. Relevant aesthetics – no pictures of hotdogs and bunnies!

So how do we get people to pay attention?

Joe looks at videos and internet culture. What compels us to send the video around of the cat falling into the fish tank?

Right now, SO much content out there. So what do we share and why?

Benefits of connectivity

Unprecedented access to info

Global connectedness

Work from anywhere!

But there’s a darkside…

Makes it so damn hard to pay attention to anything.

Easy to be addicted to all the stuff that's out there.

Joe shows an Excel spreadsheet that looks like Facebook – so you can use this at work and no one will know!

Attention is a valued commodity.  Keep in mind that people probably have 15 tabs open on their browser and that Facebook Excel page…

Use creativity to stand out and capture that attention!

Six things that might be interesting…to apply to presentation world? Not trips or tricks, but perspectives in grabbing attention.

 1. Dessert and vegetables

The Huffington Post – it’s reliable. Huge headline, big photos. Serious politics up tight. But then you go down and there’s John Hamm without a shirt. The mullet approach to news – business up front, party at the bottom. Get your veggies at top ad your dessert at the bottom. We all love dessert.

Sitting in class (veggies) vs. recess (dessert).

Barry Schwartz – great with the dessert and veggies.

Dessert is a moment of escapism. Makes the veggies more memorable.

As long as dessert is on the table – doesn’t matter if in beginning, middle or end.

2. Cultural references as dessert

The power of cultural references

Cultural love – analogizes information, baked-in familiarity. Shows you have a pulse on culture.

Obviously, challenges to do this in culture world.  But how can you connect back to cultural references?

3.  Interactivity

“tone of voice is personality expressed through words”

tests, evals, url slides, polls.

“Liking” on Facebook – you’re showing the world your view and doing marketing for another organization.

How do you get people to interact without clicking their mouse? But get them to move their body behind the computer screen?

Skittles Lick the Rainbow video.  Touch the space. Touch the screen.  Get your hand licked by a cat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnwEntgHyFI

Passive isn’t as good as active.

4.  Your Space as a Playground

Think outside of the walls of your classroom.  (shares a video of a classroom teacher who has a ppt on screen that “comes alive”).

In a presentation world, your confined to a box.  Your PPT box.  Don’t see it as a box, see it as a universe.

Choose your own adventure – an interactive Facebook experience.  In the first comment for a photo, you click a link to go off…

5.  Unscientific Research

“What happens when you put an android, winpho7, iphon 4 – what grills faster?” (youtube video) – cooked three phones on a  grill.  Over 1 million views.

Apply human, unscientific views - -ask people – raise hands.

Information for a captive audience.

Offers convincing, offbeat evidence.

Shows passion.

6. Power of Surprises

Your world may not allow for a lot of this absurdity.  There is a time and a place for fun. 

Replace the word fun with the word surprise.

Tania Luna – her company is called “Surprise Industries” – she consults with corporates. Give people the unexpected.  Stand out from everyone else.

In primates, surprise intensifies emotion by 300-400%.

That element of surprise makes us talk about it and share it.

Surprises can be a lifestyle.

Joe likes to pay for things with $2 bills.

Surprises make everything better.

How does this work with presentations?

Make a pact – put one surprise in your presentation. (But don’t give anyone a heart attack or completely inappropriate – know the boundaries).

Look at the presentations that people are doing that you want more of.  Think of your own ways to do these things.  Be inspired by what other people are doing “good artists borrow; great artists steal.” ~Picasso

When it comes to presentation making – be the 1%--stand out from what everyone else is doing.  Don’t let the corporate world corporatize you out of your creativity.