Communication Wednesday: Google, Seznam, Nokia

The day after the Internet Developers Forum, I attended Communication Wednesday and saw presentations about mobile maps. The three main presenters were Jaroslav Bengl (Google), Ivan Mikula (Seznam) and Igor Smerda (Nokia). Their performances can teach us some lessons about promotional presentations and how they can be delivered in an informal setting.

The lessons:

Being first is an advantage

If you find yourself in a similar situation, always ask to be the first presenter. Google had a clear advantage because of this. Bengl had the chance to set the tone, introduce topics and not be afraid that they were already mentioned and to be the one that the others are compared to.

Never be defensive

If you're not lucky enough to be the first, don't make the mistake of comparing yourself to the first presenter. Bengl gave a great presentation of Google maps. He was relaxed and had a friendly style. He also had the confidence that he had a really good product to present. Both Mikula and Smerda appeared to be defensive about their products and how they compared with Google. There is no reason for this and it leaves a bad impression. I'm sure there are great advantages to both Seznam and Nokia's mobile maps. Focus on those and forget about putting the competition down. It never looks good.

Focus on the benefits

There's a big difference between telling your audience what your product can do and showing them what the benefits are. Facts are nothing without telling your audience why those facts are important to them and why we should care about them. For example, Mikula told us a lot about the sms marketing campaign for Seznam's mobile maps. Why? I can't imagine why this information was important to the audience that was there. Smerda also gave us a lot of information that seemed unnecessary because he didn't explain how it was connected to his message.

Know your audience

Communication Wednesday events are great for speakers because it's possible to find out in advance who will be attending. It's an opportunity to create your presentation with this specific audience in mind. When you have this possibility, ask yourself why people are coming to the event. What do they want to learn from you? What are they worried about? What kind of information will excite them?

Don't reuse your slides

It's always easy to recognize when a speaker uses the same set of slides for different events and it gives a bad impression. It's especially easy to spot when the presentation language is Czech and the slides are in English. Don't do this. The message it conveys is laziness and a lack of concern about the impression you want to give your audience. Every audience is different. Take the time to create new slides that will mean something to each one.

Recognize that every presentation is an opportunity

Communication Wednesdays are pretty informal and friendly events. It's not the place for a hard sell presentation. But, that doesn't mean that there isn't an opportunity to impress potential clients, create excitement about your products and expand your tribe. Make sure that each presentation you make aims to do these things. Bengl clearly recognized this. Mikula and Smerda could have focused much more on these goals in their presentations.

I have to wonder if Google is more aware of how important presentations are to their bottom line. I attended two events in two days and Google was clearly the winner both times. I'm looking forward to seeing other companies becoming more aware of the impression they make when they present and starting to make the kinds of presentations that this requires.

© 2011 Jeanne Trojan. All rights reserved

The Lost Opportunities of Michael Jurek & Microsoft

If you read my previous post, you know that, with one exception, the Internet Developers Forum was a disappointment regarding the quality of presentations there. Michael Jurek was the keynote speaker and represented the main sponsor of the event, Microsoft. I have no doubt that Michael is an expert in his field, but these days that just isn't enough for people to pay attention or even to stay in the room, as you will see.

Here are three mistakes that I think Michael made:

No interaction

Michael chose not to use the projector remote so he positioned himself to the far left of the stage close to his computer so he could advance his slides. Subsequently, his attention was either focused on his computer or on the screen the whole time. He NEVER looked at the audience!

The audience was not part of this presentation. He never asked us questions or looked to see if we understood what he was talking about. After about thirty minutes, people started to get up and leave the room. I stopped counting after awhile. At the end of his presentation, about half the audience had left. And this was the FIRST presentation of the conference! The keynote should be the presentation that gets people excited about the rest of the day. Instead, it was the presentation that set the tone of boring, slide-focused talks that filled the rest of our time.

Slides

Michael chose to fill his slide deck with bullet point slides full of text. Even in technical presentations, this really isn't necessary. I understand that there is some information in this kind of presentation that needs to be put on a slide, but there are so many other ways to do this! There is no excuse for filling a slide with words and forcing your audience to either read or listen to you. Invariably, they will choose not to listen because it's the easier option. So, that makes the speaker obsolete and it would be better to just send us the slides because all of the information is already on them.

No passion

Michael's topic was about Cloud Computing - the theme of the entire conference. Michael showed absolutely no enthusiasm for this topic. It seemed that his attitude was 'I will put out all of this information and if people are interested, they'll want to know more. If they aren't, I don't really care'. Maybe that wasn't really his attitude, but that was certainly the impression that Michael gave during his presentation.

I don't think that speakers need to entertain us - that's not what I'm talking about. There are just some very basic questions that they need to ask themselves when they prepare. These questions will give the impression that the speaker cares.

Why are you excited about Azure? Why should the audience care about it? What does the audience already know about it? What problem is it solving? How is it different and better than the competition? What is your ultimate goal for this presentation? What do you want your audience to do with this information? Next time, I would advise Michael to think about these questions when he's preparing his presentation. Answering them will make a big difference to his impact.


I asked Michael what he thought about his presentation after he finished. He said that he knew he made a lot of mistakes because he had already had presentation training. I asked him if he knew that half the audience left during his presentation. He said that he was aware of it, but it was just the people that hate Microsoft that left. But, Michael, they were there at the beginning and maybe they expected to hear something interesting from you!

The bottom line is - Microsoft spent some money to sponsor this conference. What was the return for them? Did they motivate people to look into their products and services? Did they share trends that are happening and move people to care about them? Did they increase their tribe?

Sponsorship is a lot more than just putting a table in the hallway with your products. A big part of it is taking the opportunity of making an outstanding keynote presentation and making it translate into increased business. Unfortunately, this didn't happen at the Internet Developers Forum. I hope that Michael rethinks how he presents next time and takes advantage of the opportunities.

© 2011 Jeanne Trojan. All rights reserved

Filip Hracek Saves the Day!

This year's Internet Developer's Forum was a miserable place for presentations*. I will talk about what went wrong there in my next post, but I want to start on a positive note. The one shining light in the blue room yesterday was Filip Hracek, Developer Relations at Google. Out of all of the presenters, he seemed to be the only one that knew what a presentation should be and why it's so important.

There are three areas in which he excelled. Here they are.

Opening & Closing

I knew immediately when he began that his presentation was going to be a good one. He started off with a question and a brilliant set of photos. That got our attention and piqued our interest. He also looked directly at the audience and was clearly talking WITH us instead of talking TO us - there is such a difference!

He closed his presentation with a clear summary. His slide stated, 'What did I say?'. And, instead of just listing his agenda points, he told us what was important about them. Basically, he was telling us what we should remember about his presentation - that's exactly what a summary should be!

Interaction

He was the only presenter that truly connected with the audience. He understood who his audience was - young, tech-savvy individuals - and he created his presentation around that fact. He asked questions like, 'Does anyone already know this?' or 'Has anyone used this yet?' . When most of the people in the room raised their hands, he immediately modified his presentation to get to the heart of his point instead of explaining something that the audience already knew or had experienced. This is SO important in a technical presentation. Of course, you have to be prepared for the possibility that no one, everyone or half of the audience raises their hands, but the extra preparation can make all the difference.

Slides

Filip didn't use ONE bullet point slide. This was so refreshing after sitting through so many all morning. He used photos or just a few words on a slide. He also used his slides for some great quotations to make us think and to help him expand on his point. He jumped from the quotation to some very vivid examples. It was such an effective way to use this tool! Filip's example illustrates exactly the way slides should be used! Get your audience curious about your point and then TALK to them. Don't make them try to read and listen at the same time - it doesn't work!


Filip's performance proves that even a technical presentation doesn't have to be boring. There were a lot of possibilities for the sponsors of the Internet Developer's Forum to connect with their customers, share knowledge and expand their tribe, but the only company, in my opinion, that took advantage of this opportunity was Google. Sending Filip to be their representative for the day was an excellent choice. Bravo, Filip! Thanks for saving the conference for me!

*I am only referring to the presentations in the 'blue room'. There were workshops going on in the 'red room', but I couldn't be in both places at the same time...

© 2011 Jeanne Trojan. All rights reserved