Making a Presentation Magical
Posted by Russ Ray on July 8, 2009
Analyze this video on its strengths and weaknesses, and determine how well you think this speaker performed.
Strengths:
- Good nonverbal cues (use of facial expressions and gestures, although I thought the freeze shot at the beginning with his cheese-eating grin was a bit off-putting).
- Friendliness and earnestness communicated through nonverbals connects with the audience, putting them at ease.
- Filler words eliminated. The cynic in me wonders if there were cue cards, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
Weaknesses:
- Lip smacking. Probably more of an annoying speaking habit than filler ums and uhs.
- Background noises were distracting. It looked and sounded like this was shot in a dining room after the meal was over while they were bussing the tables.
- No visual aid. You’re going to tell us about this great magic trick (and you’re apparently in a room full of tables), why wouldn’t you demonstrate the magic trick for us? I know that the point was to get away from the visuals and create an experience, but why would you deny us to share in the experience?
Anyway, just some food for thought. Hopefully we’ll get a good collection of videos such as these so we can start analyzing them during class.
