Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

The more things change, the more things stay the same. When it comes to how people communicate, this phenomenon confounds me.

Certainly, in the marketplace of the world, and even in the smaller marketplaces of our own cities or our own professions, there is so much going on that’s new and changing and ground-breaking. There’s so much innovation, so much progress, so much disruption – in technology for sure, but in medicine, design, fundraising, manufacturing, energy, and even in the basics like education and road construction. You name it, and there’s a new way to do things …

Why is it, then, that most speeches and presentations are, for the most part, still as predictably dull and ineffective as they were a decade ago? Why have we made the “things” in our lives faster, more streamlined and efficient, more user-friendly and accessible, but we’ve allowed our “selves” to lag behind? Most speeches and presentations are old school; they’re anything but streamlined or user-friendly. As much as we expect and embrace advancements in our everyday lives, we deliver and accept the same old same old in our everyday conference rooms.

What would it take to “disrupt” a typical speech or presentation, to deliver something new, better, faster, more accessible and memorable? Let’s explore that next time …