My Facebook friends should be forgiven if they think I’m in Vegas to try out novelty slot machines.
I was actually here to deliver three presentations on “How social media drives consumer decisions” at the LeadingRE real estate conference. I got to my last presentation an hour ahead of time, set up my computer and had my deck all ready to go.
About 10 minutes before I was due to start, a few people came in and asked “is this the LinkedIn presentation?” I looked at the conference program and sure enough, the room I was in was scheduled for a presentation, “R U LinkedIn”, by another presenter. But where was he? And where was I supposed to be?
OK, I thought…these folks are here for a LinkedIn presentation. Am I just going to tell them my story about how social media drives purchasing? No, I know about LinkedIn. Heck, I wrote a book about it. I can talk about LinkedIn for an hour, off the top of my head.
Just then, a conference organizer came in to find me and take me to the right place — a room with a hundred people who were waiting for me to kick off their MarTech (marketing + technology) conference. They were full of smart questions about social media, and like the rest of the fabulous audiences at this event, really raring to take their online marketing to the next level. So I’m glad it all worked out.
But now I’ve got a pent-up LinkedIn presentation coming together in my mind. Even more appealing is the idea of an entire unconference dedicated to improvised presentations — maybe, pulling a presentation topic out of a hat, or choosing from three options.
Would that be horrible? Wonderful? Or does the idea of running a conference like a slot machine only sound appealing because I’m in Vegas?
I teach my students that they should be ready to write an essay on any topic at the drop of a hat. Giving a presentation is another level of challenge, but your attitude is perfect. I fully believe you could do it, and would like to see the LinkedIn presentation!