June 11, 2010

Technology made accessible - Simon Wardley explains cloud computing



During our lunch break at a recent training, one of the training participants put up this video as an example of a technical speaker using creative visuals. It was a big hit with the group, who are in a technical field and are conflicted about the concept of image-based slides.

I just have to mention that Simon Wardley and I clearly think alike. Last year, during a coaching session with a client who was going to be speaking about cloud computing, I suggested he ask random people what they thought it meant, and then use their definitions for humor. Great minds...



Just a note on the comments below the video. It's interesting to me how several people were disturbed by what they considered to be irrelevant and uninformative slides. This is a perfect example of a presentation that takes a complex and technical topic and makes it accessible and entertaining to an audience of laypeople. But the technical people are upset that the slides aren't full of data.

As one commenter said, "Did you listen to what he SAYS at all? A good presentation is never about the slides but about the story in the speech!"

This is the ongoing struggle between those who cling to the old way of doing slides, for no good reason, and those who are actually making an effort to serve the audience's needs and create presentations that are memorable and help the audience retain what they've learned.

P.S. Here's a previous post about a conversation I had with someone on Twitter about cloud computing. I think I finally understand.

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6 comments. Please add yours! :

Anonymous said...

Aargh! In the first three minutes he read about five of his slides verbatim. Cloud computing sounds like time-sharing via the Internet, or old wine packed into new plastic bottles.

Lisa Braithwaite said...

Rules are made to be broken! I believe he's reading from the slides for comedic effect, not because he somehow needs to use the text as a crutch, like most speakers who read from the slides.

As for cloud computing, I might understand it one day...

Unknown said...

@wadders77 de-clouds cloud "compuking" & hits a home run with his delivery! UnFreaking believable use of nesting information when he circles back around to previous points using visual, auditory, and I'm sure the feeling in the audience was awe! Thanks for sharing this!

Lisa Braithwaite said...

Thanks for your comment, Jade, and for "Wadders'" Twitter username!

jean said...

Excellent in and of its own, and an excellent example for using slides, keeping an audience's attention and using using humor to make a dry subject palatable to a lay audience.

One thing he did wrong -- Am I the only one who noticed the misspelled "desribe" in the last slide? ;)

Lisa Braithwaite said...

Missed that, Jean!

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