Who really enjoys watching and listening to 77 plus powerpoint slides?
It is dull, often boring, one way, sucks the energy from the audience and is a waste of the collective talent in the room.
I know, as a strategic planning facilitator for the past 10 years i have attended hundreds of conferences.
It always amazes me that leaders do not make more of the fact that they often have this great collection of talent at their disposal.
Why not put the audience to work addressing some of the issues or challenges facing the organisation.
Here’s one way:
Tell your audience that at the end of your presentation every speaker will run an Ideas Blitz on a key challenge they are facing (i.e. you have their attention immediately).
Make your presentation 9 slides or less (your audience will love you).
Outline a real challenge (which your presentation has given some background information and context).
Run an Ideas Blitz (remember to divide the audience into groups of 6 or less).
Have each group share their results.
Every presentation will have engaged the audience, solved a real problem and encouraged everyone to use a new creativity tool.
Imagine the impact of the conference if this process was repeated with every presenter!
People would rave about the strategic planning day and want to come back again and again.