Presentation vibes

Next week, I have to give a presentation at the BlackboardWorld Europe 2008 conference (why they don’t simply call it BlackboardEurope 2008, don’t ask me), and like every year, I’m still re-working my slides. I just noticed that, also like every year, I have made my presentattion in two steps: firstly, I brainstorm by creating slides with text, which I re-edit and re-order several times and add screenshots to them; secondly, I notice that I have way too much slides (currently 113), and I re-work the whole thing and, with pain in my heart, cut 1/3th of the slides. I thought that this year, I would never be able to fill 45 minutes with my theme, but when I counted my slides today, I knew that once again, I would have to demonstrate how fast I can talk, which is, according to my lovely colleagues… very fast!

Mark was watching me while I sat on our patio reworking the presentation, and he wondered whether I was going to demonstrate some dance moves, or jump frantically. Apparently, that’s the new style in presentations. I had no idea what he was talking about, until he showed me the new big boss of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, frantically sweeping up his audience at a conference. Well, if that is indeed the new way to give presentations, I’ll do my best. After all, my personal trainer asked me to get enough exercise while I was in Manchester, even if there was no gym at the hotel. Thanks to my hubbie, I have now found the solution! I just hope nobody captures it and puts in on YouTube