Wow. I just finished doing a Webinar for Marketing Profs and I have to tell you I'm not so sure I could do something like that again. I spoke to a bunch of slides for almost an hour and a half, and while it seems to have gone over OK for the most part—I think I just found out something about myself that I never realized.
I don't do monologue well.
Here's what I mean by this. I've presented on conference calls and have done Web presentations before—but when you get close to 1.5 hours with nothing but the sound of your voice to keep you going, you can lose focus and flow. At least that's how I started to feel at minute 35.
I speak in front of people all the time, so I left the experience wondering what was different? Then it hit me—I may be more of a conversationalist vs. a monologue presenter. Even if you are presenting in front of a live audience without active participation—you get feedback. Body language, nods or the even the lack of. You get eye contact. It's all non-verbal communication. I never realized how important that was to me until today.
So that's my finding of the day. I fare much better with a live audience of some sort—especially when things get past the 30 minute point. What about you? Have you had similar experiences? Maybe the opposite? Have you figured out what type of forum you do best in? What you struggle with? Ah well—guess you live and you learn. Talk about life in Beta...
