Several international communication experts were on location, to help McKinsey employees rock their presentations. Around 30 people from about 17 different countries were flown in to witness the presentation and workshop. Not a bad audience!
Pieter: “We taught people how to apply conversational presenting. However, they taught us a great deal about presentation culture in business, and how conversational presenting might be received and applied differently across borders and departments.”
From linear to conversational presenting
Conversational presenting is a new way of presenting, introduced by Prezi for businesses. This technology allows skipping parts that are irrelevant to the audience. An especially nifty tool for sales presentations, when the client has a pretty good idea of what he wants to hear. Using this tool, you can easily ask your audience what they would like you to focus on, so you can skip straight to that part. This puts the audience in the driver’s seat and avoids people getting bored.
Changing mindsets in presentation-world
In Lisbon, the first reactions from the audience were enthusiastic. The added value of the conversational aspect was clear to everyone and people were eager to try the new feature themselves. Conversational presenting asks for a different mindset about presenting, but once you let go of the restrictions of linear storytelling, it provides endless possibilities.
Simply said, conversational presenting changes the way we present. It might even shut the door on linear presenting forever.
