Pat Kelly from the CBC gives an hilariously accurate account of qualities that comprise successful presentations. The catch line is: “Thought Leader gives a talk that will inspire your thoughts.”
Watch the video here.
“Let’s look at the picture of the planet for no reason.”
I take it that the definition of ‘success’ here simply means to have convinced the audience of your main message. One might ask whether that’s all it takes for a presentation to be successful. Certainly delivery matters as even the most interesting and accurate information can be lost when a presentation lacks pizzazz. What makes a good presentation versus a bad one is a conversation worth having. Kelly’s presentation is not devoid of content, rather it is focused on the medium itself. This renders the quote above infelicitous–one reason for looking at the earth picture is a reason of persuasion instead of relevance to the presentation’s content. Are all good presentations persuasive in nature?
-Alison
A Philosopher's Take 
Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
June 14, 2016
That’s great. I don’t think presentations needs to be persuasive – often times, even in philosophy, we don’t aim to persuade, but rather to inform and/or incite discussion. Many people I’ve talked to have said that what makes a (good) presentation memorable is the Q&A rather than the presentation itself.
That said, many philosophers (including, probably, myself) could use a lesson in giving engaging talks.
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Alison K McConwell
June 14, 2016
So is persuading the audience part of what it means to give an engaging talk? Or can the information speak for itself?
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Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
June 15, 2016
I’d say the latter – that’s what I go for so, if not, then I’m failing at giving talks.
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