Adapting speechwriting to the “third era of presenting”

I am always delighted to find Web sites offering insights on speakers and speechwriting, and I came across a wonderful one the other day. It’s Olivia Mitchell’s “Speaking About Presenting,”  (www.speakingaboutpresenting.com).

Mitchell lives and works in New Zealand and her site offers lots of wonderful articles on making effective presentations, making excellent PowerPoint slides, and more. She also offers a presentation eBook for sale, as well as information about courses she runs. 

She recently wrote about what she calls the “third era in presenting.” The first era, she posits, was “the era of the orator.” She suggests this era lasted from ancient times to the 1900’s. She describes this era as one where “every speech is a performance.” She names Churchill, MLK Jr. and President Obama as classic examples of orators.

The second era of presenting was “the era of the slide,” beginning in the 1990s and continuing. Mitchell suggests this era took off with the advent of PowerPoint and is not yet used in the creative, integrated way it could be. She cites presentations by Steve Jobs and participants at TED as being exceptions.

Finally, Mitchell brings us to the third era – “the era of the audience.” Its heyday is now into the future. She suggests three reasons we’re currently in this stage – first, open space technology, which she describes as “a way of meeting in small to large groups where the agenda is co-created and developed by the participants.”

Second, “the art of facilitation,” in which a facilitator can lead a group to discuss issues and make their own decisions,” erasing the dividing line between speaker and audience.

And third, “audience expectations.” Mitchell writes that audiences today expect “a more participatory role in presentations, just as they do as citizens and consumers and are less content passively listening to a monologue.

This is a fascinating post and, if Mitchell’s conclusions are true, it means speechwriters may have to think anew about how they put together a presentation. And executives may have to revisit how they present.

Visit Mitchell’s original piece at http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/presentation-philosophy/third-era-in-presenting/