Present Interactively - Your Audience Expects It!

Ellen Finkelstein, the noted Presentation Guru, recently conducted a webinar with a catchy title: Present interactively — your audience expects it!

Everyone kind of knows that presentations should be interactive - this webinar showed how to do that. Ellen stressed that we need to keep the audience, not slides, as the focus of the presentation. Some of the ideas she presented were:

Interact before the presentation
Ideally, the interaction needs to start before the presentation. One can do some kind of surveys using sites or different tools such as surveymonkey and surveygizmo. Surveys help in understanding the audience.

Feedback loop
During the actual presentation, create a feedback loop – you speak, listen and let this continue throughout the presentation.

Menu-based presentations
Ellen explained as one can hyperlink different slides from the menu so that - based on the audience needs - one can navigate to specific slides.

Use of third party software
Ellen talked about YawnBuster – a software tool to engage the audience for group activities. She also showed how YawnBuster is used in a webinar mode by taking votes / new ideas in a brainstorm activity using the chat pod available. Ellen further demonstrated the use of Raptivity Presenter – another software tool to create interactive presentations.

Use of social media
Here Ellen referred to Twitter and other tools to create a backchannel for audience interaction: A concept I introduced in one of my earlier posts in this blog.

Sixth Sense

The buzz around Sixth Sense technology developed at MIT Media Labs continues to grow, especially after Pranav Mistry delivered this inspired speech at TED.

The idea of wearable sensors and cameras that track gestures and enable the interaction between the physical world and the digital world is compelling. However, for it to meet its full potential, a plethora of backend applications will need to be built. There are several killer apps waiting to be built here, and they could be harbingers of a new generation of technology ventures.

A Poll for My Readers

A recent article on InstantShift titled 'Why is Social Interaction Important for a Website' has generated plenty of interaction on the site that hosts it. I mentioned this to Poonam Agarwal, the author of this article. She argued that if the readers had additional interaction tools beyond 'leave a comment' and 'retweet' available, they would have even more fun interacting. Do you agree?

The article has some nice graphics (credits : josephgilbert.org) - be sure to check it out!

Is the Word 'Social' Doing a Disservice?

As I was reading a blog post titled 'The Latest Brew: Social Interaction!' , I decided to pretend that I am an enterprise IT manager reading the post, and at once realized the problem with the overtones of the word 'social'. Is this some kind of a club activity, where people get together and do things casually? Another post, titled 'The Much-Needed Factor for Websites: Social Interactions' accentuated the same issue. Is this Web 2.0 stuff of any use for enterprise IT, or is it more for sites like Facebook?

As interactivity professionals, we need to do one of two things urgently. Either we should downplay the word 'social' in our messaging, or educate our stakeholders in enterprise IT about the true meaning of 'social' in the context of social interactions. Andy McAfee, the enterprise 2.0 IT guru, prefers the former alternative. I prefer the latter. Here is why.

In our context, social interactions are interactions between people through computer systems. These cover a broad range of very useful and serious functions such as:

• describing your work experiences (blogging)
• collaborating on writing useful articles (wiki)
• aggregating opinions data (polling)
• helping each other through discussions (forums)
• helping each other search and find things (bookmarking)
• sharing digital assets and interacting with each other using those (video, presentations)
• contributing to the content of web sites (user generated content)

and so forth. There is nothing casual about the word 'social' when used in this context. Therefore, we should make sure that IT decisionmakers understand this and weigh their decisions appropriately, without a negative bias towards the term 'social'.

Levels of Interactivity in Presentations

In this post, I list the various levels of interactivity seen in presentations. (Note: In this post, by presentation, I mean .PPT, .PPTX or similar computer-generated slide deck, and not the act of presenting.)

Level 0: Text Bullets and Pictures
This is where most presentations are today. Each slide displays a bunch of bullets with static text, and sometimes there are a few pictures, and you go from one slide to the next.

Level 1: Transitions, Build-ups, Effects
Here, presentation creators use slide transitions, slide build-ups and slide element animation effects. A variation often seen includes click-based slide buildup. Each time the presenter clicks the mouse, a new bullet point gets added. While all this jazzes up slides a bit, the interactivity is superficial at best.

Level 2: Enhanced Internal and External Navigation
Often confused with interactivity, this is simply the use of interface elements - such as buttons and hyperlinks - which allows the presenter to navigate quickly to another location within the presentation. It also allows the presenter to open a document or a web page, or play a sound, video or a movie, on click of the button or hyperlink.

Level 3: Basic Interactivity
Questions, polls, quizzes and such basic interactive elements are found at this level.

Level 4: Essential Interactivity
Presentations which provide essential interactivity allow for rich navigation metaphors such as flip-books, panning cards and 3D objects; story-building metaphors such as sprite animations, guided tours, flowcharts and diagram build-ups; and interactive visuals supporting features such as build-up, rollover and drilldown.

Level 5: Advanced Interactivity
Presentations with advanced interactivity allow the presenter to accept audience input and selectively present information by adapting to the input. Advanced interactvity also includes group activities such as games, shows and contests; participation enhancers such as brainstorming sessions and key takeaways; collaborative exercises and so forth.

As you go from level 0 to level 5, the impact of a presentation goes up several fold, because the audience gets involved progressively to a greater degree in the presentation. Of course the presenter achieves the ultimate impact, but a well-designed slide deck with sufficient interactivity will make the task a lot easier.

Interactivity in Web Design: A Beginner's Guide

For those of you who enjoyed my earlier post on interactive web sites, I have some good news to share. A new article, titled Interactivity in Web Design: A Beginner's Guide has appeared on Desizn Tech. This article is a convenient starting point for those of you who need a quick primer on interactive web design.

The article first draws a distinction between Single User Interactions and Multi-User Interactions. It then gives numerous examples of each type of interaction on some very well-designed websites.

The article, written by Poonam and edited by Kawsar Ali, then goes on to answer the key question: How do I add interactivity to my website?

For single user interactions, their prescriptions include javascript, jquery sliders, photo gallery, CSS navigation and rapid interactivity. For multi-user interactions, the ideas they suggest include chat, polldaddy, slideshare, shoutmix and TeemingPod, among other tools.

Interactivity Helps Non-Verbal Kids Communicate

Phil Bookman and Lenny Greenberg, two eLearning pioneers, have turned their talents to helping non-verbal kids communicate. Their new innnovation? TapToTalk, an interactive software on a Nintendo DSi, which a kid can proudly and easily carry around. The program shows images of various things the child may want to say, but cannot quite easily verbalize. So, the child has to simply locate the right image and -you guessed it- tap to talk. The program "speaks", thus assisting the child.

The product is only one part of Phil and Lenny's innovation. Their business model is the other part. What they sell is a subscription, a SaaS service to let parents and professionals make each TapToTalk meet the individual and changing needs of each child. The actual software that runs on the Nintendo DSi is free. This is a new paradigm at work.

If you would like to see a youtube video that shows how TapToTalk works, check out their Support Center page.

Assistyx, the company that makes TapToTalk, is a start-up company working to use technology to help individuals with physical and mental challenges reach their full potential. According to their web site, Regardless of cause–autism, developmental disability, mental retardation, Down syndrome, and many diseases–TapToTalk can help those who are non-verbal or have other speech or learning challenges communicate and learn.

When I asked Phil Bookman how he feels about Assistyx, he said: "I've started a number of tech companies over the years. This one, and this product, are a labor of love."

They have a embarked upon a noble cause, and I wish them the best.

Interactivity Spells The Midas Touch in Web Design

The telltale signs of a sea change in website design using rapid interactivity are beginning to show. Success stories of interactive websites are emerging in different parts of the world. With minimal cost and effort, designers of these sites are adding the midas touch. Who are these web designers? What are they doing differently?

Interactive websites present their message in a very attractive and engaging way. Considered the American Baptist Church web site, which presents the Call to God in way that is sure to attract and engage the younger visitors, who play with a 3 dimensional cube that rotates and narrates its messaging with voice and pictures. The message in this case talks about one’s connection with God through prayers, and volunteering for the local church. It targets the youth aptly through the creative use of interactivity. A great example that shows how a non-profit organization uses interactivity to convey its message effectively.

When I talk about success, I am not really surprised to see the commercial use of interactivity done effectively. A firm that deals with professional Internet Marketing Services aptly displayed their portfolio through Panning Cards. This interactive feature engages users and encourages them to get a quick visual of each portfolio item, with an option to drill down for more. That’s what I call reaching your varied target audience with a bang!

There is a whole new generation of website design. As Clayton Christensen argues in his celebrated book The Innovator's Dilemma, disruptive innovations start in under-served markets. New generation web designers are yet again demonstrating efficiencies in their work with rapid interactivity, trumping traditional ways of web design. The question remains…will this work for you? The answer lies solely with you!

Click here to refer to these and similar success stories.

Seduction: The Art of Harnessing Curiosity to Drive Engagement

Seductive ideas rest on our ability to spark the kind of intrigue that will keep the imagination engaged.

Like Mona Lisa, who seems to be alive because her attitude is so open to interpretation, something left to imagination will enthrall and captivate better than something served on a platter. Both Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were masters of deliberately unfinished or ambiguous work, which exploited the power of suggestion.

Today's dialog creators should also grant their audience the freedom to finish what the creator began. As the iPhone that removed the keyboard from a cell phone shows, subtraction produces seduction.

Curiosity is a natural trait of human mind. When something is missing, the mind looks for it actively.

In designing interactions, then, we have an opportunity to invite our users to look for and fill in missing pieces. This is seduction, the art of harnessing curiosity to drive interaction.

(Inspired by: In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing by Matthew May, Broadway Books, 2009)

A Day in the Korean Capital

Seoul, the hotbed of early adoption of high tech, has a 95% household broadband penetration. This densely packed city teeming with 20 million people is the most wired city in the world. The way Seoul has embraced technology has not only transformed South Korea’s economy, it has also profoundly changed the way the city is governed.

Image from The Korea Times / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government

Several months ago, Cheonggye Stream in downtown Seoul set up a marriage proposal spot near Dumul Bridge, where citizens can have their own video clip played on a big screen as the backdrop to a romantic proposal. The clip can feature their marriage proposal, which will be played to their prospective lover.

That may sound like a once-in-a-while occasion, but the the famed ubiquitous city (U-city) project in Seoul also promises several new experiences in the day-to-day lives of citizens. I am listing eight here. Some of them are already operational, others are due anytime.

1. You are at a restaurant. To catch a waiter’s attention, no need for waving or calling out any more – just touch a wireless device at your table, and your waiter will show up.
2. Bus stops carry displays that show you where your bus is, so you can decide whether to wait for it.
3. Media poles along sidewalks help you search for city information.
4. You need a copy of your vehicle registration. At any subway station, walk up to a kiosk that recognizes your thumbprint and issues public documents. You have your paperwork in minutes.
5. A child wears a U-tag which alerts parents on cell phone if he/she leaves a designated safety zone, such as a school campus.
6. Before you venture along a route, check air quality and traffic conditions over cell phone.
7. Leave a city-issued RFID tag on your car’s dashboard. If you don’t take your car out on the streets for a day, you automatically receive an insurance discount.
8. When you get on and off a bus, swipe a plastic card and it calculates fare based on how far you went.

The technology for doing all this is no big deal. We are talking about RFID, GPS, Bluetooth, touch-screens, fingerprint recognition, GIS and mobile messaging. Pretty routine stuff. What’s unique is the way this city has weaved it into the lives of its people. People need to interact with the transit systems, with the city, with businesses and with each other. U-city project has laid the groundwork for that.

It is easy to see how the downtown’s four-mile long Cheonggye Stream walkway will be a fertile ground for launching innovations in interactivity.