Presentation and Authenticity: Al Gore at the Web 2.0 Summit

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I thought you might be interested in a conversation from the Seesmic online video platform which I have embedded below. It extends Presentation Plus’ observations and discussions on presentation skills and performance.

We have been following the US Presidential campaign here with a keen eye to the oratorial and presentation skills of some of the candidates. You’ll find our other posts on the topic in Jottings on this blog. But back to this post …

The conversation evolved from an initial video post ‘Al Gore Talks About TV’ made by Cathy Brooks, head of business development at Seesmic. Cathy is based in San Francisco, and was at the Web 2.0 Summit at which Al Gore presented late last week. I joined the conversation and sent back a comment on the former Presidential candidate’s solid grasp of the use of Web 2.0 digital technologies and social networking applications. Cathy’s (clip 3) in response to me contained some surprising observations on Mr Gore’s presentation skills during the Summit. They raise a few key considerations for anyone who gets up before an audience to make a presentation.

I’m drawn to the issues of a presenter’s ‘authenticity’ and ‘credibility.’ These perceptions by an audience are of crucial importance not only to politicians, but also to anyone in the public eye of a population which is now visually literate, and becoming increasingly sophisticated.  What do you think?

Please feel free to join the video conversation or leave a written comment below.

Al Gore talks about TV