First impressions of PresentConf

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the very first PresentConf event held at The Old Truman Brewery in London.
For those who don’t know, PresentConf is a conference created by Prezi that focuses on the skill of presenting. That includes planning, building, and delivering presentations, plus a look at the science behind it all.

I create presentations for a living and of course it’s my job to know more than most about the subject but I don’t mind admitting that even after day one of being at the conference I came away with a tonne of strategies and useful tips. Most of the audience did not have the job title ‘presentation designer’ like me and were mainly in the field of marketing and communications so I’m sure they must have gained even more value than I did. And that was just day one!!!
We were treated to speakers such as Carmine Gallo the author of Talk like TED, Leila Janah who is Founder of Sama and Laxmi, Steve Mesler 3x Olympic gold medalist, Carmen Simon who is a renowned cognitive neuroscientist, and many more great speakers. All supreme experts in their fields and of course great presenters. What was great is that although they don’t all work as presentation experts and come from many different fields, everything they talked about was so tightly linked to the power and art of presenting. It was so refreshing to hear a gold medalist link how he performed in his sport, to how we can all perform better on stage.

What was also really clear is that this isn’t a Prezi sales pitch. Of course all the presentations are using Prezi, but the focus is on great presentations and the skills required to build them. There isn’t anyone trying to sign you up for a license, or massive Prezi branding present anywhere. Personally I think that shows this isn’t about promoting a product, but a clear indication that the guys at Prezi just want a world of better presenters. As do I.
So as I write this its 5:30am and I’m wide awake and absolutely buzzing for day two of this great event. With another stellar line up of speakers there are bound to be even more great hints and tips that even I can take away and apply to all of my customers presentations.
My hats off to Prezi for such a great event, and I’m positive that this is the start of an extremely popular, and hopefully more regular conference.
To follow everything going on in day 2 follow me on Twitter and also look for #presentconf

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