In five minutes and 20 slides (rotating every 15 seconds), I present “Business is Theater” at Ignite Baltimore 5. I make the case for how well theater best practices apply in the world of business.
Have a look and listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUGw5yC7P48&feature=PlayList&p=0CADB93695631416&index=
Here’s a link to Ignite Baltimore:
I’ve attended a few Ignites as a spectator and thought, “Hey, I could do that!” So, I sent in a proposal based on a previous post. It was more challenging than I thought.
Imagining the slide show and finding suitable slides are two different things. Whether or not to time your presentation to the slide rotation is another important strategic decision. I did not. I let the slides and my presentation each make their own case.
Choosing whether to follow a script or ad-lib according to themes was also a big decision. I tend to ramble when I’m nervous so I scripted my presentation and rehearsed it many times. I’ve noticed that most ad-libbers talk fast and try hard to be funny. They tend to come across as amateurs. I will admit that one-in-five sparkles. But it was a risk I wasn’t willing to take. Nor was I going to memorize my script. Once you go up on lines you’re doomed. It ain’t community theater. No one will prompt you. My goal was good rhythm, the right tone, and timing it to end during the final slide. You may decide whether I succeeded or not.
While you are asked not to make your presentation in the form of a commercial, I did use two existing theater companies as examples when making my case. One is a local theater with a production running now, and the other (from Chicago) will be presented locally in two weeks. I used them because it seemed wise to make the case (theater is a great business model) locally rather than abstractly. I plugged their productions, not my branding business.
In other news, I had public readings of two plays I submitted to the Baltimore Playwrights Festival (BPF) two Saturdays ago. Public readings are performed by rehearsed actors for the highest rated submissions to the festival. After each reading an open discussion is held with the playwright and the director. While the BPF evaluators may recommend plays they deem worthy of staging, the handful of participating local theaters decide which scripts they are willing to produce. I keep my fingers crossed.
It was a lot of fun hearing the characters come to life in front of an audience. Much of the feedback was useful and I am revising and rewriting both pieces. One is a 50 page urban one-act, and the other an anthology of three short plays all set in rural southern New Mexico.
Ideas for future posts include:
- Practice versus rehearsal
- When leadership matters most or a what to do when a one man shop gets an intern
- Critical response or dealing with feedback
I hope you’ll watch the Ignite presentation (see first link) and let me know what you think.