I Can See You Naked

A free-wheeling cannon, often called a “speech,” creates a lot of smoke! Explodes a subject. It takes a subject of some interest and expands it. It is essentially an inside/out presentation.
A torpedo that speeds precisely to its mark. Starts narrowly and gets sharper. It is essentially an outside/in presentation.
Which brings us to the type of presentation you’re most likely to be involved in.

An effective presentation (the kind that you will make) will be a torpedo, not a cannon.

When people say, “You’re not going to make a speech, are you?”—they really and truly hope that you will not.

Speeches are presentations that explode subjects. Speeches have a way of getting fatter and fatter as they are being given. (How often have you said to yourself, “What is that guy talking about?”) As speeches expand, they rumble and ramble, and generally create a lot of smoke. (Ever noticed how much coughing a really bad speech can generate?)

Most speeches have very little impact because they don’t ask you to do anything. I asked an ex-boss of mine what he wanted to accomplish in an upcoming speech. He said, “Oh, I just want to open their minds up.” Fine. Great. Admirable. But most people are not sitting around waiting to have their minds opened up. They are waiting for you to drive home a specific point or idea that they can really use.

“… a torpedo is always better than a cannon.”

At one end of the spectrum

Let’s nail it down, here and now.

Presentation is, more and more, a visual medium.

The idea spread across the networks

it’s not one of those ideas that flits in and out of your mind. It sticks. And it asks for some kind of response.

When something strikes you as funny, don’t let it get away. Hold on to it for dear life. It could be gold.