Nice Try – Keynote – Critical Value of Project Risk Management
After explaining the approach and the difficulties I have faced by compiling one of my first keynotes, today it’s about to share the video and the slides for that very keynote at the IQPC Project Risk Management Conference late September 2008.
Looking back, what went well:
- The new slide concept (PresentationZen) worked out fine and was appropriate for the event. However, far more effort could have gone into it as not all the great features have been used and applied nor even tried.
- 120 slides fit into 40 minutes and still some Q&A time at the end.
- I felt very comfortable with the story line even if it is not my strongest habit.
- I loved the opportunity (Thanks to IQPC), I loved presenting in front of a great audience, I loved to take myself out of my comfort zone.
What didn’t go so well
- Even if I felt comfortable with the story line, I am not an expert in the field of why „The world is flat“ and „The inconvenient truth“, therefore all the great stories that Thomas Friedman and Al Gore as the Authors of these fantastic books could and have to share are not in my repertoire and I can’t talk for years about these things. A headline, some side lines and that was it.
Lessons learnt: You need to be ready for a topic, otherwise do not present.
- I spent a long time in front of Power Point to produce the slide set. After three days, I couldn’t see Power Point anymore.
Lessons learnt: Take your time or delegate. Garr Reynolds (PresentationZen) says, if the presentation is important its worth doing, so go for it.
- The topic wasn’t probably the one that the crowd expected by looking at the program and the conference is a boutique conference and not a ‚real‘ one with hundreds of participants.
Lessons learnt: Do real keynotes just at a real keynote occasion.
- My conclusions „What does that mean for us as Project Managers“ have been thought through, however, I could have worked more on them, but I ran out of time.
Lessons learnt: Finish you storyline to the end and put all the effort in, don’t stop 200 meters before the finish line (if you do a marathon).
I need to give this presentation more presenting options and try the concept more often as I really liked it even with the difficulties and challenges that came with it.
So watch the movie (You will not see me very often as I stood at the wrong place / the camera wasn’t positioned right)
and of course the slides (You can download the via slideshare)
What do you think? How did I go? What would you do different?