Lessons Learned from a LinkedIn Presentation

LinkedIn Presentation Last week I gave a presentation at the Scotch Plains Public Library about LinkedIn. I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned from giving this presentation.

But first, an advertisement for those in New Jersey: If you are in New Jersey, why not come to the next social media talk on May 7 at the Scotch Plains Public Library – this one will be on Facebook. I will surely talk about Timeline (do I hear some groans? any cheers?), and I plan to focus on the differences between groups and pages. People think Facebook is just for young people, but it can be used as a tool for business or for any interest or hobby you may have.

And now back lessons learned:

If you are planning to use the internet in your presentation, make sure the place has a good internet connection (the Scotch Plains Public Library did). Some places have a slow connection, which could be awkward for your presentation.
Prepare, prepare, prepare. Have your powerpoint slides all ready to go. I put mine on a flash drive, on my laptop, and on DropBox (thank you to Carolyn of Wonder of Tech for recommending DropBox). If you have the opportunity, rehearse at the setting of the presentation with one other person watching and listening.
Make a slide of clickable links. I made the mistake of pasting in the links – when I wanted to show a YouTube video on the screen, I had to retype the link. Next time, I’ll be better prepared.
If you are planning to show a YouTube video, test out the video in the presentation setting. The speakers on the laptop weren’t very loud, so playing the video didn’t work out so well. But I had included the link on a handout.
Prepare handouts. People love takeaways – I always prepare a list of links (see section below) so people can learn more. Luckily, the YouTube video was listed on the handout, so I could tell folks to watch it at home.
Don’t start the talk right away. Instead, use the first ten minutes to meet personally those who have shown up early. Most people love to talk about why they have come, if they are made to feel comfortable and welcome.
If you don’t know the answer to a question, feel free to look it up on the internet in front of the audience. We can all learn together. For example, someone asked about the term “visibility” in LinkedIn. So we looked it up in LinkedIn Answers. The term “visibility” is similar to privacy settings in Facebook. So you can change the visibility for a group if the group is not a private group (that’s one example of visibility).
Have Fun. For many of us, public presentations can be a bit nerve wracking (for others, you may never even try to do one because of being too nervous!). Connect to the audience, enjoy your topic, and let your enthusiasm for the topic show.