All The World IS A Stage!

When William Shakespeare (or Sir Francis Bacon, if you prefer) wrote the words, "All the world's a stage..." I doubt he imagined just how prescient a statement that would be. Whereas the Bard and his Troupe would have to venture from Stratford-upon-Avon to broaden their performance reach, today one need only post to the Internet and indeed, all the world IS a stage!

CASTING A WIDE "NET"

For years I have given public presentations for business and for fun. The fun part has always been presenting to students, whether it was a classroom full of my own kids' peers at "Career Day" or whether it is at the University of Miami Business School where I have been a volunteer guest speaker in the "Starting New Ventures" class for the past four years, I have always enjoyed speaking in front of small groups of 25 - 100 or so folks. Today, there is no reason to limit your presentations to the lucky few who get to see you live. Today there are no shortages of ways to record and share your live event (look what Laura Fitton is doing with MediaCasters.TV and Jeff Pulver with his Pulver.TV to interactively extend live events beyond the span of those in physical attendance). These are exciting times that would likely bedazzle even the Bard himself!

I recently presented at the University of Miami on a Social Media For Business panel with Alex De Carvalho and Carlos Granier-Phelps that was hosted by the MIT Enterprise Forum. There were about 50 students, alumni and others in attendance, all of whom had paid $25 for the evening (including drinks and hor d'oeuvres - a good thing since my presentations ALWAYS seem better after the audience has had a few drinks - ok, not so much at the elementary school "Career Day.")

SLIDESHARE AND SHARE ALIKE

A few days after the MIT event, the presentation came up in a Twitter conversation and Francine Hardaway asked me if I had posted my presentation to Slideshare. While I had heard of Slideshare, I had never really checked it out. I told Francine I would post my slides, and I did. (I had to jigger with it a bit to add links for the embedded videos and record a narration to fill in the gaps from my "live" presentation, but it wasn't too much trouble). Within hours, the presentation that I had given to an audience of 50 had been seen by more than a few hundred, and the number of views and downloads continues to grow.

What a great concept! Why limit your thoughts and views to the circle around you? Why not share your slides, and thus your thoughts and ideas, with anyone and everyone who may take an interest. Slideshare is full of wonderful, intriguing and inspiring personal and professional presentations on just about any imaginable topic. Not only is it a great way to ensure that all the world is your stage, but it is a great resource for information, ideas and inspiration when it is your turn to get up in front of a crowd.

I intend to continue to post any presentations I give, and encourage you to do the same. In fact, if you have used Slideshare before, tell us about it and give the link to your presentation in the comments below!

Here is the presentation I prepared for the MIT Enterprise Forum:

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"Stage" Photo Credit: Boguslaw Mazur - Fotolia.com

Update: The person we hired using the "Work's A Beach"Recruitment Video in the presentation is J.C. Hutchins. You can read about how he got his job from Twitter here.