I have been fortunate to speak at a number of events over the autumn. What has struck me from attending these events is the amount of video content that is being crammed into a presentation as a means to demonstrate a point.

Now, I have always been loathed to add videos to presentations as I know that technology and live presentations rarely work together, but what concerned me more was their use as almost ‘filler.’

If you think about it – you have to talk for 30 minutes, if it is unique content that is a lot of content to be prepared. So, if you add, say 3 videos and 2.5 minutes each, that’s 7.5 minutes done, well over 10% of the entire duration.

I don’t mind seeing videos if they help demonstrate something that cannot be easily described or demonstrated but for a presenter to kick back with a video for 3 minutes and then say, “and that demonstrates…” in my opinion is plain lazy.

YouTube has a wealth of great videos, but if I wanted to watch videos I would sit at home and watch YouTube, not attend a conference at great expense. So please can we stop showing videos and get back to presenting and explaining?

The same view applies for sticking images into slideshare presentations, but I’ll leave that for another post.

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The opinions expressed on Innovation Station are those of their authors and may not endorsed by, nor representative of associated companies or employers.

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The opinions expressed on Innovation Station are those of their authors and may not endorsed by, nor representative of associated companies or employers.