When I am reading I switch in different modes:
- Losing yourself in a novel and forgetting the time
- Digging through an article to find the acquisition price that was paid for a company
- After having failed to resist the click bait title, looking for the answer to the question it raised
- Absorbing every background aspect of the making of a certain music album
“Newspaper” journalists often get this wrong. They think they are writing for a person sipping a glass of wine and sitting in front of a burning wood fire, while most often they are not.
Hardly any business presentation is digested in the lounge chair. The audience:
- Has no time
- Is constantly distracted by calls, emails, messages
- Thinks that they know it all already and tries to put your idea in a box that is familiar
- Is clicking down and clicking down and wondering when they get to the point already
The captive TED Talk audience is in the lounge chair sipping wine. The venture capitalist is scrolling down your slides on her mobile while wondering whether the elevator button “1” or “0” will get you to the lobby.
BTW: Happy 2016 to everyone!
Art: Edouard Manet, Young Woman Reclining in Spanish Costume, 1862-1863
