Future Technologies in Presentations (II)

Lately, we have seen a massive amount of news in television and social media about the use -sometimes misuse- of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called "drones". This aerial technology is mainly used as toys and sometimes as professional videography tools in their larger form; however, the same technology, in a warfare environment is also being use by our country's military to remotely scan and sometimes take action without having to sacrifice a soldier's life.

This technology, while it is not currently used to make presentations of any form now, provide a visual representation of what the next step in technology for presentations can be. For example, one of the most interesting technological gadgets to surface in the past few years has been Virtual Reality glasses. A entire hotel room can be digitalized in 3D, uploaded to a centralized server and then downloaded to a computer to be used to showcase a property that can be thousands of miles away from the potential visitor. While the virtual reality goggles are being use already, I see that it can eventually become an invaluable tool to take the next step from watching a presentation on a mobile screen, to be practically -virtually- sitting down in front of the presenter, first row, just like thousands of other people.

With the goggles on, watching the presentation, I could raise my hand, ask questions and possibly interact with other attendees from the comfort of my home, without having to wait in line, try to find my seat or having to drive to the venue.

I see great things with this technology and its fusion with powerful, yet vastly remote presentations.

Social Media in Presentations

The use of social media platforms has been the biggest and farthest reaching news form in the last few years. Billions of people rely on application such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get the latest information in politics, entertainment and from friends and families; however, sooner than later we will be a greater driving force from the sales and marketing world in which presentations will be driven directly through these channels, customized to specific audiences by geography and/or demographics.

Personally, I truly believe that we are already reaching the time in which the ability to understand and focus a presentation to a specific audience of people can be accomplished without having to bring them all together in a physical location. Social Media is able to accomplish this by the creation of "viral" publications in which the content can be easily shaped to fit the target audience -or market- the presenter -or marketer- wants to reach. It is equally important to make the effort to distinguished between a presentation made with ethical proportions to presentations that try to steer the audience to a specific action, behavior or product.

The fine line between the things we see in social media to the information we see from a credible journalist can be mistaken; therefore, society must adapt to make the clear distinction between them to avoid social media manipulation through viral presentations.

Future Technologies in Presentations (I)

Presentations in the near future will be more personalized based on the immediate audience. I see that everybody that has "checked-in" to a presentation automatically uploads their profile to a database which automatically creates a template of a presentation customized to the color preference, favorite font, gender, age-range and other demographics of the audience.

Nowadays, polls and/or questions directed to and from the speaker are instantly live fed to a big monitor which gets addressed right there on the spot. In the future we can only expect enhanced methods of engagement in which part of the presentation will also be live-streamed to portable devices along with personalized messages of products and/or services attached to the presentation. I see the sales and marketing experts will do a great job in making sure customers "get what they want" via new presentation methods. While we already have online presentations needs addressed by many service providers,

I would like to see the future bring more interaction, less consumerism along with increased mobility. We already have tools, now we need more imagination.