Gave my first live talk in about four years. It felt great to be back in front of people. There's definitely a different vibe now.
Presentation Link

The landscape of live presentation has changed quite a bit in that time. As I was up there I was struck with the thoughts of

• "How do we give presentations now post-covid, post Tik Tok and higher social media consumption than what I was seeing before?"

• "What genuinely engages audience with a talk and how does AI fit into it?"

• "What's the Right Size level of effort for these things now a days?"

The meta conversation plagued my presentation (sorry folks to be subjected to my musings). How much do you share with an audience that you've used AI? What's the Responsible AI disclaimer?

I found the AI generated graphics engaging. I used Canva's "Magic Design" AI and it created some pretty amazing stuff. I also used ChatGPT for the content. Up front I shared with everyone that the slides were GPT generated and that they're there just to look pretty. I tried to keep the tone conversational and engaging. It felt like the promise of AI was being fulfilled at that moment for me. I was freed to really engage with the audience and think about the content without having to worry about the artifact losing me trust points.

My big concern is though I do wonder if folks feel like they lost out on something due to using simulated content. This talk felt very meta for me since it was about right sizing projects. I tried to advocate to do more with less. At the same time I tried to do more presentation with less effort. Like I shared with my talk walking that line can feel dangerous at times. But I feel emboldened that I'm usually my harshest critic.

Take a look at the presentation if you've read this far and let me know if you think I did enough work. If I don't get feedback I got other AI powered presentations brewing.