MASS CUSTOMIZATION IN THE PUBLIC SPEAKING BUSINESS

Tailoring presentations to the audience is important; building them for mass customization from the start is efficient.

The picture above is a pixelated edit of one of my slides depicting “the three changes that are rewriting the DNA of business, as we speak.” (That’s my opener slide and a paraphrase of my opening statement.)

How to mass customize the presentation of these changes? Easy. There are eleven possible presentations, depending on emphasis:

1. General overview of all the changes and their intersections (which are real-world interactions, not just some technical curiosity).

2-4. A short general overview of the changes and a detailed analysis of one of them.

5-7. A short general overview of the changes and a somewhat detailed analysis of two of them.

8-10. A short general overview of the changes, a slight elaboration on two of them, and a detailed analysis of the intersection of those two.

11. A short general overview of the changes, with some added detail on each, and a detailed analysis of the three-way intersection.

(Yes, theoretically there could be more, say General + A + A∩B + A∩B∩C, but the structure of the subject doesn’t really allow for this.)

On top of these structural changes I try to find examples and models appropriate to the audience, but that’s a minor adaptation compared to the major possible structures: One master presentation set, eleven variations.

— — — —

Technical note: my projection images are made with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop; I gave up trying to match these professional-grade tools with the mass market tools in iWork. I did try seriously.