Lux Narayan believes that “So, what do you do?” is a tough question to answer and should certainly not be answered with the current title on your LinkedIn profile. In 2021, he published “Name, Place, Animal, Thing,” an Amazon bestseller, to help people answer this dreaded question. He enjoys mining the intersections of various spheres of life and work. He is the CEO and a co-founder at StreamAlive, a category-defining, engaging web application that helps livestreams and live events on Zoom, YouTube Live, in-person and everything in between come alive. 

According to Harvard Business Review in a 2002 issue of the magazine, innovation is driven by four things: unexpected occurrences, incongruities, process needs, and industry and market changes.

Since 2020, we have collectively experienced all four: An unprecedented global pandemic (unexpected occurrences), an immediate shift to remote work (incongruities), advancements in technology like generative artificial intelligence that have fundamentally changed the way we collaborate (process needs) and an economic downslide after a 10-year, tech-fueled bull market (industry and market changes). Our working world is ripe and hungry for innovation that will set us up for hybrid longevity.

As part of this shift, business users are eager to adopt tools that fit naturally within this new framework. Tools like the GAI-powered Tome.app, recognized by LinkedIn as a Top Startup in 2023, generate entire slide decks based on a single prompt, yet are still far from widespread enterprise adoption. But, why?

A look back at the history of baking might offer some insight. In the 1950s, General Mills launched the first pre-made cake mix under the Betty Crocker brand. With powdered milk and eggs, it encouraged shoppers to “just add water” and pop it in the oven. General Mills bet on simplicity, but the response fell flat. Consumers reported that the final product felt inauthentic. In response, the CPG company pivoted, adapting the recipe to require additional ingredients. Suddenly, customers felt involved in the process and connected to the product by cracking a single egg.

But what does this have to do with post-pandemic workplace technology? That same intrinsic desire to feel like a part of the process persists today and might explain why advanced presentation technology, like Tome.app, isn’t sticking. What’s the secret to better presentations? Might the answer be a combination of better technology and more connection?

If it isn’t broken, you can still fix it.

In 20 years, we’ve seen very little evolution in presentation technology. Digitally native Gen-Z, who has been using PowerPoint since elementary school, continues to use the Microsoft tool to build decks in their entry-level roles. While some may argue that a system that’s working doesn’t need to be fixed, I’d argue that hybrid teams are craving virtual engagement in a way that PowerPoint can’t accommodate. The changes to the software over the last two decades have been largely cosmetic changes with little revolution to the user experience.

The focus with new presentation technology is still on the presenter having a monologue with their audience. The need of the hour is to move towards having a dialogue. To this end, software needs to move from helping presenters ‘speak’ towards helping presenters ‘listen.’

Of course, replacing or improving legacy software is intimidating, especially one that is so deeply ingrained in workplace culture, but it is a crucial step in maximizing engagement. Instead of becoming overwhelmed by the plethora of software, programs and other upgrades that could be incorporated into your presentations, consider zeroing in on the specific aspects to understand where there is the most room for improvement.

The foundations of effective engagement

Since 2020 forced us to integrate virtual meetings into our day-to-day, users have become less and less tolerant of any obstacle that interferes with smooth communication like long loading times, clunky transitions and lags that make it difficult to hear our colleagues without talking over them. For this reason, any change in meeting technology must be done intentionally so as not to restrict user engagement before it gets started.

Every good presentation, regardless of the technology that enhances it, should have good bones. It requires solid hardware as a baseline. A beautifully researched presentation is worth little if your audience can’t hear or see you, so quality equipment including a camera, microphone and a computer powerful enough to manage several programs at the same time, are table stakes.

The second half of a strong foundation is the content preparation. Traditionally, this has included a thoughtful run of show that leaves room for audience engagement, but what about true participation? When speaking on a stage or in a lecture hall, how participatory can your audience truly be beyond a show of hands? The right software can make large group engagements feel more natural.

Ensuring active engagement and participation is paramount, especially in presentations where real-time feedback shapes the course of the session. While there is no way to guarantee an active audience, technology has evolved to help large-scale presentations feel as engaging as one-on-one conversations. Embedding chat-based tools like interactive maps that track where your virtual audience is dialing in from or word clouds that visualize audience sentiment can activate your in-person and virtual audiences similarly.

Connection at the source

As we navigate the terrain of evolving presentation technologies and their role in enriching our meetings, it becomes evident that the key to unlocking genuinely engaging experiences may lie not in the complexity of the tools we adopt, but in their ability to mirror and enhance our human interactions. The story of General Mills’ Betty Crocker cake mix underscores a timeless truth: engagement is cultivated not through eliminating effort but through meaningful participation.

Reflecting on the evolution of presentation tools from PowerPoint to more dynamic, interactive solutions, it’s clear that the journey toward enhancing meeting engagement is ongoing. The reluctance to move away from familiar systems speaks to a deeper need for tools that are intuitive and inclusive, enabling every participant, regardless of their technical prowess, to contribute meaningfully to the discourse. | AC&F |