Social Media Used in Presentations and the Future

We all know that change is inevitable. People can try to hide from change, but that does not keep everything around them from changing.  Technology is changing at a very rapid pace. What might be the newest and greatest gadgets today will be obsolete in six months, replaced by something even shinier and brighter. Make it smaller, make it bigger, make it water proof, make it last longer, make it affordable, make it exclusive: this is what the manufacturers are hearing from the consumers. The manufacturers are in constant demand for the next big thing. Anywhere you turn, you are bombarded with technology. Social media has taken over the internet, cell phones, family time, and even businesses. It is pretty much safe to say that technology and social media now go hand and hand. People have reached the need for being connected. With the rush of the world being connected, no matter where they are, is top priority, the need for technology to advance is at an all-time high. Laptops, tablets, iPads, iPhones, and cell phones allow us to be connected at all times no matter where we are. WiFi has given us the ability to connect to the internet at any time and any place. Are we headed toward a world so connected that technology turns us into human robots or is technology and social media going to continue to evolve and allow us to multi-task and become better workers, parents, and friends? Because of this onslaught of technology, we are finding newer and better ways to survey information in the business place. In the past years, it would take long distance phone calls, overnight mailing, and long distance trips to communicate with other offices and a lot of money consuming time. Luckily, in this day of technology and social media, we have instant access to communication to any place in the world in the blink of an eye. 

In today’s world, there are many great ways to use social media for presentations or for any type of communication. Social media has become the main go to place when you want to share information quickly and to the masses.  Blogging used to be a great way to promote new authors or new books. For the last five years, this has been our go to media source for communication and promotion. Within the last year or so, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn has taken over much of the blogger traffic. Instead of posting on Blogger and reposting to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, it has become easier to bypass Blogger all together and just do direct posts. It saves time, and resources. Shortcuts are where it is at. The shorter the better. By getting the information out there quickly and easily, this is free advertising for anyone using this method of technology. I can see this continuing on in the future and only becoming easier to use and quicker to share. By having such large networks of friends or contacts, on the various social media sights, you are holding the power of the world in your hands. What you do with this power is up to you. Businesses use these same social media sites to interact with their customers. They are able to get feedback that is crucial to their products. They will sometimes offer coupons, free samples, or just ask customers to give their opinions on what they would like to have changed. This is priceless to the big companies. The big companies are not presenting directly to the customers, but they are using social media as a free platform of communication directly to their customers. This is better than any Power Point presentation or speech that anyone in the company could give. This is the wave of the future for social media. Getting their customers to tweet or post a Facebook message about their product could potentially be more advertisement than paying millions of dollars for a half-time super bowl commercial. The less money companies pay for advertisement and can use in social media, the happier everyone is. While companies will still advertise, the added bonus of social media is a whole new horizon that we are just scratching the surface of.  

Since starting classes at University of Phoenix, I have come to appreciate the amount of information that I did not know existed on the internet that has helped me. I did not realize that people put so much effort into putting information out on the web for others to use. By creating these pre-made presentations and worksheets, these people are helping people in droves. They are not expecting anything in return in most of the time. I used a lot of YouTube videos to help me walk through math problems. This like having a personal tutor. By having someone present the information to me, I was able to understand the solution and how to work the problem. The presenters of these videos may not realize it, but they are actually contributing to the world of Presentations via social media. They are making a HUGE impact on the world, not just me. Anytime that a question comes up in conversation, I know that the first thing I say is “Just Google it”. This phrase should be in the dictionary under “knows all”. Anytime that I have a question about anything, I Google. It. I may not use the first result that comes up or any of them. I may have to search multiple key words to find what I am looking for, but I will always find what I am looking for and I can always find a good, reliable source for it. I can see YouTube as being a huge player in the future of presentations in the world of Social Media. There are already so many “How To” videos that can viewed at the click of a mouse it is unfathomable to imagine how many hours of work is actually out here.  I can see an evolution of YouTube taking place. Even though YouTube started out as a video website, I can see it evolving into an amazing platform for businesses to use for presentations, business use, and training. Facebook has also recently started using a live video feed. I do not know much as about it as I have not yet used it a whole lot, but I can see it evolving into a huge presentation platform also. As much as Facebook is used in today’s world for communication, I can see the live video feed evolving very quickly also. It does not matter if it a social media site that has been around for a few years or one that has not been thought of yet, social media is going to continue to evolve for personal use and business use. As long as a business can benefit from a social media site, they are going to capitalize as much as they can. Presentations will come and go, but I feel social media is here to stay.

    

Forms of Media Used for Presentations

As a general rule, presentations are given for special occasions. There are a wide variety of reasons that you will be asked or even volunteer to do a presentation related to your career in IT. With technology advancing as fast as it is in today's world, there is so much that we need to know.  We then need to share that knowledge with other users, and it is sometimes hard to keep up. I personally prefer to use Microsoft's Power Point for all of my presentations.

The reason I choose Power Point is because it is so easy to work with, I can email the finished presentation to anyone that needs a copy before or after the meeting, and I can make print copies for anyone that needs a hard copy. Not all presentations require a visual aid.

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In my current role, we mostly use the old, fashioned flip charts. We do not have a need for presentations for the most part. I am hoping that once I earn my degree, I will be able to obtain an IT Security position where I can share my knowledge and start training again. I would love to create Power Point presentations again as training materials. When we have corporate meetings, we are linked in to an online website and connect via the internet. Our CEO then speaks to all the offices at the same time via a projector type screen hooked up to a laptop. He also uses a Power Point presentation super imposed into the presentation as a visual aid.

In the past, I can remember the projectors that used the transparency sheets. I always wondered how they made the sheets during presentations. Then they came out with the dry erase markers that could be used on the transparency sheets and the image would be flipped so that it appeared correctly. Now they have the smart boards in school classrooms that the teachers use. These are a great asset to the teachers and the students. The old days of chalk on a chalk board are long gone. My children have had the pleasure of this amazing piece of technology. As always, as the demand grows, the technology follows it.

Reference

Skillsyouneed.com. (2016). Working with Visual Aids. Retrieved from      http://www.skillsyouneed.com/present/visual-aids.html

Ways to Engage an Audience in a Presentation.

Do you have an upcoming presentation that has you nervous and not sure what to do? Are you worried that your audience is going to be bored or not pay attention? Let's discuss a few ways that you can engage your audience to ensure that they stay focused and attentive.

■ "Ask an open ended question at the beginning of your presentation. This is a good introductory strategy to help participants get involved with the technology and begin practicing with the chat window. An example would be, “How are you currently using social media in your courses?”

■ Answer questions as they come up. This strategy keeps the audience engaged. Be sure to check the chat window frequently (where participants can type comments or questions for everyone else to see and respond to). Look for questions you can address as well, or let the moderator answer if you have one. If you can’t get to a question, set it aside to answer after the webinar is over.

■ Ask specific questions to focus audience attention. For example, instead of telling them why process A is better than B, ask, “What’s the advantage of using A instead of B?” Then in your response to their comments, highlight the points you want to make."  (University of Phoenix, 2016, p. 113)