Breaking In Keynote with a Friendly Audience

I recently gave a presentation to the Hamilton County Municipal League related to how local governments may choose to use social media as part of their communication plans with the public. It was a pretty cool experience for a couple of reasons.

My practice has been focused on local government law for pretty much my entire career. It didn’t take too long to realize that when my wife said, “How was your day?” she wasn’t really looking for answer detailing the crazy public record request I reviewed that day, or the grievance that the local union filed, or even the shocking disparity in the trash pickup bids that were opened that morning at City Hall. Believe it or not, local government issues (the very things that take up nearly my entire working time) aren’t always that compelling to the outsider. Stories that start out, “Remember that time that resident thought the Ohio Revised Code provision controlled instead of the City Charter…” don’t always get the laughs like they do in the office.

That’s why it was so fun to talk to a room full of local government officials. They get it. They chuckle at the inside joke that most state representatives used to be township trustees – no wonder they don’t understand state level reform of municipal income tax. (I understand if you stop reading right there.) As silly as it sounds, I was with my people that night. They asked me questions that showed they were engaged with my topic. The knowing nods were there the whole night. No glazed over stares. So admit it – you would like it too. Whatever your profession happens to be, you have to love the chance to talk to a room full of people that love it as much as you do. There is something to be said for putting yourself out there as a resource for like-minded people. It’s fun, and it keeps you on top of your game. If I had gone in there unprepared, those people would have eaten me alive.

The night was a hit for me for another reason, too. It was the first time I gave a presentation entirely from Keynote, directly from my iPad, even using my iPhone Keynote app as the remote to advance the slides. No more bulky laptops and projectors to lug around. No more flash drives. No more nonsense. Instead, I used my recently purchased Lightning-to-VGA adapter to plug directly into the projector system used at the venue. Fire up Keynote on the iPad and iPhone, and we were off to the races.

I’m realizing how easy it would have been to close out of Keynote and do anything else from the iPad that was necessary. The presentation was about using social media, so I could have just as easily closed Keynote, opened Tweetbot, and put my Twitter feed up on the screen. People would have been bored with the inundation of tweets about bourbon and cigar vendors, but you get the point.

All in all, I think it was a hit. I got to speak to room full of people that actually cared about what I was saying, and I got to play around with a new technology tool that I can’t wait to use again. I should really tweet about this, or something.