Speaking at Affiliate Summit East

On Sunday, I delivered a presentation called Inside Out: A Web Performance Philosophy to a group of affiliate pros as a part of a panel at Affiliate Summit East here in NYC.

I knew my material cold, it was just a question of how to present it in a way that resonated with a largely non-technical audience.

The punchline is that it was far too technical, although packed with relevant and valuable information. Mid-way through my presentation, I changed gears and made an effort to speak the version of English that non-engineers would appreciate.

It went over well.

Feedback was generally positive, but the lesson—which is fundamental—was clear: know your audience, know your audience, know your audience…

Something odd

Fun fact: I uploaded my presentation to SlideShare and despite not being designed for consumption without my talk..

  1. It was featured on the SlideShare homepage
  2. It was quickly viewed over 100 times
  3. It’s now approaching 1,000 views as of this post

I’m not being unnecessarily modest when I say that the presentation isn’t particularly interesting or valuable without the talk, so I’m wondering if this is normal. Would love your thoughts if you have experience with this.

And if you’re interested, you can check out the presentation below:

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Willie Jackson is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Consultant & Facilitator with ReadySet, a boutique consulting firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a frequent writer and speaker on the topics of workplace equity, global diversity, and inclusive leadership. Connect on LinkedIn or get in touch.

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