Chaos and the art of poor presentation

Last week I presented a key note to the February gathering of the UK's leading Intranet Managers at the IBF's Member Meeting.

And I was about as effective as a Llama on the London Underground.

Here's some of the feedback comments:

"too much was fit into one day and not enough exploration"

"slightly chaotic"

"maybe not forward thinking enough"

Why? It certainly wasn't the fault of the event organiser, the IBF (www.ibforum.com) who put on meetings like these year round and across the globe, sharing best practice and insights in a confidential, cooperative environment.

Nor was it the gathered crowd, who represented the cream of intranet professionals and practitioners and all arrived enthusiastic to engage and share with their peers in what, to me, was a uniquely collaborative environment.

For my part, public speaking is not an issue and I've delivered many well received sessions on usability etc. and facilitated enough meetings.

So how did it all go so wrong?

Well, beside the over exposure of being thrust into the attendees faces all day long :-) I committed the first mortal sin of usability design. Oh the irony.

Whilst preaching about the importance of envisioning the context of content, users, and goals, I completely failed to apply the practise myself.

-The content was about sharing knowledge - not broadcasting information.
-The users were expecting to contribute - not to recieve.
-The goal was to support members - not to provide for them.

Doh!

So apologies to all of the attendees - but also thanks, I could have sat there for four more days happily soaking up the knowledge and experience in that room. My failure is a credit to you all - never have I seen a room so full of cooperation between effectively competing organisations.

The IBF meeting is one example of the real best way to improve user experience for all - not through monothetic blabbering by conference-circuit professionals, but by enabling the sharing of ideas and experiences between active practioners like yourselves.

Bravo!