What color don’t you expect to see?
This is a very handsome Egyptian Goose. He is posed in a gorgeous setting, rich with textures and colors that blend with his own predominant tan, buff and orange feathers. What you notice first is how perfectly he matches his environment. And then, wham! Those PINK feet! It almost looks like mother nature goofed.
This is an illustration of a particularly helpful approach in presenting: staying one step ahead of your audience. The last thing you want is for your audience to be correctly anticipating what you will do next. You want them to stay with you in the moment you are creating. A runaway audience can quickly become bored and detached. But if you are unpredictable, they will stick around to find out what you will pull out of your hat next.
That is not to say that a presentation should be like a magic show, full of scarves, rings and levitation, but rather that your approach to developing and selling your ideas must be interesting and keep the curious engaged. If you can develop those aha moments you will have made a deep connection.
How might you use the Egyptian Goose photo in a presentation? He could be used to support a discussion about the difference between looking and seeing, really seeing. At first look, this photo seems as though it was processed with a sephia filter: its range of browns, oranges, muted reds and blacks could have been generated by a photoshop filter. It is only when you actually see this photo, that you notice those outrageous pink feet. And then you can’t not see them. And you also realize that this photo was not filtered but taken from life. Seeing the world, actually seeing it, can be a thrill.
41 of 365. Lucia’s photo-a-day.
