Yesterday I did a 45 minute impromptu speech with no preparation about the business development process in my company, starting with how we identify contracts to pursue, what criteria we use to select them, how to analyze a Request For Proposal (RFP) from the Government, how to properly respond, internal company resources, tracking, and pitfalls of each part of these processes, having done this work for 20 years. So in short, I can spend 45 minutes discussing “how to do my job”.
Or if I got to pick the subject “Failed American Firearm Designs”, which I have a particular interest in, and collect as many prototypes as I can.
I’m a substitute teacher. This is pretty much my life.
Today, for instance, I was presenting on the cauldron scene in the Scottish play. On Tuesday, I was presenting on the properties of parabolas and quadratic equations. On Monday, it was about physical vs. chemical changes, pure substances, and the different kinds of mixtures.
Now, if you let me pick the topic, I’d probably do an introduction to special relativity. It’s really not nearly as tough as most folks think.
Reading this thread makes me think we could give those TED folks a run for their money.
When my curling club has an open house, or rents out the ice for parties, I like to go in and teach the newcomers how to curl. It’s for people to participate, so it’s not exactly a presentation. And I’ve done it before, so I’m prepared. Apart from that it’s exactly what the OP is looking for.
Now I’m a teacher, it’s interesting how my ability to fill time has increased.
You sort of develop a better sense of what the students understand and adjust on the fly, asking questions along the way.
For a non-Japanese audience, then lots of things Japanese. For a Japanese audience, then lots of things Western. For a mixed audience, then a mixed lecture.
For never-Mormons, then Mormonism. For questioning Mormons, then the issues with history. Mormons would never ask for a presentation from me, so I wouldn’t have to worry about that.
I am both a frequent presenter on business strategy and a guitar player in bands. I have no problem in front of a group and have been trained over decades to structure my thinking. So if you put any topic I am reasonably familiar into my Presentation Mode brain, I would likely do okay.
Probably the most pertinent topic would be Structured Communications for Business. Consulting firms place so much importance on effective communications - writing, speaking, powerpointing, etc. - that there can be a lot of training on it. I have developed a level of expertise in it - I taught it a few times at some top business schools as part of my firm’s relationship with those schools.
So yeah, if you said “45 minutes - go!” I would likely show you how to take any topic and structure it to make the presentation clear and compelling so they are persuaded by your argument.
ETA: lordy, a quick review of this comes off as pretty arrogant. Sorry. Just trying to frame the context of my comments. I am an outlier in this topic.
I suppose I’d talk about something servo-driven and how the servo-driven something improves the process versus the old-fashioned, pressure-based or cylinder-based or AC-motor based system that preceded it. Everyone knows what an adhesive dispenser is, for example, so I could wow them with all of the details of how a servomotor can make an adhesive dispenser better. I won’t talk about it here, of course, because it would take considerably more than 45 minutes to type it.
a very interesting thread-especially for those of us who don’t qualify.
15 minutes I can handle, but I don’t think I could intelligently talk on a single subject for 45 minutes without preparation.
It is fascinating and great to see all the folks on the dope who can do that. On subjects ranging from double-entry accounting to the flight of the Noldor.
I love the fact that you can do a 45 minute impromptu presentation specifically on the Flight of the Nolder. (and I know you can do it). Me, I was going to cover all of Middle Earth and related matters to fill 45 minutes.
