By Rob Biesenbach
Last year I attended a conference breakout session on a topic that really interested me. The room was packed with like-minded people, all hoping to get something of value from the program.
Then the presenter kicked things off by talking about himself, and only himself, for what seemed like 10 minutes. He walked us through every detail of his career history — the job titles, the degrees, the recognition and awards. It was like a LinkedIn profile set to live narration.
Predictably, the mood in the room quickly shifted from anticipation to annoyance as he violated the first rule of public speaking: it’s not about you; it’s about the audience.