Creating A Memorable Live Experience
Nobody Forgets The Claw
As a piece of Youtube entertainment, the global U2 show was pretty good. The sort of production values that you can rely on from U2, and another epic bit of staging with their giant claw.
A digitally-minded person could watch it and think, ‘wow, it’s almost as good as being there.’
But it isn’t.
It’s on a screen the size of a cigarette packet, and I’m listening to it through a $5 earpiece I use for Skype. Sure, I could run it through the Apple TV and the good speakers at home, but those good intentions never quite eventuate.
The digital revolution has put entertainment into every corner of our lives, but it’s mostly delivered in low-fi, bargain-basement quality. Tiny video images on phones. Cheap-ass iPod docking stations with one-inch speakers. DVD’s played in thin, buzzy laptop ’stereo’. Grimy compressed web video with Lego-sized pixels. MP3 audio, the first major format in the history of recorded music to be noticeably worse than its predecessor.
Go to that U2 show in person and it’s immense. Their Zoo TV tour in the early 90’s remains the single most amazing live spectacle I’ve ever seen, and bless them for outspending the US defence budget to create it. I can still remember it vividly, despite all the refreshments, and I can’t remember stuff I saw on Youtube yesterday.
At an event like that, you’re committed to paying attention. You’re never going to experience being at that event again, so it’s special. You can’t just hit pause, do a bit of work, and restart it at your convenience. Like you can on the Youtube version.
It’s worth remembering the value of production quality when you’re creating a presentation or event. You’ve gone to the trouble to get a bunch of people into a room. So don’t give them an experience they could get at their desk. Presentation quality works both as a spectacle and a subconscious signal that the message is worth listening to.
A lot of presentation material is designed now it can be streamed and emailed, and that’s fine if that’s the medium you’re using to communicate. But there’s no need for compression in the live presentation. Are you going to give them material that feels like email, or are you going to sear your message into their memory in a way that will stay with them for years?
Next post, we’ll look at some specific ways to increase your live production values.
Tags: Claw, digital presentations, production values, U2, YouTube, Zoo TV
Ian Whitworth believes passionately in the power of live communication, without the buzzwords and bullet points. He works as a creative director and principal of agency A Lizard Drinking. He is also one of the founders of audiovisual company Scene Change. Ian is an ex-professional presenter and long ago, ex-audiovisual technician. For non-presentation stuff, try @ianwhitworth. 
