According to the New York Times today, “Nokia, based in Finland, said it surveyed 9,000 consumers last year and concluded that by 2012 one out of every four consumers will create, edit or share entertainment with friends, instead of getting it from traditional media outlets like television or movie studios.”

The significance? It means the ability to speak–on camera–is going to go from being seen as a luxury skill to a basic, essential skill. 35 years ago, an executive graduating from a top law or business school who knew how to type was viewed as having a special, obscure talent. These days, anyone graduating from any school who can’t type is considered an unemployable fool.

Will the ability to speak clearly and confidently in front of a video capture device some day be considered as basic a skill as today’s typing?

Absolutely! So you better get used to it.

I attended a Web 2.o Conference here in New York sponsored by iBreakfast today. Lots of good speakers, but one big problem: video in presentations. The conference was on advertising and monetizing web content, so it made a lot of sense for marketers and advertisers speaking to show video in their presentation. But speaker after speaker got up, tried to play their video, and then apologized for it not working. The system wasn’t set up properly and there was no audio feed. By my rough estimate, half of the speakers used video and all of them had the same problem.

When you think about it, this really is silly. No one did any of the following:

1. Showed up early to do a rehearsal to see if things worked properly.

2. Tested during a break between speakers to see if their system worked.

3. Paid attention to the fact that the speaker who spoke 2 minutes before they did couldn’t make the system work, so chances are they would be able to either.

Speakers must realize that if you are going to use video in a presentation, you can’t just waltz up to the platform with your flash drive and plug in 2 minutes before speech time. You need to prepare, and rehearse on the actual equipment you will be using; otherwise, don’t bother using video.

Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kansas) made the Democratic response to George Bush’s State of the Union Address last night. Sebelius looked professional, smooth, competent, and knowledgeable.

But…

She read from a Teleprompter, and the truth is, it’s darned hard to read form a Teleprompter without putting people to sleep. Why? Because when non=professionals read form a Teleprompter, they tend to speak at the same speed, the same tone, the same volume throughout. The result? Sameness, which means boredom.

I happened to be watching Sebuelius’ speech with people who supported her politics and agenda. But after five minutes, everyone in the room was complaining about how boring and how long the speech was.

If you are going to use a Teleprompter, just realize that it is harder to do than working from notes. It is crucial that you get comfortable not only with the words, but with where you will change your speed, volume, tempo and where you will insert pauses. If you don’t prepare and rehearse these, you will bore your audience to death.

An interesting take on the use of 3-d over at PowerPoint without Bullet Points blog today.

3-d is definitely over-rated when it comes to presentations. Most presenters woudl be better off showing the relationship between just 2 variables in any one slide; hence no need for 3-d. Check out the full article.

If you hold an interesting position in yhour industry or are high profile in any way, you must keep in mind that any audience you speak to these days may be filled with bloggers. And these bloggers may be commenting on your speech. So just because you don’t see TV cameras in the audience or people with “press” hats on, doesn’t mean that your comments are somehow off the record–they aren’t. Everything you say must be considered through this prisim: How do I feel if this is quoted on a web site that has a million ivsitiorslooking at it during the next two years?

How common is it for speeches to be blogged about today: Here’s just a partial list of people who blogged about Bill Gates’ Speech at the CES yesterday.

Gates delivers his final CES keynote address
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA
By Troy Wolverton Microsoft chairman Bill Gates speaks at keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008 . …
See all stories on this topic
CES 2008: Bill Gates Keynote

G4 TV - Los Angeles,CA,USA
Keep your eyes glued to this exciting blog post as it will be updated with the meat and pataters of Bill Gates’ Keynote Address as it happens in a few hours …
See all stories on this topic

Bill Gates Looks Ahead at ‘Next Digital Decade’
FOX News - USA
In his 11th CES opening keynote address, Gates looked at the sweeping changes since 2001 that have created the first true Digital Decade, including the …
See all stories on this topic
Google Blogs Alert for: “keynote address”

CES 2008; Bill Gates Keynote Address Commentary
By webmaster@windowsobserver.com (Richard Hay)
Bill Gates CES 2008 Keynote Address. 9:23 PM - Well they are scrolling some event info on the streaming feed now. 9:24 PM - One of the slides asks everyone to turn their phones off or put them to vibrate. I can only imagine the number …
Windows Observer - http://www.windowsobserver.com
Bill Gates Makes His Last CES Keynote Address

By GreasyGuide
Today in Las Vegas at the CES 2008 founder and CEO of Microsoft made his final keynote to the public. Bill Gates has changed the world and has help to usher in the digital age. During 2008 he will fully step down from his full time …
GreasyGuide.com - http://greasyguide.com

Gadgetell’s Live Blog of Bill Gates’ final CES keynote
By pj@gamertell.com(pj@gamertell.com)
Gadgetell is live at what may be Bill Gates’ final CES keynote address. Will he talk about the Xbox game systems or the future of videogames? Check out the live coverage going on right now! Oh, and keep smacking that REFRESH button at …
Gamertell - http://www.gamertell.com

Blogging at the CES
By Rob
Product Expert bloggers will be profiling all the cool new products being unveiled at the show and they’ll be live-blogging the opening keynote address by Bill Gates. Sounds almost as good as being there.

Techvibes Blog - http://techvibesblog.com
Watch Gates’ Keynote, 100 million retail Vista copies sold
By Emil Protalinski
The pre-show 2008 International CES keynote address will come at 6:30 pm PST Sunday, January 6. I’ll be updating this newspost with information as it comes in! Video: 750k | 300k | 100k Link: Microsoft @ CES 2008 (Silverlight Required) …
Neowin.net / Main - http://www.neowin.net
Google Web Alert for: “keynote address”

Bill Gates is giving his last keynote address to the Consumer Electronics Show tomorrow. Here’s where you can watch it live.

Gates is due to start his departing speech at 6.30pm US Pacific Standard Time, so start streaming early to avoid missing out. Here are your streaming options.

750k high quality webcast stream
300k good quality webcast stream
100k blob quality webcast stream

Gates is no Steve Jobs when it comes to presenting showmanship, but Gates has evovled into a comfortable and competent speaker over the years.