No one would have bet on this, but by all accounts, yesterday's SXSW keynote by Twitter CEO Ev Williams flopped. After an hour's time, the halls in Austin were more than half empty, and an opportunity to showcase one of technology's biggest successes in the last few decades was for the most part lost. It's poignant here, because so many thousands of people looked forward to this keynote as a highlight of the interactive conference--even Gray's piece is titled, Louis Gray sums up what happened succinctly: After thousands of Twittering geeks and quasi-geeks alike had settled in to the packed exhibition hall and overflow rooms to hear the latest updates delivered straight from Twitter's leader, their excitement soon turned to boredom and finally, severe annoyance, as the interview's pace, tone and content fell well below expectations .

Digging for the Treasures in Your Stories” with Emory Austin, CSP, CPAE “The The Anatomy of a Remarkable, Convention-Maker Keynote” with Joe Calloway, CSP, CPAE “Creating with Glenna Salsbury, CSP, CPAE Your platform effectiveness is powerfully enhanced by your clarity of unique message. Are

Business speakers (and leaders, keynoters, politicians, Pastors and, well, everyone…) need to be aware that like it or not, Twitter is coming to their speaking experience. Be Aware, and Beware! Now for the bad: •    In probably 80-90% of most business and conference settings speakers have a message to give – at keynote speeches and large company events - the large audience venues. There's been a lot of buzz - and new insight - into what to do about people twittering while you are speaking. Olivia Mitchell did an outstanding guest blog on Laura Fitton's Pistachio