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 . Any time you have a room bursting at the seams (and overflow rooms needed), or a controversial topic, or major news pending, it pays to let the audience express itself early in the session--even if you only take

Formal educational or speaking settings don't always allow for actual hands-on experience with the content, but almost every learning situation — including presentation in various forms — does permit the use of stories. Stories, that is, that illustrate the content and bring people in, enabling them to "experience" the material in an engaging, visual, and imaginative way. When it comes to learning and genuinely retaining something, nothing beats experiences. A

Join our thriving community to get extra content, early input into my blog posts, and to share your questions, photos and video. New! Sign up for The Eloquent Woman's free monthly newsletter, Step Up Your Speaking. Every month, we tackle one speaking topic in-depth. Shop for books, technology and supplies for speakers at The Eloquent Woman's Speaker Resources Store ...Tags: Over at The Eloquent Woman on Facebook , we've been discussing a New York Times article that recently looked at women in the workplace, and how many of them are concerned they'll be seen as bitchy when they speak up at work.