Armed with laptops and smartphones, audiences are no longer sitting quietly while speakers are talking — instead they’re using Twitter and other tools to create a backchannel where they chat with one another, make comments about your presentation and broadcast their thoughts to people all over the world. If with Cliff Atkinson If

Today, the tools for sharing what's happening, live and in real time, are right in your mobile phone or laptop. Who stands where: At a TEDx event in New York focused one education, speaker Jeff Jarvis told his listeners, "You should be up here." He was speaking to the audience's expertise, but many speakers also are moving into the audience to hold listeners' attention, make a stronger connection and provide some visual variety. I've taken to creating blog posts with useful links after my major addresses-- they become the "handout" and the context, all in one. Who watches:

Here are two who seem unlikely partners, yet have formed a partnership. Fashion designer Vivenne Tam and Hewlett Packard--uses Tams's designs on laptop covers Opi nail polish (premier brand, known for hip polish names) and Dell computers--uses Opi branded colors on laptop covers. Two legends in public speaking, Patricia Fripp and Alan Weiss, speak together and bill themselves as the Odd Couple , and they have registered Odd Couple as a trademark. They offer marketing workshops, pairing their complementary skills for even greater effect and revenue.