Enough craft, now to the art of presenting

A banana costs 67 cents in Australia. In New York, one sold for $6.2 million. The difference? Art

The $6.2 million banana is an artwork by Maurizio Cattelan. It features a real banana duct-taped to a wall, sold with a certificate and a fourteen-page manual.

Every time Cattelan’s artwork goes up in a gallery, the place goes wild, queues form and everyone wants a banana selfie. Silly, clever, profound? Possibly all three? Art makes a bold choice and dares you to feel something.

That’s what presenting and art share: both aim to connect and engage with their audiences.

I’m deconstructing my keynote for Professional Speakers Australia NSW, focusing on exactly that, not just craft but the art of presenting. The choices that create a jolt or a ‘did that just happen?’

In one keynote for example, I recreate a 90s dial-up internet sound live on stage. SCREEEEECH-beep-boop-KSSSHHHHH. It’s unexpectedly funny and one sound turns a point into a shared moment.

So how can you bring more art into your presentations?

1. Find the gold. What’s the one detail that makes your idea pop? For dial-up, it’s that final hiss. Nail that, everything else works.
2. Commit fully. Own the moment and have fun. One of my mentors once said, ‘Your audience can never have more fun than you are having.
3. Take one edge. Push one concept past comfort. You don’t need a hundred bold moves. You need one, they’re still talking about in the car park.

The duct-taped banana proved that anything can be art through radical simplicity.

Pick one idea, make one deliberate artistic choice and make the room feel inspired and connected.

P.S. That banana’s been eaten multiple times during exhibitions. Please don’t eat your props. HR has enough paperwork.