Dear Speaker,

Duncan Davidson of Portland, Oregon, was photographer in residence for the eComm conference this week. In a spurt of inspiration, Duncan tweeted these nine tips on conference photogenicity (photogeneity?).

1. Dear speaker: please deliver your speech to the crowd, not the screen.
2. Dear speaker, please pick a spot and stay. Move deliberately to another. Don't pace aimlessly. And please don't turn all the way around.
3. Dear speaker, please take off your name tag.
4. Speaker pro tip: if you find yourself walking _backwards_, you are probably pacing very vigorously. Stop. Breathe.
5. Speaker pro tip: if you don't make eye contact with your audience, you make it that much harder for them to connect to your message.
6. Dear speaker: the corner of the stage that you like to use to feel closer to the crowd is darker than rest of stage. They can see you less there
7. Dear speaker: all of you are being videotaped, what I've just said matters 10x more. Think of viewers watching a rapidly pacing speaker.
8. Rule of thumb for speaker clothing: Dress like you mean it. ~0 to 1 levels above mean "nice" for audience.
9. Speaker Pro Tip: When on a panel, don't look at your shoes. Try to look at who's talking. Otherwise, you look bored, even if you're not.

tags: speech, public speaking, ecomm09, ecommconf09

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