Presentation

Key people

• Helene MaimannAustrian filmmaker, writer and historian
• Maryan AinsworthAmerican art historian, author and curator specializing in 14th, 15th and 16th century Northern European painting, particularly in Early Netherlandish painting
• Miloš DvořákCzech photographer and writer and founder of Cinoherni studio theatre (born 1939)
• Sarah IchiokaAmerican urban planner and art curator

Read

• A People's History of the United StatesHoward Zinn · 1980Book
• Clear and Present DangerTom Clancy · 1989Book
• The presentation of self in everyday lifeErving Goffman · 1952Book
• This Present DarknessFrank E. Peretti · 1986Book

Listen

• How Confidence Speaks | Public Speaking, Communication, Build Confidence, Christian, Social Anxiety, Presentation Tips, WomenSarah FernandezPodcast
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• The Presentation Boss PodcastPresentation BossPodcast

By the numbers

• 73.6Internet users (%) — global, 2025 (World Bank)
• 111.5Mobile subscriptions / 100 — global, 2025 (World Bank)

Debates

• Is it better to use many visual aids or rely mostly on speaking?One view: Many visual aids can keep the audience engaged and help clarify complex information. · Another: Relying mostly on speaking encourages direct audience connection and prevents distraction from slides.Open question
• Should a presenter memorize their entire speech or speak extemporaneously?One view: Memorizing ensures a polished, confident delivery without fumbling for words. · Another: Speaking extemporaneously allows for natural interaction and adaptation to the audience's reactions.Open question

Glossary

• Visual AidImages, charts, videos, or props used to support and enhance a presentation.
• Audience AnalysisUnderstanding your listeners' demographics, interests, and prior knowledge to tailor your message.
• RhetoricThe art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech.
• DeliveryThe manner in which a speaker presents their message, including vocal tone, body language, and eye contact.
• Call to ActionA clear prompt for the audience to do something specific after the presentation concludes.

Careers

Roles this can lead toward

Student research

Published policy papers by One Young India delegates — every delegate leaves published under their own name.

• Separating Real and AI Media – Difficulties and SolutionsK.V. Siva Surya
• The Public Persona Trap: US College Admissions and Social MediaGunika Chaudhary
• Understanding misinformation in India: The case for a meaningful regulatory approach for social media platformsGandharv Dhruv Madan
• The Evolution of Social Media Marketing: From Engagement to CommerceHimanshi Bhutoria

Threads 4

Where this connects to other fields — and why it's worth knowing.

• Power, Authority & Legitimacy Politics

  A crown, a red carpet, a president's convoy of black cars: these are basically theater. Rulers stage all of it because power isn't something you simply own; it only works if people watching believe you have it. Stop performing and the audience stops obeying, so the show is the job.

• Mental Health Health

  A sociologist named Goffman said we all have a 'backstage,' a private zone where we drop the act and stop performing. Social media erases that backstage, because the camera never really turns off and you're on stage all day. Living with no place to stop performing lines up with rising anxiety and burnout.

• Artificial Intelligence & the Mind Psychology

  The famous Turing test says a machine is 'intelligent' if it can chat without you noticing it's a machine. But look closer: it's really testing whether the machine can act human well enough to fool you. So it measures our gullibility as much as its brains, like a talent show where the judge is easily tricked.

• Work, Wages & Labour Markets Economics

  That fake cheerful smile a cashier has to wear for eight hours straight is actually part of the job, and it has a name: emotional labor. A researcher named Hochschild showed that renting out your feelings, forcing happiness you don't feel, genuinely burns people out. Faking an emotion for money is real, exhausting work.