Tag: Andrew Denton

Bookmarked After a near-death experience, Andrew Denton has a new intensity (Sydney Morning Herald)

Usually the man posing the difficult questions, veteran TV interviewer Andrew Denton is just as adept at being in the hot seat. And in the wake of a serious health scare, he has a lot to say.

Konrad Marshall provides a profile for Andrew Denton. It provides insight into his style, the challenges he has had to his health and a little of the enigma behind the mask. I have enjoyed Interview, especially the podcast version. A few highlights have been interviews with Daniel Johns, Guy Pearce,Casey Donovan and Troye Sivan. Like Anh’s Brush with Fame, I like the conversational feel.

Marginalia

“One of the lines we use is, ‘Slow cooking in a fast food world’,” Denton says, flashing a familiar grin. “It’s an experiment about whether you can have a longer, slower, more measured conversation in a world where we’re used to flick, flick, flick,” he says, swiping an imaginary phone. “It might sound a little grand, but we’re in a fairly toxic time, when offence-taking and offence-making is weaponised. We all have the same weapon now,” he adds, holding up and shaking his real phone. “Everybody’s ‘open carry’ – the world is Texas. And so we are trying to model a more empathetic space. There are still difficult questions but they’re from a place of empathy, not from attack. I’m not trying to win the interview.”

Bookmarked 12 tips for great speaking (steve-wheeler.co.uk)

If you are lucky enough to be invited to address an audience of your peers at a conference, a lot will depend on what you say and the manner in which you say it. You want your speech to be memorable, inspiring and thought provoking. You’ll also need to be convincing if you want to put your arguments across effectively. So I’ll share some of the top tips I recommend for keynote speakers.

Steve Wheeler provides some useful tips and reflections on the art of the keynote. They include use humour, minimal text, engage with your audience, don’t speak too quickly, repeat key points and only stick to three of them. In part, this reminds me of Presentation Zen and the idea of a minimalist slidedeck. Although not necessarily about ‘keynotes’, Andrew Denton recently shared some tips for a better conversation that I think relate to this conversation, including be respectful and empathise with the interviewee (or audience).