We live in a world of distractions. Studies show the average person spends more than five hours a day on mobile devices, and there are more than 2.7 billion smartphone users across the globe. In addition to the proliferation of digital technology, we now also live in a world full of artificial intelligence — a thing that used to seem like the stuff of science fiction movies. In fact, by 2025, experts believe the AI market will be worth more than $100 billion.

In this environment, it's critical to embrace the human responsibility of connecting interpersonally. In the rapid proliferation of mobile devices, we’ve learned people who use them frequently are three times more likely to feel isolated and alone. In a detached world, there's no better time to embrace human connection than when you’re giving a presentation. Here's why, if you focus on crafting excellent stories, you should feel secure in your position of connecting humans, and not worried that robots will ever steal your job.

Buy-in Requires Empathy

Emotion, not logic, drives most human decisions. And a decision is precisely the result you want from a presentation. You want your audience to decide to join your movement, to decide to believe in your idea, to decide trust in what you offer, instead of the alternative. To appeal to the decision-making mind, a presenter must open emotional doors, tapping into the audience’s desires, fears and motivations.

Unlocking emotion isn’t the result of an algorithm. There’s no password to the human heart. While there are certainly “best practices,” and the path to empathy can be described as a science, presentation audiences don’t come with a manual. You must learn your audience and understand them, if you’re ever going to move them towards a decision. Can artificial intelligence do that?

Unique, Individualized Tasks Can’t be Done by Machines

According to experts, only frequent, high-volume tasks are at risk of being implemented by AI. In Anthony Goldblum's 2016 TED Talk, he explains machines simply aren't capable of writing "marketing copy" — and what is a presentation if not an exercise in marketing writing?

• There's an audience
• There's a product (your idea)
• There's a medium (you!)
• The goal is to move the audience from a before (the world sucks before your idea) to an after state (the world is better with it).

If we embrace a presentation as a marketing challenge, we’ll secure our human positions as other disciplines become outsourced to Johnny 5. 

Safety for Good Storytellers

If you're telling stories that are novel, interesting and well-structured, you can feel secure in your role as a human presenter. However, if you're simply sharing data on slides, you're at a greater risk of obsolescence. Robots can do that. The skills it takes to share data are repeatable, replicable and can be performed at a high volume.

In the end, only humans are capable of grabbing an audience's attention in the ways they need to be reached. Only humans are capable of stirring the emotional effect caused by powerful, well-told stories. So, when you're crafting your next presentation, ask yourself: Are you telling powerful stories, or are you simply sharing data?

Contact GatherRound and let us help you with good presentation storytelling. We'd hate to see a robot in your role.