142 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE
I’m always looking for communicators who, like Jobs, push the
envelope and create exciting ways to engage an audience. I’ve
rarely seen anyone use more props than a young Italian entre-
preneur and television host, Marco Montemagno.
Montemagno frequently speaks on the topic of Internet
culture, showing Italians why the Internet should be embraced
and not feared. He presents to groups as large as three thou-
sand people in places such as Rome, Milan, and Venice. Since
the majority of people in his audience are Web novices, he uses
language that everyone can understand (well, assuming you
know Italian). His slides are very simple and visual; he often
employs just photographs, animation, and video. But what truly
differentiates Montemagno from the majority of presenters is
his unbelievable number of props and demonstrations. Here
are three guidelines he follows to create dynamic moments:- Give your audience something to do. Montemagno’s
audience members get a pen and paper before taking their
seats. During the presentation, he asks them to turn to the
person next to them and, in thirty seconds, sketch the per-
son’s portrait. After that, he asks them to write the title of
their favorite song, movie, and so forth. They then pass the
paper around, continuing until each paper has changed
hands up to five times. Everyone eventually takes home a
piece of paper that once belonged to someone else. The
exercise is intended to demonstrate how information is
shared among individuals across networks. - Ask someone to share the stage. In other parts of his
presentation, Montemagno will ask for volunteers to join
him onstage. In one exercise, he asks them to fold a T-shirt.
Most people will take about twenty seconds and fold the
shirt in a conventional way. When they’re done, he shows
a popular YouTube video of someone demonstrating how
to fold a shirt in five seconds. Montemagno then dupli-
cates the feat as the audience cheers. His point is that the
Props Galore for an Italian TV Host