Presentation Summit 2025: Conversation with Lori Sullivan

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    Lori Sullivan is an award-winning, children’s author and professional photographer living in the Boston area. She earned an undergraduate degree in elementary education from SUNY Cortland and a graduate degree in educational administration from Framingham State University. Her teaching and tutoring experience spans preschool through 12th grade in NY, CA, and MA, including providing daily support for middle school girls on the autism spectrum.

Lori is married, has two adult children and two cats. In her spare time, Lori enjoys traveling, hiking, biking, reading, writing, and spending time with family and friends.

In this conversation, Lori talks about her participation at the upcoming Presentation Summit 2025, being held virtually from October 19 to 22, 2025.

Indezine.com is the official media partner for the Presentation Summit.

Geetesh: Lori, what do you hope attendees will take away from your session? Any lessons or sparks of inspiration you’d like them to carry with them?

Lori: As a college student, one of my favorite classes as an elementary education major was children’s literature. There was something about the simplicity of the words and illustrations that fascinated me because they were able to engage, stimulate and entertain the youngest of listeners. It was during that time that I told myself that “one day” I would write my own children’s book.

Well, decades rolled by and a husband and family became my main focus and the dream of writing a book was sidelined by other priorities and commitments.

Fast forward to empty nest syndrome when both kids graduated college and moved away. At 60 years old I finally had time to sit back and reevaluate my lost goals and ambitions. It was during that time that I decided to write my story.

The lesson that I hope my story conveys to your audience is that it’s never too late to fulfill that dream or reinvent yourself and that if YOU believe in yourself/your product/idea that others will too and success will follow!

Geetesh: Children’s books often use simple language, clear visuals, and a strong message—kind of like what a great PowerPoint presentation should be like! So, why do many presenters miss out these surprising similarities, and create presentations that are not so effective?

Lori: Throughout my years in the classroom, I have noticed that children are not necessarily more engaged with longer stories that have more words or more complex illustrations but rather enjoy the simplicity of an illustration and a clear message as well as the opportunity to engage with the teacher and each other. Perhaps, presenters could take a cue from that observation and prepare with simplicity in mind. Giving your audience too much information at once, overstimulating them with numerous (disorganized) visuals, not presenting a clear message or not engaging them with suitable examples is not the most effective means of communication.

A teacher, while reading to young children, engages his/her students by making eye contact often, changing the intonation of his/her voice when appropriate and often uses hand motions to entertain and keep the children’s attention. Teachers introduce the book prior to the reading and pose stimulating questions before, during, and after to gauge their understanding. In this way, a presentation is much like a children’s book. It may not be realistic for a presenter to expect audiences to always read the slides in front of them. Like the teacher, presenters need to use their eyes to read the audience’s attention, use their inflection, their hands to build engagement and to periodically ask questions to pull them in. Like over packing for a trip, sometimes a presenter needs to take a step back and reevaluate if there’s too much information being given at once in the presentation.

Geetesh: You’ve now written for children and seen how they respond to stories. How are young readers different from typical presentation audiences—and what can presenters learn from how kids engage with content?

Lori: My experience with young readers is that they come to story time with an open mind and with the expectation of having fun. They don’t have preconceived notions or make judgements about what story they’re being read and whether or not they will like it (although they often have their favorites and want to hear them over and over again). They are enthusiastic listeners and are always eager to share information and offer their insights. Oftentimes the “sharing” goes on longer than the story! They find stories particularly enjoyable if the presenter is a bit on the silly side. And although their attention span can often be short, children tend to remain attentive and entertained if encouraged to engage. After a story is read, children are often given the opportunity to discuss the story, role play, rewrite the story, draw pictures of their favorite part of the story or “read” the story to a classmate.

Adults on the other hand, make judgements all the time and do have expectations. Some attendees who may be early in their personal or professional journey may question if a conference is worth their time or money. They may be quick to judge the topic if the teaser sounds boring or irrelevant. Other attendees may be more seasoned and expect a high quality presentation due to how much the conference costs and who is speaking. Inevitably–when adults leave a conference, they make judgments on how the content and speakers met their expectations. Children use less critical thinking or analysis–they just know if they liked or disliked the story and the person who read it.

In addition, adults are respectful listeners, but may have varying degrees of comfort when at an event. Some may be shy and uncomfortable in the setting and not be at ease responding or contributing to discussions. Presenters can sometimes be formal and “stiff” thus making it awkward for participants. Our attention spans as adults, although longer than a child’s, can be short due to having so much on our minds or may just become bored with content and let their minds wander. I think it’s important to remember though–even adults need to be captivated by good content and presentation skills to ensure they remain engaged. Adults at the end of a presentation benefit from a Q&A time, offering an opportunity to analyze and reflect on what they just heard.

What can presenters learn from how kids engage with content? I think it is important for presenters to keep content, especially technical content, focused and provide the appropriate amount of depth, keep the tone upbeat and interesting, and be in a comfortable setting. As a presenter, avoid presenting an overwhelming amount of content, offer visuals that are stimulating (not cluttered) and provide a safe environment that encourages engagement and community.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.