Let me defang the inevitable punchline to thing I'm about to say: "Because you're finally finished" (and any variant thereof). Haha. OK, now onto the thing I actually want to talk about.
When I finish my presentation, people applaud. Usually vigorously. This may not sound odd unless you've done a lot of corporate-type presentations. If you have, you know that panel hand offs usually do not trigger applause, and power point presentations just about never do. But pretty much every time I give a presentation of five minutes in duration or longer, I get applause.
I think it is an unconscious application of "secret bardic powers." When I give a presentation, I do all kinds of (unconscious) things with body language and voice to signal "I am talking, look over here and pay attention." Then, when I reach the end, I have very clear "ending chords" that signal to the audience "all done, clap now."
Any other bardic types notice a similar effect?
