A presentation is an opportunity to change the world. A presentation is an honour, hugely valuable and life changing. The experience of the world though is that a presentation is one of life’s trials, something to be endured. Audiences expect little from presentations and (consequently?) presenters achieve this level of mediocrity. Rather than seizing the opportunity to change the world, they deliver just another presentation.
It’s difficult to know where the ennui around presentations started but it is evident that as audiences we expect little from the person on stage with a remote control in their hand. As the first slide appears our hopes of inspiration, learning or value are dashed on the rocks of reality and lived experience. This is not because the presenter has failed to put in a huge effort in preparation and is currently living in fear of their own life due to the stress. No matter the message, the meeting or the expectation, the title slide and introductory sentence tells the audience what to expect, just another presentation.
As an audience member virtually every presentation you have ever received has been just another presentation; a recitation of text heavy, bulletpointed slides, read out verbatim by a terrified individual sheltering for protection behind the lectern. This recognition spreads to those who have delivered numerous presentations. They understand the audience expects so very little, so they put less and less effort into preparation. They realise they can just type their script into powerpoint and read it out the next day, perhaps with some extemporisation (that will lead to them over running). No one really cares about the structure because there isn’t any, it’s just a list of facts. The slide set will be the handout so it looks like a document and how hard can it be to read something? It’ll be there if we get lost, it’s just another presentation.
I hope, by this point, you are disappointed at my cynicism. I hope you are thinking that your next presentation will be entirely different. I hope it will too. This is my increasingly sad experience of just another presentation. Be the change you would like to see and deliver something that changes the world. Value that opportunity and your audience and deliver something more than just another presentation. How? Well, now you’re talking!