Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes - The Goodman ...

pg. 14
The Sorry State of the Art
Why the Average Presentation Earns a Below-Average Grade – cont’d
2. In a word: denial.
In one section of our survey, we asked respondents to rate the visuals, handouts, and other
aspects of presentations they had given. In another section we asked them to rate the same
list of elements in presentations they had attended.
By comparing those responses side by side (as in the chart below), it became apparent
that respondents are much harsher critics of other people’s presentations than they are of
their own:
How often would you rate these elements as
“good-to-excellent” in presentations …
visuals
handouts
interaction (speaker w/audience)
interaction (among audience members)
all elements combined
(i.e., overall presentation)
You Give? You See?
46% 19%
64% 24%
64% 24%
24% 8%
49% 18%
So, do these numbers simply illustrate a sector-wide case of “I’m Okay, You Stink” Syndrome,
or do they tell us something more? I believe they do, especially the final comparison.
Take a closer look: 82% of respondents told us they were not seeing good-to-excellent
presentations. At the same time, 49% claimed to be delivering good-to-excellent
presentations. Which raises the question: delivering to whom? Is it possible that their
presentations were as good as they claimed, and that all those bad presentations
respondents saw were delivered by people outside the survey?
Anything is possible. It just does not seem very likely. What appears far more likely is that
a certain river associated with Egypt has cut a wide swath through our sector, and that
many public interest presenters have yet to face the truth: Their presentations are not as
good as they think.