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

The Small Stuff
(It’s Worth Sweating)
Even when you have a presentation that is beautifully tailored to the audience and you are
prepared to deliver it with enthusiasm and skill, you can still be undone by the little things.
Experienced presenters know that their preparations for a talk are not complete until they
have done their homework on the following items:
Logistics
Despite having their expectations lowered by a steady barrage of bad presentations,
audiences still have some minimum requirements that must be met. They expect to hear
your voice and see your visuals without unduly straining their ears and eyes. If they have
to take notes, they expect a level surface to write on. And they prefer room temperatures
that avoid the arctic and equatorial extremes.
Since audiovisual equipment, room setups, and the event-planning expertise of your
hosts will vary widely from location to location, it is incumbent upon you to nail down in
advance all the details that help ensure a smooth, professional presentation:
Room Setup
If you want all audience members facing forward with tables in front of them, request
“classroom style” seating. If you plan on breaking the audience into smaller discussion
groups, round tables (or “rounds” in event-planning parlance) are preferable, and these also
provide a level surface for note taking. And if note taking is not essential and you prefer to
have the audience consolidated in a more intimate space, then “theatre style” seating (i.e.,
parallel rows of chairs only) is the setup to request.
Light and Sound
Rooms with bright lights that cannot be dimmed or windows without shades can ruin
presentations that rely on projected visuals. If you use PowerPoint, ask the meeting
organizer if either (a) the LCD projector is sufficiently powerful to overcome any level of
room lighting, or (b) lights can be lowered to accommodate PowerPoint or similar visuals.
By asking in advance, you give the organizer time to shift the location of your presentation,
if necessary, or to ensure that the right equipment is on hand.
In a similar vein, when addressing enough people to merit a sound system, specify in
advance (a) whether you prefer a podium microphone or a wireless clip-on, (b) if you need
microphones for audience questions, and (c) whether or not they have backup systems in
place should any of the front-line microphones fail to work properly.
See Checklists to Go
for a detachable
summary of this section.
pg. 65