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

Bad Presentations:
Our Tipping Point?
Before Malcolm Gladwell wrote the book, The Tipping Point, he introduced the concept
in an essay in The New Yorker. In that piece, Gladwell explained how the New York City
Police Department cracked down on crime by attacking its precursors, snuffing out
minor criminal activity before it “tipped” into something more serious. One of the more
memorable examples he offered was the police department’s reaction to graffiti.
When New York cops saw graffiti popping up in a neighborhood – a reliable sign of a
gang marking its territory – they promptly had it painted over. If taggers returned the
next night, the cops had the painters out again the following morning. So it went until the
message sunk in: Not even the smallest infraction would be tolerated. And thanks to this
and similar tactics, crime went down.
To my mind, bad presentations may be our sector’s version of a tipping point. Unlike
graffiti, though, they are warning signs that are largely being ignored. From what I
can see, we are accepting them as a fact of life, and that complacency implicitly sends a
message that mediocre communications are acceptable. Low expectations become the
norm, and with no real incentive to improve, presentation quality will continue the
inevitable slide downward.
“I think there is nothing worse than boring presentations,” says Geoffrey Canada. “I think
it’s a disservice to the audience and the presenter. If you have gone to all the trouble of
preparing, then it’s important for you to think about how you can make sure that people
aren’t going to sleep. You need to think about how to make your information [feel] fresh
and come alive for the audience. I think we owe our audience respect, to give them a
presentation that is solid, good and interesting.”
As a presenter, you can use this book to answer Canada’s call, and we hope you will. Keep
in mind, though, that just as books about golf cannot lower your scores and those about
cooking do not automatically produce gourmet meals, this book, by itself, will not make
you a better presenter. You have to take the tools described here and put them to work,
adapting them to your personal style as you go, and perhaps even inventing some new
tools along the way. In short: You have to get out there and do it. All we have done so far is
point you in the right direction.
But even if your place in presentations is most often in the audience, you still have a role to
play. Cause Communications and I hope that you will help raise the bar for public interest
presentations in whatever ways you can. If you supervise people who present, set higher
standards (starting with a “no reading the slides” policy). When evaluation forms are
offered, take a few minutes to complete them and offer specific feedback on what worked
and what did not. And if you attend a conference with consistently sub-par sessions, pull
the conference organizer aside and officially register your displeasure.
Bad presentations waste time. Your work is too important and your time is far too valuable
to let that continue. Chances are, there is already another presentation on your calendar.
Whether that puts you behind the podium or in the audience, consider it your first
opportunity to start fresh and put what you learned here into practice.
We can do better. We certainly should expect better. Let’s get started.
pg. 71