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

pg. 84
Appendix
Survey Methodology and Results – cont’d
21. Below is a list of problems that can affect presentations. Please rank each problem to indicate both how
frequently you observe it (1=never, 5=always) and how harmful that problem is to the overall presentation.
(1=not harmful at all, 5=extremely harmful).
Problem
How Frequent?
(Questions in this battery were automatically rotated.)
Never Always Don’t
1 2 3 4 5 know
The overall objective of the talk was not clear
to the audience. 9% 41 36 13 1 1
The objective was not made relevant to the
audience’s concerns. 4% 34 41 18 1 2
The presentation ran too long. 2% 20 38 35 5 *
Sufficient time was not allotted for the presenter
to cover all the material. 6% 31 35 24 3 1
Time was not allocated to ask questions or engage
the presenter in a discussion. 7% 29 36 26 2 *
The material was poorly organized. 3% 36 44 15 1 *
The amount of material presented
was overwhelming. 6% 35 37 21 2 *
There was not enough information to help the
audience make a decision or reach a conclusion. 8% 38 36 13 1 4
The material was overly complex. 12% 46 30 10 1 1
Translating the material into PowerPoint
templates (e.g., bullet lists) made it more
difficult to understand, less interesting, or both. 14% 32 27 20 5 3
The speaker did not connect with the audience. 2% 26 48 22 1 *
The speaker was too nervous. 11% 55 27 4 * 1
The speaker was not well prepared. 7% 52 33 7 1 *
The presentation duplicated the content
of the slides and/or handouts without
adding anything significant. 3% 13 28 48 7 1
Technical problems (e.g., poor sound
system, malfunctioning projector)
disrupted the presentation. 6% 46 31 16 1 1
The presentation was not tailored
to the size of the audience. 10% 42 33 10 1 4