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On January 5th, 2005, Andy Goodman, in partnership with Cause
Communications,
launched a research and writing project by posting an online survey to
capture data.
The target audience included non-profits, foundations, government
agencies, and associations. The survey research provides initial details
about Power Point presentations and what we see, what works, what
doesn't work, and why.
To date, 2,471 individuals have completed the survey.
"What I'm seeing out there is
boring boring, boring..."
"There is one company benefiting from bad presentations..."
"The survey captured three
main issues about the format and structure of a presentation:
1) too often, the presenter merely reads the Power Point presentation;
2) most presentations are to long and offer to much information and to
little synthesis; 3) attendees frequently feel that they will have no
opportunity to talk to the presenter or ask a question."
"What's going wrong? Andy explains that successfully using Power Point
is a skill.
Yet commonly, most presenters have no formal training, no understanding
of how
to interact with the audience, and a skewed understanding of audience
perception."
"In addition, survey results indicate three central criticisms of
lecturer performance: 1) insufficient interaction between the
presenter and the audience - no one learns by having someone lecture to
them for 45 minutes; 2) no clarity of topic - speakers spend little time
thinking about the most clear and compelling way to communicate the
information - the audience can easily get lost and lose interest in the
subject matter; 3) a lifeless presentation - no energy or dynamism when sharing
information."
"How to prevent a horrific presentation? 1) make sure the room is
arranged comfortably; 2) test, test, test the technological equipment;
3) check to confirm that there is an appropriate distance between you
and the audience. If you've addressed these potential problems, you will
merely be meeting the minimum daily adult requirement of a
presentation."
"What can a speaker do to improve their presentation? 1) interaction -
get the audience involved; 2) know your material and how to structure
your content;3) practice your speaking and communications skills before
you present; 3) prioritize your commitments to ensure the creation of a
high quality speech; 4) be creative with your slides instead of
duplicating
the standard Power Point template."
"A framework for improvement: 1) investigate
where your audience stands - research their attitudes and beliefs about
the topic or subject; 2) determine where you want them to be at
the end of your talk - what did they learn?"
"Decide the key points of
your presentation: 1) impart your information in a systematic and
comprehensive way; 2) know how you are going to make your case; 3)
reiterate your message."
"Take them from point A to point B: 1) remember that the opening and
closing of a presentation are the most important parts - start by
informing the audience what you are going to tell them and end by
telling them what you told them; 2) know that you have limited time -
most people only have a attention span of 15-20 minutes before they get
antsy; 3) captivate your audience - tell them a story, ask a question,
offer a statistic, or display a moving picture."
"There are currently 400 million users who have Microsoft Office on
their computer and the ability to create an "easy" Power Point
presentation. Yet, more and more presentations include meaningless
numbers, acronyms that nobody recognizes, unintelligible sentence
fragments, and then even more numbers. Power Point is a tool that it is
repeatedly used so poorly that we now say it's a bad tool, despite the
fact that it can be used very successfully. The tipping point has
been reached and it is time for change."
Andy Goodman has taken the
first step in this process by working to gather research to write a book
that establishes some standards and helps improve the quality of Power
Point presentations. We look forward to the completion of his research
and thank him for sharing the initial results and analysis with The
Communications Network.
>> View the Complete Power Point Presentation
Give Andy Ten Minutes, and He'll Give You a Free Book !
Click here to answer the Online Questionnaire.
Once research is completed and the book is published later this year,
an email notice will be sent to survey participants to request a free
copy.
Please note: this offer is available only to
full-time staff members
of nonprofits and foundations
and is limited to the first 5,000 respondents to our survey.
The Communications Network, Inc.
1320 Fenwick Lane, Suite 411
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-589-4262 (p) 301-589-4268 (f)
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