PRESENTATIONS SUCK WHY Alexei Kapterev
WWW.KAPTEREV.COM

GOOD PRESENTATIONS ARE HARD TO
DO.

THEY MIGHT SEEM EASY.

BUT OF COURSE THIS IS
JUST AN ILLUSION. IT’S ALL HARD WORK.

BUT WHAT EXACTLY MAKES THEM
SO HARD? (oops, wrong picture)

BUT WHAT EXACTLY MAKES THEM
SO HARD? (yep, that’s me)

to
I DECIDED
ASK

I asked ~40 people “What
makes preparing and delivering presentations so difficult?” Disclaimer: I am not a sociologist, this is by no means scientific. If you want to research this subject properly — please do contact me. They named 3 reasons each. This is the analysis of their replies. It’s illuminating.

PRESENTATION PROBLEMS META Motivation (31)
Setting goals (12) Presentations aren’t important (9) Slacking (8) Other (2) No content (10) Audience-related (8) Presentations culture (7) Other (4) STRUCTURE Structuring (15) Storytelling (9) Focus on the core (11) Other (4) SLIDES DELIVERY Design skills (12) Lack of taste or visual culture (7) Fear or anxiety (10) This is the amount of complaints in this category

Surprise #1: MOST PROBLEMS WITH
PRESENTATIONS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH PRESENTATION SKILLS.

SUCK PRESENTATIONS beca e PEOPLE
DON’T WANT TO DO THEM

HARD WORK YOU SEE, ON
ONE HAND, IT’S HARD WORK. ON THE OTHER HAND…

OH, WAIT, WHAT’S ON
THE OTHER HAND?! ?HARD WORK

“This presentation is just a
formality, you know…” “All important decisions are made behind the scenes anyway…” “Everybody admits — secretly — that it’s just a waste of time…” PRESENTATIONS AREN’T IMPORTANT

PEOPLE DON’t SET MOTIVATING GOALS
“There was no clear goal…” “There is no real goal, they just do it because they were told to do it…” “They don’t understand that they have to SELL their ideas…”

TRY SETTING GOALS THAT MOTIVATE
YOU TIP #1

WORK ON THE END FIRST
(IT’S WHERE YOU ASK PEOPLE TO DO SOMETHING!) TIP #2

Come up with your ending
before you figure out your middle. Seriously. ! Endings are hard, get yours working up front. Pixar, Inc. Storytelling Rule #7 “ ”

SOMEHOW COMMUNICATE THAT PRESENTATIONS
ARE IMPORTANT TOP PRESENTATION AWARD WINNER OR SOMETHING TIP #3for managers

Surprise #2: STRUCTURING INFORMATION IS
THE MOST IMPORTANT PRESENTATION SKILL

The main point is obscured
by lots of irrelevant detail. Source: PowerPoint® Presentation Flaws and Failures: A Psychological Analysis (2012) by Stephen M. Kosslyn et al THE SINGLE MOST COMMON AND ALSO THE MOST ANNOYING PRESENTATION PROBLEM “ ”

STRUCTURING & PRIORITISING “I want
to tell them EVERYTHING but there’s never enough time…” “They don’t structure the information so it’s just incomprehensible….” “Presenters don’t focus on what’s most important…”

HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY THE
CORE? YOU NEED TO ORGANISE YOUR INFORMATION

LEARN TO USE MIND MAPS
OR CONCEPT MAPS FOR PLANNING PRESENTATIONS TIP #4

Surprise #3: POWERPOINT* * OK,
no surprise here

Editing slides for most
people is really, really HARD. Editing slides for most people is really, really HARD.

Editing slides is hard “I
am not a designer so it doesn’t come out pretty…” “Most presentation programs require a tutor to use them…” “Design.”

TIP #5 FORGIVE ME FOR
BEING CAPTAIN OBVIOUS BUT SOFTWARE & DESIGN TRAINING HELPS

1. Do I really, really
want to make this presentation? Why? Get to the bottom of it. 2. Mind mapping helps a lot.This is probably presentation skill #1. 3. There’s still no decent slide editor, both powerful and easy to use.This is an opportunity. KEY TAKEAWAYS

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| http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ kapterev@gmail.com www.kapterev.com/eng/ ALEXEI KAPTEREV