I’m sure many of you have been in a conference room and listened to a presentation. Or maybe you’ve been the one in front of the conference room giving the presentation. It’s a business ritual – participants both willing and unwilling arrive. Time is spent struggling with a projector and laptop. IT is called and apologies are made. And then it’s down to business. My favorite part comes next. This is where I figure out, a few slides in, whether or not this is a deal that’s ever going to get done. “WHAT?” you ask, “how can you make that kind of a decision a few minutes in? You haven’t seen the deck!”
It’s pretty simple, actually. If the person in front of the room is reading the slides verbatim, they’re toast. Or, to make matters worse, if I’m sitting 10 feet from the screen and I can’t read the slides (the glasses get me to 20/20, honest) because every word being spoken is also written on the slide and, therefore, the font is minute, it’s party over. I know what I need to know:
- You don’t know your market (or you could talk about it without anything more than a single word – in a big, readable font – on the screen)
- You don’t know your product (or you wouldn’t have to read all the annotations on the screen shots)
- You don’t know how to proofread (there are typos)
- You don’t know how to present (look at the ROOM, dummy, not the screen – oh, that’s right – you’re reading)
Any time I see someone heading down this road, I ask them to turn off the projector and just talk to me. You’d be shocked how much better they are without the distraction of the presentation. How do I know? I read the hard copy they inevitably leave behind.
Humans can read faster than they can speak. Your audience can read the slides faster than you can read them aloud. What happens in the interim? Their minds wander. They’re not focused on what you have to say. Some nod out. You’re reading them a bedtime story.
Most adults have been reading since they were 5 or so. They don’t need you to read the stuff on the wall to them. Stop reading. Start presenting!
Consult Keith 
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Well said Keith,
I like your idea of having them shut down the projector and just talk… good advice.
It is very easy to spot the ones that are simply either doing time or just trying to sell you on something you otherwise wouldn’t do naturally. I have found that the best way to keep them involved is to solve problems, not sell ideas.