Audience Members are from Venus, Presenters are from Mars

It's an interesting occurrence when people ask what I "do".  When I tell them I'm a presentation designer or just simplify it to a presentation consultant, I get quizzical looks.  I "get" it. It's as if I just said I was a running consultant.  Everyone can run, just like "everyone" can create a presentation [using slideware like PowerPoint or Keynote].  Why would anyone want to consult on something that everyone can do.  I mean, how hard can it be?  Just type in the boxes that say "Click to add title" and add your title.  Throw some bullet points where it says "Click to add text" and voila, you've got a presentation.  Of course, it's a little more difficult than that.

However, this post isn't about me.  It's about the ensuing conversation after I give some depth to what I actually do as a presentation designer.  When I start to explain the common problems with most presentations, everyone [and I'm not exaggerating] begins to nod in agreement, followed by a deluge of things they hate about presentations [from the perspective of an audience member], and nearly all of what they say is right on point!  It's as if I was a politician whose platform was to lower taxes and increase jobs.  Who is going to disagree with that?

The disconnect occurs when someone is the presenter instead of the audience member.  It seems to me (in my humble opinion) that we're a society that understands the problems with the common presentation, but our mindsets change when we start to develop a presentation of our own. This doesn't include EVERY presenter, but it truly stuns me how many presenters are clueless that they're boring their audience to death with loads of text, while simultaneously insulting them by reading directly off the slide.  Some PowerPoint presentations are so riddled with poor design that I can't imagine that the presenter doesn't realize that it's bad.  It's like those guys who wear Speedos at a public beach or a hotel pool.  I mean, you know that's NOT okay, right?

This post isn't just a rant, although I can't promise that I'll convey any actual presentation tips or advice.  What I'm hoping to do is to start a conversation that addresses the reason there is such a disconnect between the numerous people I speak to on a daily basis and the numerous presenters who consistently design poor presentations.  Why is it so difficult for the presenter to put themselves in the audience's shoes?  Why does my grandmother [who I'm pretty sure still uses dial up] know so many of the problems with today's presentations, but CEOs of multi-million dollar corporations continue to deliver bad presentations?  Why does one's mindset change when they're the one delivering the presentation instead of the one listening?  How can we, a group of people with a common interest in effective presenting, repair the disconnect?

Can you help?  I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.  By the way, thank you for reading.  I really do appreciate it.