Keeping Presentations Interesting Presents a Challenge

November 1, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Seventy-one percent of respondents to an online survey by Infommersion said they have fallen asleep or been sleepy during an "uninteresting" presentation.

The EE Times reports that 43% of the 382 business managers that responded to the survey said they have caught other people dozing during a presentation.

The presentations during which it was most difficult to stay fully awake were individual speeches (35%), training sessions (23%), and general meetings (16%). The company said that it was easiest to stay awake during Webcast presentations. Only 11% of respondents said they found it difficult to stay awake during this type of presentation.

Fifty-one percent of respondents rated an “animated and enthusiastic” speaker as the most important factor in keeping a meeting interesting. An “interesting and interactive” presentation was ranked first by 36% of the respondents.

“Most complaints revolve around presenters who don’t have that much personality or enthusiasm and presentations which are very text heavy and don’t make good use of graphics and animation,”said Santiago Becerra, CEO of Infommersion, in a statement. “Having a slide show that makes good use of data visualization tools can make the difference between holding an audience’s attention and making an impact, or lulling people to sleep and thereby potentially wasting a good business opportunity.”

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