For the last couple of months I have been running a survey looking into what makes a great conference presentation, and also debriefs. I have now written up my thoughts and posted them as a PDF here on my blog. Download Analysis of Presenting March 2009.
Just over 100 of the people who took part in my survey have asked for a copy of the report, so I will be mailing a link to those people in the next couple of days.
I would be delighted to receive people's thoughts and suggestions.
The Key Messages from the survey were:
The survey indicates that the focus of any presentation is the audience, but the respondents think that presenters sometimes think it is the presenter or the data which is the focus.
Since audiences differ, there can be no single best method/style of presenting. Many of the requests from respondents are contradictory, i.e. you can’t please all of the people, all of the time.
Audiences expect presenters to be confident, capable, and rehearsed. There is little tolerance these days for a presenter who turns up and simply delivers the content in a clear but unengaged way.
The survey supports the view that conference presentations and debriefs have different requirements, which makes sense since they have different audiences and different needs. In particular, debriefs have to answer business needs and provide useful guidance to the decisions that the business needs to make.
Audiences are to some extent conflicted in that they want both more and less. They want to understand the message, they want the experience to be pleasant, but they want it doing in less time. In order for this to happen, they want presenters to be better. They want better preparation, better decisions about what to present and what to leave out, better slides, and better presenting skills.
The themes that have been talked about in presentation circles for the last few years, such as storytelling and engagement are still important, but so are issues such as confidence, ability, and a willingness to put forward an argument, not simply a report.
Really Good Presenters
As part of the survey, respondents had the option to name people they thought gave reall good conference presentations. The report lists all 114 people mentioned. Just ten people were named more than once and these (in aphabetical order) were:
- Andy Dexter
- David Smith
- John Kearon
- Justin Gibbons
- Mark Earls
- Martin Lindstrom
- Neil McPhee
- Paul Marsden
- Rob Campbell
- Steve Jobs (Apple)
Well done Ray. Delighted to notice that three of the top ten were speakers at MRS Singapore's inaugural Asian Research Conference last year. Was it the medium or the messengers? Perhaps we'll find out at this year's event. Everyone is invited to speak/attend this year in Singapore on 13/14 August.
Posted by: Greg Coops, Asian Strategies | March 28, 2009 at 12:18 AM
Thanks Ray quite an undertaking
Steve Gentile
Posted by: Steve Gentile | March 27, 2009 at 02:06 PM
Nice recap, Ray. I look forward to reading the full report as I will be speaking at the QRCA Symposium on Excellence in Qualitative Research, May 7, Chicago, and don't want to disappoint my audience! For details, see QRCA.org.
Michele Zwillinger
Posted by: Michele Zwillinger | March 22, 2009 at 08:20 PM