he audience are bracing themselves for the lone figure standing in front of the podium. Armed with a projector, and a series of slides in his laptop, he came prepared. He briskly saunters and talks; this is coupled by an intermittent wave that signals the transition of slides.
The presenter calls these powerpoint presentations a presentation; but the audience knew better. For a presenter to be presenting he should address the audience’ needs. Instead, the presenter spent the rest of audience’ time wowing them with trivia and details.
Consequently, the presenter’s efforts to show up went in vain. The audience, though amazed by every slide, fail to find sense in it. In the context of the presenter’s objective, the audience were sorely confused. It took a lot of effort figuring it out by their own; despite the wow-moments, the audience could only tie the presenter’s appraisal in one single, four-syllable word: ineffective.
No presenter could dream of having such a term coined with them. Their powerpoint presentations could be described hazy, their voices faltering, but not them being ineffective. Yet, that is the reality of every presentation task – either you did, overdid, or didn’t make it.
Such reality is harsh that it sometimes sent even some higher education students wailing or nervously teeth-chattering backstage. Now, it becomes more obvious as to who is the boss of presentation – the audience. Consequently, it becomes necessary for budding student-presenters to know their audience, particularly their tastes for a presenter.
Does a presenter have to be as detailed and advanced as MBA assignments are in general? Do they want a pleaser, a humorous or lively presenter? How about a smart sounding twerp – the sort that stubbornly convinces you?
If students are to ask in this manner, they’ll soon find the presentation taxing or maybe impossible. Hence, it may be recommendable that they try a different tack. For instance, instead of reading their audience, why not read themselves? Almost every student has experienced being an audience, right?
In every lecture, students have sat, listened, and occasionally stared at various powerpoint presentations; in this duration of playing audience, certainly, students have formed their own sets of presenter-likes and dislikes.
However, student-presenters must not focus on those likes/dislikes that are purely specific to themselves. Instead, look at those that are relatable to other audience and find a way of not doing those ‘disliked’ and exhibiting the ‘liked.’