I’ve been interviewing evaluators and non-evaluators about potent presentations. I’ve enjoyed chatting with my husband about the good, the bad, and the ugly presentations that he’s attended for his government job. Since he’s not an evaluator, I’m always curious to see whether the lessons learned about presentations in his field might transfer to my work.

We were recently chatting about some of the less-than-perfect trainings that he’s attended. “They just run through their PowerPoint,” he lamented. “I wonder why?” I asked. “Well, because they don’t like their job,” he guessed.

“Or,” he went on, “if they made the PowerPoint themselves, then they probably put a lot of effort into the PowerPoint. But building a PowerPoint isn’t the same as building a presentation.”

I wonder whether this a common misconception among presenters? Do we forget that a great presentation involves a lot more than just building a PowerPoint?

– Ann Emery