How NOT to make a presentation

In early December, I had attended a 3 hour seminar related to a topic that had drawn my interest. The seminar was free and it was given by a senior vice president of a consulting firm. Now, anytime you go to a free presentation, the idea is for the presenter to sell his services and company.  The presentation should be laden with background facts and should have keys that will further tie in the audience's interest in possibly using his services.

Right off the bat, there was some issues with the audio system. The microphone, which was pinned to his lapel, was not working properly with his voice fading in and out. The presenter was a 'walker' in that he liked to move from one end of the stage to the other as he was making his presentation. This exacerbated the fading issue. Then when we suggested that he replace the pinned mike with a handheld one, he fought it suggesting that his voice was loud enough for everyone to carry. So for a few minutes, he talked without a microphone. If he had stayed in one position, i.e. behind a podium, he would have pulled it off but because he was a walker, he would face one side of the audience while the other side barely could hear him. We then suggested that he use the handheld mike which he finally acquiesced. However instead of holding the mike close to his mouth, he would drop the mike while he was talking which caused him to fade in and out again. Because he walked around, he came close to a speaker which then generated a large feedback.

Beyond the audio issues, whenever a question was asked, he would talk around the question by giving vague answers. Then looking at his presentation, it was laden with acronyms and abbreviations which prompted even more questions. He did not design the presentation to take into account the level of knowledge that the audience had. Finally, his demeanor and tone was one of arrogance which may not have been purposeful but unfortunately came across that way.

Finally, in trying to make a case in having the audience consider his service, it simply did not work. People walked out of the seminar shaking their heads and even said that this was a waste of time. I surmised that it was due to the lack of flow related to the audio system, the lack of foresight to understand the audience that he was talking to, the confusion generated by how he constructed his slides and his presentation style.

Is there such thing as a menial job?

Recently I had attended a Ranger's hockey game at Madison Square Garden. As I walked up the section where my seat was, the usher had given me a smile and asked for my ticket. He then directed me to the seat with extreme courtesy. I was sitting right by the aisle. When the game got started, he would ask the patrons to hold up going to the seats so as not to bother those already seated. He would then relelase the folks during a break of the action, again with extreme courtesy. During the course of the game, either water or beer was spilled on the steps which was a potential for an accident. Before I had acted, I saw that same usher going down and up the steps to make sure everything was all right when he noticed the same water on the steps. He had stopped right by that area and warned the passers-by to be careful as they were walking. He twirled his flashlight to let the patrons know where the danger spot was. When the action resumed, he went off to get a cleaning person to mop up.

I sat there thinking that this usher is amazing. He was the consummate professional in the way he approached his job. He cared enough of the safety of the patrons to warn them. He then took the initiative to have the water mopped up. He saved Madison Square Garden from a potential lawsuit had someone gotten hurt. This is a part time person who performed his job to the utmost. Someone else who did not care, would have let this go. 

How often have you encountered people that has such full pride in their work that you have a good feeling in dealing and observing them. They give you a positive impression of the organization that they work for. Moral of the story is that anybody and everybody that works for an organization is important no matter how menial your job may seem.