Power of Presentations

No, I am not talking about Powerpoint today.

I am talking about the presentations that are less obvious—the ones we do every day. We are constantly doing presentations, although we are unaware of most of them.

You are writing an MSD paper---that’s presentation. No matter how well thought-out your content is, if you cannot spell correctly, you’re dead. Your readers will think, “s/he can’t even spell—s/he obviously cannot say anything intelligent!”

You are serving food on the table---that’s presentation. If the noodles look like worms—no matter how tasty they are, no one may touch them.

You are sending out a wiki page to your teammates---that’s presentation. You may be wanting feedback on the content and the format, but if the pictures are awry, you may get some different kind of feedback.

My grandma told me a story when I was a kid.

A great king once saw a dream. He saw himself waking up one morning to find out that all his teeth have fallen, except for one. Terrified, the king woke up from the dream (and made sure that all his teeth were still remaining).

The next morning, he called the royal wizard and asked him for the meaning of this dream. The great wizard thought for a while, and his face darkened. He said with a sad face, “Your Majesty, this dream means that all your relatives would die in front of you. You’d be the last one remaining, all alone.”

The king was so angry at this bad news that he took out his sword and killed the wizard instantly.

The following day, the kind summoned the wisest man in the land, and asked him the meaning of the dream. The wise old man thought for a bit, and his face brightened up. “Your Majesty, this is great news,” he exclaimed, “You will be the longest living among all your relatives!”

Call it euphemism or call it polishing, the wise man survived because of the way he presented.

So lastly, when you are communicating with others---that’s presentation also. Be very aware of what you say, as you may be presenting something you don’t mean to present.