Surprising findings are bubbling up in our presentation survey. And there’s still time to share your views in the survey below:

Here is a quick look at the survey results to date:

Leave the jokes at home, we want to hear a story

While we’re still collecting results for the presentation survey, a few surprises are already emerging. When asked what advice they would give to presenters I expected folks to shout from the rooftops “stop with the ugly slides”. It turns out it’s the “Storyline” that people care most about. Granted, providing good looking slides was the 2nd highest answer, but we certainly took the guidance to heart.

Here are the top 3 answers so far:

• 35% Tell a Story Rather Than Lecture
• 22% Provide Attractive But “Clean” Slides
• 19% Be Energetic
• 13% Practice For a Smooth Delivery
• 11% Be Funny

Me? Nervous? Well, maybe a little.

Of course people are nervous when they are presenting. But it appears they are not unduly nervous. In fact, it was a pretty even split between nervous and confident.

When presenting to a group, responders are reporting they feel:

• 28% Neutral
• 27% Jittery
• 25% Confident
• 12% Terrified
• 7% Feel Like Superman

Surprise! People do practice their presentations

I expected folks to give their presentations just one dry run. But I was pleasantly surprised to see presenters are pretty darn dedicated when it comes to practicing. How often do people practice a “dry run” of their presentations?

• 16% Never
• 20% Just Once
• 20% Twice
• 21% 3 Times
• 19% 4+ Times

We’re all a little better than average at presenting

Not sure how the majority of people can be better than average presenters, but just like we found with our recent presentation design survey, the folks we surveyed so far are feeling like they’re a cut above the rest. Here are the stats on how people rate their presentation delivery skills relative to their peers:

• 46% Average
• 31% Above Average
• 23% Below Average

We’ll wrap up the data collection for this presentation survey in the next week or so. We’ll then create an infographic from the data we collect and share that here on the blog. Much like we did with the animated infographic on presentation design.