Comments on: Do Agendas Have a Place in Presentations?

By: Secrets of Powerfull Presentations » The No-Presentation Rule for Presentations

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 05:38:36 +0000

[...] Recently, Cote asked his readers whether he thought agenda slides were appropriate for presentations. The responses that surprised me the most were the ones that stated agendas were good so that the audience participant could know early on whether he wanted to leave or he would at least know how long into the presentation you were along so he could decide whether he needed to stay. The question that comes to mind for those responses is how did that person get invited to the presentation if it didnâ€™t concern them in the first place. Itâ€™s safe and easy to invite everyone to your meeting, but in the end, you only wasted their time and yours. If you stay focused on the point, speak and not read, and keep the length to a minimum (preferable 6 – 15 minutes) , then most people wonâ€™t have the need to constantly refer to the agenda wondering when they can get the hell out of there. [...]

By: introspectiveH » Blog Archive » The No-Presentation Rule for Presentations

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 04:32:37 +0000

[...] Recently, Cote asked his readers whether he thought agenda slides were appropriate for presentations. The responses that surprised me the most were the ones that stated agendas were good so that the audience participant could know early on whether he wanted to leave or he would at least know how long into the presentation you were along so he could decide whether he needed to stay. The question that comes to mind for those responses is how did that person get invited to the presentation if it didn’t concern them in the first place. It’s safe and easy to invite everyone to your meeting, but in the end, you only wasted their time and yours. If you stay focused on the point, speak and not read, and keep the length to a minimum (preferable 6 – 15 minutes) , then most people won’t have the need to constantly refer to the agenda wondering when they can get the hell out of there. [...]

By: cote

cote — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:07:01 +0000

Thanks for all the input: I think everyone's setup up good guidelines for when to have and not have an agenda. Obviously, the notion of the audience being able to sniff out the presentation and leave if they're not interested is the top concern, which is an excellent point.

By: Zane Rockenbaugh

Zane Rockenbaugh — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:51:58 +0000

Depends almost entirely on the audience's familiarity with the content. If the presentation is "Optimizing Postgres Queries" for a bunch of postgres users, no agenda needed. If the presentation is "My complicated business involving a non-standard finance model and multiple partners in a domain you've never heard of" an agenda would be greatly appreciated.

By: Mark Wahl

Mark Wahl — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 20:51:44 +0000

"As a presenter, do you put an agenda slide in your presentations?" – Yes. If the group is small enough,

then presumably at this point the audience participants

can determine whether their questions are likely going

to be answered during the presentation based on this

agenda, and can request modifications/additions to the

agenda. For very long presentation timeslots, this also

give an opportunity for voting/priortization of topics.

And I also like signposting throughout the presentation

so that (among other reasons) people can drop in and

out of awareness until the presentation gets to a topic

of interest to them.

By: Kevin Brennan

Kevin Brennan — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 20:03:49 +0000

Depends on how long the presentation is. I use them in longer discussions because they help the audience know how far along we are and so set expectations.

By: Ric

Ric — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 20:00:28 +0000

Put up an agenda as long as you give people the option to leave if they don't think they'll get value from the rest of the presentation. If you are either a) not confident enough in the value of your presentation, or b) don't want to give people an out, then don't put up an agenda.

Following on from Patrick, I think it's different for a paper – always give the reader a synopsis/'executive summary' at the beginning, because a reader will almost always have the option of "leaving" (i.e. not reading any further).

By: Patrick Mueller

Patrick Mueller — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:17:49 +0000

I try to avoid presentations altogether, but for many folks, they're unavoidable. Just like I provide an overview for papers, I typically provide an overview for presentations. One slide, up front, 4-5 bullets. I like to think if my paper/presentation isn't appropriate for you, you'll find out after reading the very first bit, instead of reading through to the end.

As a reader, I like to have the same ability. But very, very few people do this, it seems.

By: ewH

ewH — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 16:19:28 +0000

I am not a big fan of agendas during interesting presentations; however, they do prove nice in boring presentations. At least it gives me something to do while someone is reading their 50 bullet points verbatim. It's the equivalent of watching a clock at a boring manufacturing job or constantly thumbing through the program guide during a wedding/graduation to estimate how much time is left before you regain your freedom.

I say keep the presentations interesting and under 10 minutes and there will be no need for an agenda.

The problem we have is that all of the so-called corporate pros tell us to add an agenda right along with our required standard ppt templates. Bah!

-ewH