The way presentations are currently constructed, delivered and received is not the result of laziness on the part of presenter or audience. Presentations are built with effort, intention and time but with a concept that breaks the result. The Japanese art of kintsugi recognises the value of a piece of pottery and in its damage, it is repaired, often with gold. Presentations are broken but should not be thrown in the trash. They can be repaired with kintsugi and returned to intended function and experiences of real value.

Most presentation feedback is useless. "Thank you for your excellent presentation. I very much enjoyed it." This really is not the critical review you hoped it would be. Feedback needs to be actively sought, shared in the spirit of improvement and as part of a conversation. Vague, polite platitudes unsolicitedly offered and based on what the listener felt are useless when it comes to development of presentation skills.

Poor presentations break proximity with a message that simply lists data. Slides that are beautiful but unrelated separate understanding from meaning. A fluent spoken message from a speaker disconnected from the audience loses impact. Great presentations have proximity.

Most of us have heard, even recited, the start of the soliloquy from Hamlet. "To be or not to be? That is the question." Few of us would consider that recitation had any impact. Anyone can download and read the piece. It isn't the same as being delivered by an actor, on stage, in costume and in the moment. A presentation is not simply a script, read out on a stage. The delivery of a presentation (p3) demands much more than that.

In the Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, there is a dramatic and romantic moment where Princess Leia calls to Han Solo as he is about to be immersed in Carbonite. "I love you!" she calls. His response has become iconic. The slide below shows how most presentations would relate that scene as below. "I know". Subtitles are not required. Like your powerpoint

So now what should we do once we have recognised that there is glitch in The Matrix? Change. Having seen that we fall into the trap of using the slidewear to construct a powerpoint rather than a message, what should we do? Understanding the Presentation Paradox that we do what we hate in the construction and delivery of a presentation, what should we do? Seeing that science describes the problem, even if we see the problem all around us so now what should we do? Change.

Choosing wallpaper for a room involves decisions of colour, pattern, and density. Buying wallpaper before you have even bought the house it is going in makes no sense. But you probably decided on the template for your last presentation before you considered the content. Presentations are not about the decoration.

Everyone can toss a ball up and catch it. Many people can do that with two balls. When there are three balls it is officially called juggling. Personally, I can juggle three balls with lots of patterns. The world record for "toss juggling" that is balls successfully in a pattern, caught twice, is 11. The average presentation is like the Sonia Bravia advert of bouncing balls falling down the streets of Los Angeles. Our brains weren't built for this. Juggling is fine for three balls (or facts).