The Power of the Point

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If you’re looking to leave a lasting impression on your audience, do everything in your power to get them – in human form, face to face, in real life (IRL…) – to show up to your presentation. Turns out there is plenty of value lurking in your PowerPoints and SlideShares, if only you can find an audience!

Need proof? Scientists who attended presentations were 52% more likely to cite work from that presentation, compared to scientists who were unable to attend the presentation, according to a preliminary study from professors at the University of Michigan and MIT. All of the scientists in question had “liked” the presentations on their conference-attendance app, so everyone in the group had already indicated interest in the topic. But the in-person attendees still gave a 52% boost in citations later.

Surely the same effect is true for clients, customers, investors, donors, even employees. To hear and see a story in person, from the horse’s mouth, is to experience it at a different level.

The pandemic has given us all plenty of experience when it comes to swapping out digital modes for in-person modes. Anecdotally we can all see that it’s not one-to-one. Indeed, another study from 2011 found that people formed more positive impressions of each other when meeting face-to-face compared with a digital introduction like instant messaging. Turns out we humans sure do like being together!

Investing for those ‘citation’ dividends

As the summer conference season kicks off, give some thought to the opportunities you might have to turn your regular articles, white papers and other materials into conference-worthy presentations. Whoever your audience is, there is probably an in-person presentation effect just waiting to be captured.