Empathy 101: Always design slides for the back row. Always!
This is the typical kind of presentation I see in Japan. I won't say the presenter or event, because it really does not matter. Most seminars, presentations, or symposiums look something like this (though there are exceptions from time to time). I was near the back row (but there were still two rows behind me). Even before it started I thought that screen was way too small for a room of 150 people. There is more to a great presentation than information, even so, the information *transfer* at the event approached zero. That is, unless you call printing out the dense slides "transfer." If so, then just send us a document that is well-written (rather than printed slides) and call off the meeting. Rather than going over a ton of data for this general business audience, the presenter would have been better off narrowing the scope of his talk and going deeper with examples and analogies...and eye contact...and visuals that one could actually see (and enthusiasm and passion would not have hurt either). Still a long way to go, but I am confident things can get better in Japan...step by step.
