How to give a poor presentation
Channel: Sean Anderson
Date: 18/03/2020

This was the opening of the noon (Eastern Time), March 18, 2029 Corona Virus Task Force briefing from the White House press room. It is a stellar example of how to NOT give a technical update.

Throughout more than seven minutes, the President provided a single quantitative piece of information; that two naval medical ships would be ready for deployment within the week. Everything else was riff, allusion, and references to undefined or unexplained terminology/laws. This is no way to communicate important information. Rather this is an excellent example of how to portray yourself as a non-expert, a speaker who (in effect) has contempt for your audience’s comprehension, and a presenter who does not understand persuasion.

This poor performance did not persuade the markets as all market indicators declined over the course of this press conference to the point where (at about 35 minutes into the presentation) the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped below 7% from this morning's opening and triggered another 15 minute emergency halt to trading.