How Would Zagat Rate Your Presentation?
Zagat came out with their 2010 New York guide earlier this month, and it got me thinking about what presenters can learn from the world of food. If you're not familiar with Zagat's rating system, you might be surprised to know that only 1/3 of a restaurant's total score is for the food. Think about that. The overwhelming majority (2/3) of the rating that decides the best restaurants is for service and decor. It doesn't matter how good your food is: If your restaurant's presentation skills are not up to snuff, you're not getting anywhere near the overall top ratings.
This isn't to say that there's no place in the world for eateries who only care about the food, but...
Below are dishes from two Zagat-rated NY culinary institutions. Out of a possible score of 30 for each category, you can see that Zagat readers gave the restaurants exactly equal marks for food, but only one restaurant gets top marks for presentation (decor + service).
The result is that the restaurant on the right has long been a "go to" spot for important occasions, and is often called NY's "most romantic" place to eat. The one on the left serves (in my opinion) the best burger in 5 boroughs, but is it ever going to be one of the City's top dining establishments? Which one of these places charges $9 for a meal, and which can get away with over $100 a person?
Now...if your presentations were food, which restaurant's plates would they look like?
Just as with Zagat, your presentations should be thought of as having 3 equally important components:
CONTENT (Food)
DESIGN (Decor)
DELIVERY (Service)
The design and delivery of your content is just as important as the content itself. Sure, you can get away with focusing only on 1 or 2 of these 3 intertwined aspects. But do you want people to pay $9 for your product? ... Or $100?
Now, who's going to be first to email me the identities of the two above restaurants...?
