It’s not all cock and bull, I promise you

I agree with Nick Pride-Hearn (MW November 21), presentations are not a test in one’s mastery of technology, but whether a message has been convincingly conveyed. Perhaps Marketing Week should hold a competition for the best presentation howlers.

My favourite occurred in the course of a long and soporific presentation on geo-demographic mapping. The slide that should have been headed “Prosperous Pensioners” had suffered from that easiest of lapses, the transposition of two letters. Once I had read aloud, with wonder, a slide with the banner headline “Prosperous Penisoners”, the meeting never really recovered. Whether the prosperity described the owners themselves or their dependencies, is still a matter of debate.

Dominic Moseley

Moseley Consulting

London SW1