I was in New York today and I attended a Company of Friends – Fast Company  Death by Meeting (and Powerpoint). Marshall Makstein of eSlide gave a great pitch on what visually makes a good presentation. What hit me as the reason why so many meetings or presentations are bad is that the speakers or facilitators are not prepared. Speaking or directing a meeting takes alot of practice. None of us can wing it. As I work on crafting my own speeches, I realize exactly how much practice it takes. Why don’t we practice? It’s arrogance where we think that we don’t need to..that we have enough skill. That does not cut it. To be great, we all need to practice at whatever we do.