Over the last few months I have attended various external events where presentations have been given and I am astounded by the lack of presentation skills people still possess and that they feel that it is still ok to use a Powerpoint Deck with a white background, no header and lines and lines of text which are just read out. 

As the world starts to embrace the web 2.0 phenomena and the Gen X and Y people start to outpace the traditionalists maybe it is time to use a different product or start to demand a more professional approach to conferences and understand that this is infact a form of collaboration.  Collaboration should not encompass the traditional tell or sell culture but be a more enjoyable and social experience, so why should this not extend to presentations in conferences.