3 reasons your work presentation is boring, according to 1,000 remote workers

• Distraction is rampant in the new hybrid workforce.
• Canva, a visual-communication and design platform, explains why workers zone out in presentations.
• Canva’s intuitive software lets you create beautiful, engaging presentations.

We’ve all done it. You’re working from home, and a coworker fires up their screen to present the newest financial report. Do you (a) crank the volume and take meticulous notes, or (b) make lunch and shop online for new hiking boots?

If you answered B, you’re not alone. A survey by the global design platform Canva found that 89% of workers said they were distracted during work presentations. The report, “Bridging the Hybrid Workforce Divide,” asked 1,000 full-time employees in the US to list the top activities they do while watching someone present remotely, and here’s what they said:

• 42% read emails or text messages
• 28% complete work not related to the presentation
• 28% scroll through memes on social media
• 27% use the bathroom
• 26% listen to music
• 26% prepare meals
• 25% online shop

Remote work has made it harder to create engaging presentations. And that’s a problem because presentations are one of the most common ways of sharing plans and ideas. Canva’s survey found that 59% of workers said they plan to continue working from home some or all of the time, and 81% considered virtual collaboration the “new way” of working.

Why most work presentations are boring

So what makes the typical meeting slide so humdrum? Canva’s survey found three reasons your colleagues’ minds start to wander during presentations:

• 60% say they’re too long
• 54% say they’re too data heavy
• 52% say they have dull or uninspiring visuals

It’s hard to focus when you’re staring down a 2,000-word corporate manifesto crammed onto a single slide, but presenters are having a difficult time, too. In the survey, 82% of respondents said they found it challenging to deliver visual presentations to a group or audience, and almost half struggled to create slides with standard presentation and design programs.

Dr. Michelle McQuaid, a psychologist and an expert on organizational change, says: “Joyful connections between people increase levels of our pleasure hormone, immediately reducing anxiety and improving concentration. But those working from home will miss out on many social interactions and nonverbal cues, which we often rely on to make people feel included during presentations and meetings.

By asking questions, showing gratitude, incorporating humor, or including entertaining or relatable photos and videos, we can make audiences more engaged in our presentations, and leave them less tempted by distraction.”

How Canva smashes the learning curve

What if it were easy to make stunning presentations right out of the box?

Canva’s free platform makes beautiful design accessible to everyone. Its millions of users can choose from over 500,000 professional-grade templates for design inspiration. They can intuitively drag and drop elements and access a large image library without downloading a single file. Best of all, they can collaborate on presentations within the software itself, leaving comments and even demoing designs for their teams in real time. The end result? Infinitely more engaging presentations that take half the time to create.

Better software, better inclusivity

Distributed teams lean heavily on presentations to communicate – in fact, employees expect to make 10% more of them within the next six months.

This phenomenon has serious implications for diversity in the new hybrid work environment: 28% of introverts said their presentation skills have negatively affected their careers, compared to 12% of extroverts.

Canva is revamping the presentation format through a series of new features such as Talking Presentations, which let presenters integrate short videos of themselves as playable elements within slides. This gives an alternative to live presenting, while still letting people have their voices heard.

Great presentations give great ideas the visibility they deserve. And businesses benefit from a diverse range of perspectives. To stay competitive and ensure everybody’s ideas are heard, we must embrace better software.

Make better presentations with Canva. Learn more here.

This post was created by Insider Studios with Canva.