I just read a printed version of a Power Point presentation that was given to the execs at my place of employment. The presentation summarized customer research gathered by a consulting firm. I'm not privy to the budget, but based on the number of surveys, interviews and focus groups, it's safe to say this firm was paid a gazillion dollars.
What aggravates me is the number of typos, mistakes and poorly-written phrases I found throughout the document. For example, on page 3, they used the word "our" instead of "are." Proof positive that Spell Check cannot fix everything.
What further aggravates me is the fear that not one of our execs even noticed the mistakes or raised the issue with the offending firm.
I know I'm the world's oldest living copywriter, but am I the only person (besides other copywriters) who still cares about correct spelling and clear, concise work? Is content the entire issue, and grammar merely nitpicking?
You probably lost interest three paragraphs ago, but here is one of the questions the consulting firm posed regarding our customer: "What does she wish that we carried?"
It's not an especially good question to start with, but "that" screws it up entirely. It's sloppy. It shouldn't be part of a gazillion-dollar project. It should cause executives to wince and doubt the credibility of the firm they hired.
But it don't.
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I feel the pain. I compile and edit weekly input from a group of Directors to their VP and am amazed at the poor writing and punctuation. When did one space after a period become the norm? As a former trainer I am also horrified that the rules of powerpoint have been lost - powerpoint is for presenting, a few key points on the slide to speak to not to be printed and read and understood at a later time, unless you were at the original live presentation. Powerpoint is for speaking points only - otherwise you get powerpoint poising from all the slides.
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