When I was a student at St. Norbert College (not long ago, I just graduated in 1999), we had a core component to every single class we took called "writing across the curriculum". In essence, writing across the curriculum was supposed to instill in us that writing was a critical success factor in the 'real world', and that in order to prepare for said real world, we should write lots. Of course, I had no disagreements with this. One simply cannot communicate upward, or downward for that matter, within an organization if your writing skills are sub-par. Writing, especially in the era of cost-justification and email overload, quality writing skills are of the utmost importance.

Following the natural progression of events that usually happen in business, the next most logical step after writing your latest masterpiece is to have to present that material to someone of influence and authority. Excellent! Now's your big chance! Well, maybe not.

At few points in my college career were presentation skills ever stressed. I took a communications class for that express purpose, but it was, and still is, by no means mandatory. Moreover, the reinforcement of those acquired skills was nowhere to be found across the rest of the campus. So what if you took a course in presentation skills - you may never get the chance to really hone your craft as you transitioned from class to class. Students took the class, stumbled through presentations, and ultimately left school without any real grasp on what it takes to prepare for and deliver a presentation that really SELLS. Sells? Yes, sells. At what point have you ever presented and not been "selling" something? Academic conference - selling your idea. Boardroom - selling your project to the decision makers. Training a group of new hires - your selling them on your techniques and practices for whatever tools may be at their disposal. You see - you're always selling, and when you're selling, you're presenting.

My point is this: We need a concerted effort in higher education, no, make that high school and higher education, to make presenting a skill as common and practiced as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Traveling with salespeople has reinforced this thought over and over. Here you have people that are ambassadors for your company in front of your customer base, and they can't do a simple FBA (features, benefits, advantages) rundown to save their lives.

Write your local college dean, old professors, and high school english teachers. Hell, go present you case to them or ask to speak in some business classes at a couple of local colleges about the importance of presentation skills. Just remember to brush up on your skills before you head out!