[BeetleB]

Common in industry as well. I work in a company at the top of its field. A senior engineer once told me that the advice he got while rehearsing for a presentation:

"Your slides explain things so well it makes it easy to understand your work. No one will be impressed. The more people have to think to understand your slides, the more impressed they will be. It's OK if most people don't understand much of your presentation. "

Specific advice included: Pack your slides with content (charts, etc). The audience should feel overwhelmed.

From what I've experienced, the advice is sadly spot on.

[ColinWright]

Generally true, but there are exceptions. For example ...

There was an occasion when we were making a presentation in the early stages of bidding for a contract (complicated industry, don't ask unless you want to know). The business guy had completed his presentation about contracts we'd delivered and systems we could provide, and then it was my turn.

I turned off the projector, retracted the screen, drew a few of blobs on the whiteboard, labelled them "Remote, remote, Command and Control", then turned to the assembled personnel and said: "What would you like to know?"

My intent was to explain clearly what we did in a way they could understand, because I knew that if they understood our capability, they'd buy our kit.

They did, and they did.

So for the right audience, explaining clearly is the right thing to do.