The presentation that gave purpose to my wonderful Greg's Grill steak was about perception and investing. This was synchronistic because my online interpersonal communication class is studying perception this week.
The gentleman giving the presentation was from American Funds and he used an optical illusion as an analogy to our perceptions of whether or not our investments are doing well. The idea was that we may think they are doing badly because we see them in the short term rather than looking at the long term.
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| Original picture with plastic on top |
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| Moving the plastic. |
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| Revealing same size. |
He began by showing a drawing of two tables which, because of perspective, seemed to be of completely different size. He showed the picture onscreen and also had it in his handout to us. I, of course, looked ahead and figured out where he was going. In the handout the line drawing of the tables had a plasticine cover. One could shift the cover and see that the size of the tables were the same.
At the end of his presentation he asked if we had any questions. I wondered where he got his education (I was curious, really, about his speaking style.) He told us and then asked if I were a teacher and I admitted same. He then asked what I taught. I said, "Public speaking," and he said, "Well, what grade am I getting." I hesitated. He said, "We'll talk later." I knew that was a way of recognizing me but moving to the next topic.
What I would have told him was that he gave a smooth presentation but that it was a bit too smooth. I didn't have a sense that we, as a living group of Central Oregonians, were actually present -- we were a whistle-stop among many whistle-stops. Plus, while I think that optical illusions are interesting, they don't really have that much to do with economic perceptions. Nevertheless, they're fun.
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