Sitting through a PowerPoint presentation appears to be one of the most dreaded office activities: More than 32% of surveyed adults say they have fallen asleep during a PowerPoint presentation and nearly one-quarter (24%) say they would rather give up sex tonight than face another PowerPoint, according to a survey from SlideRocket.

Just how desperate are we to avoid PowerPoints? Roughly one in five surveyed adults (21%) say they would rather to do their taxes than face another PowerPoint presentation and 20% would prefer to visit the dentist.

Below, other findings from SlideRocket’s survey of 1,000 US adults who use office software on a daily basis, conducted by IBOPE Zogby International.

Excessive text on slides, boring graphics, lack of analytics, and large file size rank among the top frustrations people have with PowerPoint presentations, SlideRocket finds.

Among those lulled to sleep via PowerPoint, 55% say it has happened at least twice.

Meanwhile, 20% of adults say they have fallen asleep so many times during PowerPoints that they’ve lost count—with men twice as likely to say so.

But it’s tough on both sides: Though some 29% of adults dread watching PowerPoint presentations, 33% of adults dread creating them as well.

Other findings:

  • 30% of adults say they have snuck out of a presentation at least once.
  • Millennials are twice as likely as Boomers to report sneaking out of presentation at least once.
  • Adults on the West Coast are twice as likely as those on the East Coast to dread PowerPoint presentations.

About the data: Findings are based on an online survey of 1,003 US adults who use office software on a daily basis, conducted by IBOPE Zogby International for SlideRocket, in May 2011.

Published on June 24, 2011, MarketingProfs