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what's does "land" mean in this context?

Aggravating-Mall-115
I watched [Social Dilemma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Dilemma) today. I'm not 100 percent sure what he is talking about. Basically, a guy in Google thinks that what he's doing or has done is wrong, so he wrote an email to his collegues. "And I sent this presentation to about 15, 20 of my closest colleagues at Google, and I was very nervous about it. I wasn't sure how it was gonna **land**." I can't figure out the precise meaning of "land". In this case, does is just mean how his colleagues will response or think about his presentation? Thank you in advance. It's a little messy, here is more context. \[Tristan\] It basically just said, you know, never before in history have 50 designers-- 20- to 35-year-old white guys in California-- made decisions that would have an impact on two billion people. Two billion people will have thoughts that they didn't intend to have because a designer at Google said, "This is how notifications work on that screen that you wake up to in the morning." **And we have a moral responsibility, as Google, for solving this problem. And I sent this presentation to about 15, 20 of my closest colleagues at Google, and I was very nervous about it. I wasn't sure how it was gonna land.** When I went to work the next day, most of the laptops had the presentation open. Later that day, there was, like, 400 simultaneous viewers, so it just kept growing and growing. I got e-mails from all around the company. I mean, people in every department saying, "I totally agree." "I see this affecting my kids." "I see this affecting the people around me." "We have to do something about this." It felt like I was sort of launching a revolution or something like that. Later, I found out Larry Page had been notified about this presentation -in three separate meetings that day-.

3 comments

SnooDonuts6494ā€¢
It means, what would they think of it? How would they interpret it? A message "lands" on your desk. You read it, and you will react in a certain way. "wasn't sure how it was gonna land" - Uncertainty about the manner in which they will react when they see his missive. c/f "I don't know what they'll make of it" / "...think of it". I'm unsure about their potential reaction. "land" = arrive, be received (in this context). > how his colleagues will response I think you mean **respond.** Yes.
ubiquitous-joeā€¢
You've more-or-less guessed it. Land = how the presentation was going to be received by the audience. In the sense of whether they like it or not, respond well or not. A similar phrase is, "I wasn't sure how the presentation would **go over.**"
daunorubicinā€¢
Think about an aeroplane. The presentation is the aeroplane and itā€™s coming into / going to land on the runway. Will it land perfectly, or will it crash on landing? (Or something in between). Itā€™s a different way of saying ā€˜Iā€™m not sure whether people will like this presentationā€.