I've been thinking about presentation style lately. I'm gearing up for a big customer meeting and trying to avoid the "death by PowerPoint" trap. Fortunately, I have a few cartoons up my sleeve.
Somehow the preparation reminded me of management consulting. In business school, I was first blown away by the technical skill of ex-consultants who had been using PowerPoint as an extra appendage for years. I felt inadequate when I saw some of their slides diagnosing a problem.
And then I realized that the same slides were being used over and over again. They stopped being remarkable the more they were used. They seemed less insightful.
PowerPoint can be a persuasive tool when used in a way that tells a remarkable story. But, far too often, they become just more clutter and filler. Or worse, a crutch to cover up when there's no interesting story to tell.
So, I drew this cartoon as a personal reminder to avoid the two-by-two matrix and think outside of the deck. I always find this Seth Godin Really Bad PowerPoint post useful.
(On a related note, I'm excited to see Seth live on Tuesday when he gives a talk on his latest book in London. Should be interesting, and I plan to post what I learn.)
Lastly, I've always enjoyed making fun of management consultants. Here's one of my very first cartoons, from my business school series.
Stephen Macklin says
February 15, 2009 at 6:06 amSomeone from within our organization came to me to help him improve his presentation. He had slide after slide packed to the gills with two to three sentence bullet points. I had a nightmare vision of him standing in front of a room full of people reading his slides to them.
I built a simple presentation with two to three word pullet points and a max of three per slide. He freaked out.
I had to explain, patiently at first, that the people in the room with him knew how to read. That by the time he was halfway through reading the slide on the screen they would be finished and waiting for the next slide.
I told him that if he didn’t know the content well enough to present from top line bullet points make some note cards. I then reformatted his original text into a handout that he could provide to attendees – after the presentation.
Priyadarshini Narendra says
February 15, 2009 at 9:44 pmYou’re spot on with your observations. I work in management consulting and often don;t get taken seriously because clients actually understand what I’m saying!
Jon Moss says
February 20, 2009 at 3:46 pmHi Tom,
Could not agree more about Powerpoint. Most presentations using it are terrible.
Using Apple’s Keynote however, gives you a fighting chance, creating simple, yet beautiful presentations.
I’m gutted to have missed Seth in London – not sure how I missed hearing about it 🙁 And I was in London the day after!
Hope all well with you, and fingers crossed, speak to you sometime soon.
Cheers,
Jon