Robert Gaskins likes to joke about PowerPoint. On his Web site, he posts a collection of cartoons poking fun at the program. In one byThe New Yorker cartoon editor Robert Mankoff, a man is on one knee proposing to a woman—with a laptop poised on his other knee. The woman is saying, “Great PowerPoint, Kevin, but the answer is no.”
Gaskins isn’t the only one with a Web site that pokes fun at the inappropriate and sometimes disastrous uses of PowerPoint. But he’s indeed unique—he’s one of the two people who invented the program. Gaskins’ site is symbolic of the irony surrounding Microsoft’s ubiquitous presentation tool.
PowerPoint is undeniably a well-regarded piece of software that’s universally employed to help people give presentations, yet some experts maintain that many presenters can do a better job by not using it.
Some subject their audiences to dozens of slides, each packed to the gills with tiny, unreadable text. They’ll waste the audience’s time with pointless, repetitive animations and transitions. And worst of all, they’ll turn their backs to their audiences and read each slide aloud—verbatim.
What’s Wrong with PowerPoint?
A number of presentation consultants for executives fault PowerPoint because it focuses attention on the wrong thing. According to LeeAundra Temescu, a communications consultant who produces a podcast called The Contrary Public Speaker, “PowerPoint does more harm than good because it becomes the focus of the presentation instead of you.”
The impact of a presentation, she explained, comes from the power of the speaker’s presence. “Anything that detracts or compromises the presence of the speaker renders the presentation at best unnecessary and at worst counterproductive and damaging to the speaker,” she added.
A basic problem with PowerPoint is that it adds a certain amount of rigidity to a presentation; there’s little room for spontaneity. When, for example, an audience member comes up with a good, new idea, there’s no easy way to incorporate that into the slides, as you could with a whiteboard or a flip chart.
Another aspect of that rigidity is time. Tom Antion, a small-business Internet marketing expert and professional speaker who operates powerpointstinks.com, points out that very often a speaker’s time will be cut. Antion enjoys watching PowerPoint presenters try to make up for that lost time: “They have to scramble through a bunch of slides and look like idiots up there,” he said.
How to Present Without PowerPoint
Yes, it’s possible to take a pass on PowerPoint. And it’s not that hard. “Trust your words,” said Temescu. “Start having faith in and rely on your unique knowledge and passion rather than the insidious crutch that is PowerPoint,” she said in one of her podcasts. “You’ll be exponentially more effective for it.”
Also, keep in mind that visuals don’t have to be on a PowerPoint slide. “The best aren’t,” Temescu said. A sample of a product and a copy of the article you’re quoting “truly add to the impact of a presentation.”
Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points, recommends sketching on a whiteboard or a flip chart. “Just as you do when you effectively use PowerPoint,” he said, “use your alternative visual tools to prompt conversation with your audience and make them feel ownership in the experience.”
Instead of PowerPoint, Antion uses demonstration videos created with Camtasia Studio. “One of the reasons this is so effective is because people have not seen it.” And if his time is reduced, “I can just pick and choose what videos I want to play.”
Using videos also has the advantage of bypassing potential technical problems. Antion says that with videos, “you can demonstrate stuff without depending on the crappy Internet connections that are in hotels.” In fact,
Antion gets a kick out of seeing other presenters cope with these problems. “I sit back there, and I kind of laugh at these people because I figure that the more they screw up, the more money is left in here for me.”
PowerPoint for You (Only)
You can still use PowerPoint, of course, but just for yourself. It works really well as a tool for organizing your thoughts. And on a small laptop screen on the podium, it can serve as a good teleprompter.
After surviving a few PowerPoint-free presentations, you may have a better idea of how to best use the program. Temescu advises her clients to start adding visuals back into their talks according to two simple criteria: Will the visual convey the information more efficiently than words alone? Or, will the visual convey the information more effectively than words alone? “If you can say yes to either one,” she said, “then you include that slide.”
Whatever way you present, certain ground rules always apply. As Atkinson told us, “If presenters lack an effective methodology for distilling ideas and structuring a story, they will present ineffective presentations both when they use PowerPoint, and when they do not use it. If they sharpen their critical thinking and story skills instead, they will be in a much better position to succeed."
Tips for Presentations Without PowerPoint
1. Present your talk as a story.
2. Focus the audience on you and your message.
3. Use a whiteboard or flip chart to get the audience involved.
4. Use non-PowerPoint visual aids: products, magazines, pictures, videos, etc.
5. Use PowerPoint to organize thoughts and to serve as a teleprompter.
When PowerPoint Is Necessary
1. Again, fashion your presentation as a story.
2. Limit the number of slides.
3. Use slides only where your words are insufficient (e.g., numbers and pictures).
4. Try to involve your audience in the creation of the show.
5. Use comprehensive slides only for international audiences that may not understand English well.
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