Comments

This rant is quickly becoming my pet peeve. Yes, I understand that these 'presentations' are horrific...too much focus on the slide not the speaker, stuffed to the brim with data that may not be all that relevant, boring....yada yada yada.

This topic is simply pandering to those of us who go to meetings. It strikes a chord, but it is in the way that Dilbert stikes a chord...familiar but only accurate on the surface. It appeals to our cynicism.

Power points are now the default meeting facilitator. These PPTs are the handouts that guide the meeting and also allow presenters to dissement information...the detail (actual, some time long sentences) are required so as to reduce the likelihood of mis-interpretation after the meeting.

Of the hundreds (ugh, thousands) of meetings I sit in each year, only a handful could really by transformed into well polished speaking points.

So while I have no doubt these reccomendations are absolutley appropriate for certain presentations (similar to what TP gives), this is simply not effective advice for those of us that are subject to wordy PPTs that facilitate our meetings.

I just sat trough a sales pitch from a large copmany. I have the 'presentation' on my desk...while the meeting itself may not have been the most thrilling, I have important information in front of me to review, digest, discuss with others, and possibly make a decision. The company was wise to use actual sentences and not pictures.

In other words: valid point, interesting suggestions, but not nearly as applicable to most of us as you may believe. Hopefully I don't have to wade through any more blogs that hit on this all too beaten down of a topic.

Posted by Bryan at May 16, 2006 3:54 PM

I totally agree. AND it is important to know that an audience will only remember on average about 10% of verbally presented information after 3 days.
That number jumps to 65% if you present your info both verbally and visually....not surprising really but most do not realize how important VIEWING the slide is. I say this being a powerpoint designer and programmer who insists on readable and good looking slides of course!

Posted by Becky Marsh at May 16, 2006 8:32 PM

Bryan, I'll note with some irony that I just about never go to any sort of meeting where Powerpoint is involved: my modern experience with dull, boring, tedious Powerpoint is actually from conferences, workshops and seminars. And if it's such a "tired, beaten down topic", why can't we get more public speakers to be aware of it and to transform their boring talks into something at least vaguely interesting? :-)

Also, for that matter, I'm unclear why it's okay to be boring and present information ineffectively in a meeting anyway?

Posted by Dave Taylor at May 17, 2006 7:00 AM

As a graphic designer, I am appalled at TP's PPT design. His wonderful content derserves to be seen in a more pleasing manner. The almost constant use of red on green (or vice versa), the abundance of text on one slide, the insistence on using type in negative, and now it seems TP has found a new and visually disturbing font with which to distract the viewer.

I'd really love to see TP's material presented in a visually harmonious way.

As it is, whenever new slides are posted I right click on the PPT and choose "edit slides" and simply read the notes panel. So very much easier on the eyes.

Posted by Macy at May 17, 2006 12:30 PM

I'm with you Dave

I don't want to remember the PowerPoint presentation - I want to remember the story and the presenter.

I am usually turned off completely by snazzy whistles and flutes PowerPoint presentations.

I well remember the best presentation I heard at a conference where 5 doctors did presentations. Five were with PowerPoint and one Doctor had hand-written slides. The Doctor with the hand written slides is the only one I can remember now ten years later – it was what he said that I remember and his personality not the five other boring same presentations that were far too clinical. Excuse the pun!

I am not saying PowerPoint is bad – I use it a lot but one can die from PowerPoint overkill in conferences.

Tom has it right in my opinion – whistles and flutes are not necessary if your message is good.

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 18, 2006 7:27 AM

Macy, I don't usually snap at critics, but you are so off base it makes we sick at my stomach. Come to a presentation, then criticize. You make me wonder why we bother to share the slides.

Posted by tom peters at May 19, 2006 4:15 AM

One disturbing thing I have noticed is that the people you are presenting to are a little uncomfortable when you don't use powerpoint. It seems to have become and expected thing from the audience too!

Most people have not had that much training on presentation skills so would these people actually be worse without power point!?

It's a tricky area because it often involves a lot of work on deep stuff like inner confidence etc I am always suprised by the number of managers I deal with who are confident, dynamic, articulate and yet are petrified of giving presentations

Posted by PaulH at May 22, 2006 6:08 AM

Tom,

I'd be interested to know why your choose the colors/fonts that you do. I'd also be interested to know why you choose to put so much text on an individual slide.

I'd love to come to one of your presentations and see these slides work effectively, because I just can't envision it.

Sorry I upset you. I adore your books and entire paradigm. I just get the urge to redesign your slides every time you post them. Baad Macy.

Posted by Macy at May 22, 2006 11:21 AM

I vote for PowerPoints with brief text in large, bold letters. The reason: for many of us folks over 50, it's just plain difficult to read a complicated slide, even with glasses. (I think this is because it takes longer for our eyes to refocus every time a new slide comes up, especially if it's the usual lightweight text on a bright white background.) No matter how interesting the speaker or the topic, if I've spent an entire meeting straining to read the slides, I end up with a headache and a bad attitude. Get the essential points across on the slides, and use handouts for backup data.

Posted by Paula at May 22, 2006 4:57 PM

Paula, Do you think this is a female mindset thing? Could it be that women respond differently than men to ppt's?

Posted by Macy at May 23, 2006 12:21 PM

I don't think that the visual difficulty is a male vs. female thing; I didn't have this problem when I was in my 30's. (And I have NO vanity whatsoever about wearing my glasses when I need them, if that's what you were thinking.)

I've been a business/technical writer for 30-plus years, and have drawn some conclusions about PowerPoint slides:
1. Big block of undifferentiated text: not good.
2. Big block of text with color, highlighting, etc. to break it up: better.
3. Bulleted or numbered list: much better.
4. Single statement in big letters: much better.
5. Slide show that's a mix of 2, 3 and 4: much more effective than slide show made up of ONLY 2, 3, or 4.
6. Slide show of lots of tables with teeny-tiny numbers: present at your peril.

Posted by Paula at May 23, 2006 1:20 PM

Paula,

I get what you are saying about what technically makes for a "good" ppt. I just wondered if maybe guys don't mind Tom's design style?

I look forward to the day when I can attend a TP ppt and see how he makes it work.

Posted by Macy at May 23, 2006 1:47 PM

Paula / Macy - it's not a male / female thing, nor an age thing. I'm an under-50 male and I loathe busy slides with lots of text and numbers. They should only be wheeled out when absolutely necesary. Paula has got it perfectly summed up: Get the essential points across on the slides, and use handouts for backup data. I often have a 2-part presentation: the first is the actual presentation (key points) and the second is all the backup data (not part of the actual presentation). I put hyperlinks into the first part so if someone wants to read it on screen as a report later, it's all there.

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