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Death by Powerpoint: Bullets don’t kill people, presenters do July 8, 2008

Posted by Steve Boneham in : HowTo, design, presentation , trackback

Photo from Chris Young, Netskills. All rights reserved.Like most presenters, I use slideware and templates to help me produce my presentations. Or at least that’s what I thought. On reflection, what I’ve actually been doing is using slideware and templates to help me produce speakers notes. I really should have known better, but PowerPoint just makes it so easy to create bulleted lists that I never really considered another approach - until now…

As part of my research for a presentation skills workshop I’m putting together, I’ve been reading a lot about presentation design. A key theme for nearly all commentators is that slides should be more visual and less cluttered with text, bullets and logos. At first, I thought this was a case of style over substance, but having tried this approach I’ve realised it has a far more significant effect on my presentations.

Before going anywhere near my slideware, I spent more time than usual thinking about the key message I wanted to communicate and how best way to explain it. Garr Reynolds calls this ‘Going Analog’ and I think it’s a great way to keep planning separate from development. Rather than thinking in bullets, I find this helps me think in pictures and stories which help in creating a visual presentation.

Next I fired up Powerpoint for the development, but ditched the template. Now when I click File > New, I get a blank slide, not something that immediately constrains my creativity. Some may argue that the branding and consistency templates bring are important, but I’d say giving a good presentation is the best marketing and templates don’t help with that.

Having done the analogue planning, putting the slidedeck together was pretty simple. Each slide was an full-screen image overlaid with a just few key words or a quote. But this is not just about making slides that look nice. For me, these kind of slides enhance the message and make it more memorable. They also encourage the presenter to do what he’s really there to do - to present. Instead of being tied to the script of a bulleted list, these slides provide a backdrop to a performance in which you have the freedom to talk with passion about your subject, to add personality and to adapt to the unique circumstances of every presentation.

It’s not a new approach, but it’s still not one that I think is used often enough - especially by me! Having tried it though, I’m never going back. Looking to the future, it’s also a style that’s far more effective for online presentations where the audience is even less forgiving.

Photo from Chris Young, Netskills. All rights reserved.

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