This post was written by Toby Brown, nationally prominent legal services marketing and social media speaker, and a contributor to the award-winning “Three Geeks and a Law Blog.”
I know … everyone loves to hate PowerPoint and much has been written about why it’s such a bad thing. Yet everyone still seems to use it. My use of PowerPoint has evolved over the years and I generally follow the Best Practices out there, avoiding too much text, keeping slides simple, using compelling graphics and basically using PowerPoint to emphasize my point – not to make it for me. So recently as a challenge to myself, I made two presentations without using PowerPoint. Both of these presentations were on cutting-edge topics, brand-new presentations for me. This meant they would be challenging to present in any event.
First off – instead of submitting a slide deck for the handouts, I actually produced two case studies / articles. This did require more effort on my part, but instead of telegraphing everything I was going to say in advance to my audience, I actually provided them with a valuable take-away.
When I gave the presentations, I used flip-charts and white-boards to illustrate any points I wanted to emphasize – mostly drawing graphs (one of my economist failings I suppose). I enjoyed this aspect of the challenge, as I was able to bring the ideas to life as I described them. I was also able to move more fluidly to different aspects of the presentation in response to questions, instead of saying “I have a slide later on that shows that.”
The Results:
On both occasions I received very positive feedback. Attendees made a point of coming up to me to thank me for not using PowerPoint. One person said it made them focus on what I was saying, instead of the screen. And instead of having a crutch to lean on, I became even more involved in my presentation. So the quality of my presentation went up for the audience and I had fun getting out of a rut.
The real epiphany came after the conference. Realizing I was the only one not to use PowerPoint made me truly stand-out. It was a definite differentiator, so much that one attendee offered me a job on the spot.
So if you are trying to make your presentations stand out in a crowd, you might try one or two sans the PowerPoint crutch. You will get noticed and you might actually enjoy it.
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Great post — and I completely agree! (I still use Seth Godin’s “Really Bad PowerPoint and How to Avoid It” as my presentation bible.) The only exception I’ve found is when the presentation is driven by compelling visuals — e.g., a graphic designer showing the effects of different ads/design styles. My rule of thumb is if you have to think about what to put on the slides, don’t use ‘em at all.
Comment by Jennifer May 17, 2011 @ 12:50 amExcellent post, Toby. PowerPoint definitely falls into the “too much of a good thing” category, and it is disappointing to see so many smart folks, who know their subject matter really well, fall into the trap of letting the projector do the work for them. Now that you have convinced us to limit or eliminate PP, and since I believe that nearly everyone is capable of speaking well in public, can we twist your arm for another post? It would be interesting to read what you believe to be the critical elements of an excellent presentation. Thanks!
Comment by Kristopher R. Carambelas May 18, 2011 @ 12:41 am