By Dick Biggs

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“For a while, PowerPoint presentations, with its clipped advertising language, appeared to be the cure for attention-deficit disorder. No longer. People are sick and tired of PowerPoint. It’s the fastest way to lose your audience. People are burning out on PowerPoint presentations.”

--Newsweek, May 9, 2005

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Perhaps this Newsweek article is a wake-up call. Just as all speakers aren’t suited for all topics, all speakers aren’t suited for PowerPoint presentations. You have to go with what works best for you and, more importantly, what gets results for your clients and audiences.

For example, Terry Brock demonstrates technology in his programs because he’s a technology speaker. Dewitt Jones, a renowned National Geographic photographer, shows slides of the intriguing places he’s visited and audiences are spellbound. Former fighter pilot Waldo Waldman uses photos to spice up his presentations and why not? Sometimes a visual is more powerful than any words.

On the other hand, here are some valid reasons for not using PowerPoint presentations:

• It can be boring. I recently watched a speaker read a PowerPoint presentation with her back to the audience for an hour. People were standing in the back of the room drinking coffee and whispering to each other. The speaker was clueless. The late humorist Bob Murphey put it this way in his east Texas drawl: “If you’re a gonna read your speech, you oughta just mail it in!”



• It can be a barrier between you and your audience. It has been said that speakers go through three stages. First, we worry about our appearance. Second, we concentrate on our material. Third, we pay attention to our audiences. The best way to implement the third stage is to know your material so well that you can maintain consistent eye contact with your audience. This is a lot easier to do if you’re not standing behind a lectern or focusing on technology.



• It can cause you to lose your audience. I once observed a speaker showing slide after endless slide and prefaced by, “I know you can’t read this but…” So why put them up there? His audience plummeted from 150 to 30 by the end of the 2-hour program! The meeting planner rushed up to me and said, “The only reason I didn’t walk out is because the other 29 would have followed. Biggs, you’d better close out this meeting with a bang!” I couldn’t wait to get up there with my low-tech, high-energy presentation!



• It can malfunction. I recall a speaker wowing her audience with a wonderfully creative PowerPoint presentation. She had the audience in the palm of her hand. Unfortunately, 15 minutes into her program, the equipment died and so did this lady. She couldn’t continue without her slides. It turned into a Q&A for 45 excruciating minutes. The audience felt betrayed and, hopefully, the speaker learned a valuable lesson about preparation.
  
  
• It isn’t unique. I don’t want to be like every other speaker. A meeting planner said to me recently, “I’m delighted to know you don’t use PowerPoint. Our people have returned emails on their BlackBerry computers because speakers were more into their PowerPoint slides than us. We want you to be unique, engaging, compelling, interactive and audience-focused.”

Having said that, here’s what I’ve noticed about speakers who’ve mastered PowerPoint:

• Less is more. Perhaps 5-10 slides are used in a 90-minute presentation and about 20 in a full-day program.



• Enhancement value. The technology is so subtle that the audience remains focused on what the speaker is saying and, in turn, the speaker is focused on how the audience is reacting.



• Photos. While telling powerful stories, poignant photos are used to embellish the message.



• Illustrations. Funny cartoons or other visuals help drive home the key points.



• Interaction. Concise questions are posted to spur audience participation and discussion of the practical application of the material.



• Book Covers. This is a catchy way to inspire people to buy books on a recommended reading list.



• Quotes. Short ones in big print are usually more meaningful and memorable.

For now, my programs will continue to rely on high content, customization, humor, inspiration, unique props, interaction, handouts and other proven methods that have kept me in business for 24 years. If I change my mind, you’ll probably be reading about it in a future article.

                              

If you and your organization would like to learn more about communication, please e-mail or call Dick Biggs at (770) 886-3035 for more information.