By now, we have all had to endure a Powerpoint presentation, and a hapless few of us have actually had to put these presentations together and deliver them in from of an audience. Neither of these are particularly pleasant experiences and I suspect that all of us have some Powerpoint horror stories to relate.
Today’s column covers poor use of Powerpoint, as illustrated by an entertaining YouTube video by comedian Don McMillan entitled How NOT to use Powerpoint. Go to YouTube.com and conduct a search with the terms “McMillan Powerpoint” to check this video out for yourself … it’s hilarious.
Here are Mr. McMillan's pet peeves, augmented by me ...
Too Wordy
Save us from those who copy and paste entire sentences and even paragraphs of text into a slide, expecting us to read it or (worse) reading it to us.
Not Using Spell-Check
Including spelling errors in a Powerpoint presentation is much worse than including errors in a letter or report. It is pure laziness, because the software highlights spelling errors the same way that MS Word does.
Bullet Points
Sure, distill your key thoughts into a few well chose bullet points, but stop at 3-7 points. Otherwise, you lose the "point."
Bad Color Schemes / Bad Fonts
AACK !! The movie Speed Racer is getting bad reviews for its nauseating color schemes, but this pales compared to some Powerpoint presentations I've seen. Yet, even good colors can't make up for bad fonts. Here's a clue ... don't use serif fonts in Powerpoint - ever.
Number of Slides
The number of slides is inversely related to effectiveness of your presentation. Less is more.
Pointless Motion
The only thing worse than a neophyte using Powerpoint is someone who thinks they know enough to add animation. Flying and dissolving text, and animated clipart will not salvage a bad presentation.
Give it a Rest
OK, this one's all mine ... a presentation is not multimedia unless you turn off the Powerpoint file and so something else during your presentation (otherwise, it's uni-media). Here's a useful trick - when you are in the middle of a Powerpoint presentation, press the B key (nothing else, just the B key) and this will blank out the screen. It's amazing how the participants will immediately start to relax and focus on you instead of the screen.
I routinely turn off Powerpoint during my presentations and I even won a training contract recently when I promised I would not use Powerpoint at all. The group was a gathering of judges and they overwhelmingly chose my proposal over my competitors chiefly because of this promise (OK, and because of my scintillating teaching skills).
For a glaring example of how a powerful presentation can be trivialized by poor use of Powerpoint, check out http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/ that shows how the Gettysburg Address would have been just another boring speech if it had been reduced to a set of bulleted talking points.
So here's the takeaway - Powerpoint is a tool. Use it selectively and properly. If you don't know how, learn it. There are tons of local in-person and online courses to give you pointers on effective color schemes, correct choice of fonts and how best to organize your material. However, if they don't include the advice to regularly blank out the Powerpoint file regularly, write this down anyway. You and those who hear your presentation will be glad you did.
If you want to meet other recovering Powerpoint abusers, join and become active in the Redwood Technology Consortium (www.redwoodtech.org). Their website has information about projects and local meetings.
Crawford is president of Justice Served, a court management and technology consulting firm working with courts and justice agencies worldwide. He is an active member of the Redwood Technology Consortium (www.redwoodtech.org) and is vice president of the Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce (www.eurekachamber.com).
Copyright 2008, the Eureka Times Standard Newspaper. This column is a modified version Chris’ North Coast Connections blog entry on www.TSBlogs.com.