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Presentations – Do You Really Need PowerPoint?
Here’s a simple quiz with Yes or No answers:
*Have you ever attended a presentation specifically to see the PowerPoint slides?
*Did you ever say before someone’s presentation, “Boy, I can’t wait to see his PowerPoint!”?
*After a presentation, have you ever said, “Wow, weren’t those PowerPoint slides terrific!”?
*Have you ever squinted in delight at a busy slide, especially the one where the speaker said, “I know you can’t read this, but…”?
*When the speaker is opening up her PPt document on the computer, where it’s projected for the whole room to see, and you notice that she appears to have DOZENS of slides for about a 15-minute presentation, are you alight with anticipation?
If you said Yes to any of these questions, then you are probably a “PowerPointhead,” and there is no need to read any more of this article. But if, as I suspect for most readers, your responses were a resounding “No!,” then let’s dig a little deeper here. If you acknowledge that, as an audience member, you don’t love to be inundated with slides, that you don’t enjoy trying to read complicated visuals, that too much PowerPoint is not a good thing, then be honest here: How many times have you, as a presenter been guilty of your own PowerPoint poisoning?
PowerPoint has become the kudzu of visual aids, infesting our presentations with overdone graphics and walls of words, overtaking our talks to where speakers are totally reliant on them, and being, unfortunately, extremely difficult to get rid of! But here’s one antidote to the poison.
In the interest of full disclosure, let me just state my bias in the world of presentations: my focus, as a presenter and speaker myself, an audience member, and, most significantly, as a trainer and coach of other speakers, is always on the speaker. I believe presentations are one of the best opportunities for exposure out there. The more you speak, the more people you speak to, the more people who are exposed to your ideas, your hard work and your results, then the more likely you are to be recognized, remembered and rewarded, to impress people and move up the ladder of success. That recognition, that memorability, that positive impression does not, I repeat, does not come from your PowerPoint slides!
As a public speaking coach and trainer, I offer suggestions for everything from how to improve the quality of your slides to how to use them most effectively as you present. I believe all of them can improve your presentation impact. However, this is my first and foremost suggestion: Don’t use ’em!
Really. Do without. Spend all those hours you sat at your computer trying to create clever (and overdone and distracting) slides and fine tune your presentation. Tighten the organization. Add humanizing elements. Practice several times until the delivery flows. Then speak from the heart and be authentic and connect with your audience (something PowerPoint doesn’t allow you to do very well). If you succeed at that, you definitely won’t need any PowerPoint.
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Source by Barbara Busey
