Epidemic PowerPoint Misuse

By Hilari Weinstein Technology has changed the way we prepare for and make presentations. Commanding around 95 percent of the market share, Microsoft PowerPoint © has become the most widely used presentation technology tool, with more than 30 million PowerPoint presentations given each day.  A powerful weapon of persuasion, it was created to improve presentation quality and help presenters organize their material. As with any tool, mishandling can result in disaster.  Compared to a nail-gun disaster, casualties of PowerPoint Misuse (PPM) may be less bloody but the negative impact to your organization can be huge.  PowerPoint disaster recovery efforts are costly, time-consuming, and sometimes impossible. Most of us have had the unpleasant experience of sitting through a bad PowerPoint presentation.  It can be boring, confusing — even painful — for the audience, as well as the presenter!  So, why has PPM reached epidemic proportions? Fear Most people would rather die than give a presentation.  PowerPoint enables presenters to hide behind the screen, in a Wizard of Oz-fashion. The 007 effect We are gadget freaks.  Commercials tell us cool toys make us look cool.  Many presenters hope a PowerPoint with bright colors, psychedelic animation, and fancy graphics will make them more likable. Plus PowerPoint offers: A crutch Many presenters don’t take the time to learn their content, looking to the screen for support. In this case, the PowerPoint becomes a security blanket rather than a powerful visual persuasion tool. Convenience We are busy! Who has time to craft the presentation, incorporate visual aids and rehearse?  It makes presenting easy.  Type it all in, throw in a few pretty pictures and charts, and voila!  This “type it in and show up” mentality is a recipe for disaster. A creative outlet Playing with graphics, sound effects, and pictures is so much more fun than rehearsing a presentation. Here are the four most common forms of PPM and a few tips to mitigate misuse: Forgetting the audience On many occasions, presenters design the PowerPoint to guide them through their presentation instead of designing it to help their audience better understand and retain presentation content. Quick tip — Try to see the PowerPoint from your audience’s perspective.  If that is a challenge, invite another set of eyes to view your presentation.  Honest and helpful feedback is hard to find.  This is why it can be advantageous to hire an unbiased professional coach.  Sometimes a presenter can be so engrossed in their topic that it is difficult to visualize the experience from the audience’s perspective. Too Many Slides This is possibly the most common misuse of PowerPoint.  One of my clients is a recovering PowerPoint junkie.  In our introductory meeting, he showed me a presentation he had been crafting — 52 slides for a 20-minute presentation! With appropriate intervention; he was able to whittle it down to what was most important. Quick tip — Start on paper, then add PowerPoint.  You can’t fit your whole closet into one suitcase.  Make smart choices about what you need for the trip and leave the rest. Junked Up Slides (JUS) aka PMS “Pimp My Slide” When your presentation has JUS, you force the audience’s attention to the screen instead of you, the presenter.  Most people have been subjected to this one: too many words on the slide, paragraphs instead of bullet points, confusing or unnecessary charts or diagrams, pictures and flashy graphics that detract from the message.  JUS/PMS misuses are like creative gluttony.  For your audience, it is like going to a restaurant and ordering a delicious salad that is saturated in dressing. Quick tip — Less is more.  Observe the 6 x 6 rule.  No more than 6 lines per page; no more than 6 words per line.  For each slide, ask: is this purposeful or pimped-up? Rough Interaction with the PowerPoint We’ve all been witness to this:  presenters reading everything off the screen, standing in front of the screen, or walking to the screen and touching it with their finger to point out something.  When the audience experiences poor delivery, they tend to critique the messenger, diminishing the value of the message. Hilari Weinstein, president of High Impact Communication, co-authored, “Selection Success! How Consultants, Contractors and Others Can Win More Work in a Qualifications-Based Selection Process” available at www.selectionsuccess.com.  Hilari helps A/E/C professionals nationwide to win more work in CM@Risk, Design-Build, and JOC projects. She is on the faculty of the American Council of Engineering Companies Leadership Academy (LEAP).  For more information, visit www.highimpactcommunication.com.