I was reading my usual feeds the other day, and I came across an article in The Onion and a post referencing the same article in Seth Godin’s Blog.
This one hit a bit close to home. I’ve been through a few too many ridiculous presentations lately, and I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s paying attention. And that, of course, is the problem. The presentations are so bad that no one pays attention.
I’m not sure where the blame lies in the latest one. Is it with the person who made the slide—yes, one slide covered in unreadable text that was talked over for a good ten minutes—or is the fault with the organizers of the group presentation who told her she could only have one slide? (I’m speculating that a one slide limit was enforced because I can’t think of any other reason to do what was done.)
I don’t quite understand where the idea came from that you can have too many slides. Maybe twenty years ago when you had to pay good money to get actual slides printed this was worth consideration, but slides are essentially free now. They can be numerous and colorful and engaging, and they don’t cost any more to create than boring, text-crammed slides that are immediately dismissed (along with the speaker) by the audience.
This then begs the question of why someone planning a group meeting with multiple speakers would limit people by slide count. Limiting people by time is as pointless though. People will drone on wasting everyone’s time just to fill theirs.
How about asking your contributers what they would like to talk about? Have a conversation to determine the best use of the hour among all the presenters. Don’t tell them, “I need you to put together a slide regarding your department’s actions for the month.” It’s a presentation not a slide display. Take the focus off the slides.
Encourage them to talk to us about what they’ve been excited to work on lately. Show me illuminating pictures. Use the slides to highlight what you’re saying not to remind you what to say.
Lose the corporate and stock templates already. We’ve seen them all. We’re bored.
And I don’t think it would kill you to practice and to figure out how the microphone works.
End rant.
Read Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen. This is an excellent book with a wealth of useful information and inspiring images. Also look at his Top Ten Slide Tips and other useful tips.
(This being the first post in the Business category, I had to come up with a graphic. The irony isn’t lost on me that my Business graphic is a guy pointing at a chart with a stick. I couldn’t think of anything else. See how engrained this is in people? It needs to stop.)
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