I'm reading a great book that Angela turned me on to called Presentation Zen and if you have ever experienced "Death by Powerpoint" you need to read this book.
Garr Reynolds brings slideware into the Conceptual Age (remember Daniel Pink) by sharing his "amplification through simplification" approach. His solution: more subtlety, grace, and elegance in slides and no more than 6 words per slide. Oh, and also, no more than 6 slides per presentation! Garr tells us to make our impact with the images we choose and he says the best stock images around are from http://www.istockphoto.com/
Garr Reynolds brings slideware into the Conceptual Age (remember Daniel Pink) by sharing his "amplification through simplification" approach. His solution: more subtlety, grace, and elegance in slides and no more than 6 words per slide. Oh, and also, no more than 6 slides per presentation! Garr tells us to make our impact with the images we choose and he says the best stock images around are from http://www.istockphoto.com/
Speak to your points instead of overwhelming your audience with text they won't even read. Then, be sure to provide them with a handout afterwards that contains all the stats, graphs, pie-charts, and minutia of your speaking points! Engage them with visuals and stories that are relevant and compelling. How refreshing!
His knack for "bottom-lining" is masterful and he gets you to think succinctly. "What is your point and why does it matter?" is what Garr wants you to CONSTANTLY ask yourself.
Dwight Shrute had it right, PowerPoint does suck BUT you can make it work for you and after reading Presentation Zen, you'll see how!
Happy presenting!
Ruth
Great recommendation; as someone who creates slideware on a daily basis, I've seen 100+ page decks that are arguably necessary, but rarely read through in their minutiae.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, PPT has also become the de facto standard for collecting information for peers, i.e. industry analysis/competitive benchmarketing/etc. would all be delivered in PPT format, with no intention of ever presenting it to an audience.