Best sellers don't come from Word courses
At a dinner party last night the subject about what we do at PowerfulPresentations arose, as it often does. It is interesting how concept of a slideware (PowerPoint, Keynote, etc) can arouse vocal comments even from those who would normally be very demure.
A Filipino lady who had just completed a course on how to use PowerPoint was waxing lyrical about the virtues of the product and how much she enjoyed using it. She was not stating she was an expert by any means but, like others I have met, there is a belief that the use of the software package constitutes a skill set in presentation design.
Now, there are certainly a percentage of people out there that use the wizards in Word to create a letter, no doubt, but I would suggest that most people do not. Certainly you wouldn't consider having any great piece of literature resulting from a Word template. Why is it that people believe that a template in presentation software will create an effective presentation? This has to be the greatest misunderstanding ever foisted on the poor audiences of those template built presentations and their custom animations.
It seems to pass by most people that a presentation is a form of media. Media, as defined in wikipedia, is "those organized means of dissemination of fact, opinion, entertainment, and other information”. Now "the media" as we know it is a huge industry. It includes TV, movies, radio, newspapers, and the internet, just to name the biggest players.
Could you imagine a world where the creators of these elements of the media used a standardised approach to the the production of their content? If all movies had the equivelent of a slide heading, then bullet points, a logo in the bottom right hand corner...you get my drift. We would suggest that if that had been the case, the industry would not be what it is today but would have sunk into a well deserved oblivion. In fact the media has been defined by those who stepped out from the boring to generate the original. Rather, many of the pioneers in these industries looked on themselves as craftsmen and artisans, creating an expression of who they are, an elegantly defined example of what they perceived as an art form.
Now, many of us don't have the inclination or the time to craft presentations...or that is their belief...so they stick to the standard format...slide title, bullet points, logo in the lower right hand corner, blah, blah, blah. And then they wonder why their presentation had little impact and they had trouble keeping the audience interested.
Like most things in life, presentations reflect the adage "you get back what you put in". The next time you whip open a software package to create your presentation, I urge you to pause and ponder for a moment on exactly what is at stake in this presentation. How much money is "on the table"? What career options may arise out of it going well (or poorly)? When you do, you may realise that a new approach may pay big dividends, not just to you but the poor audience who is sick to death of template prepared presentations. Then, we might see a reduction in the 54,000 "Death by PowerPoint" references on Google alone and like good presentations, will understand that best sellers don't come from Word courses.
A Filipino lady who had just completed a course on how to use PowerPoint was waxing lyrical about the virtues of the product and how much she enjoyed using it. She was not stating she was an expert by any means but, like others I have met, there is a belief that the use of the software package constitutes a skill set in presentation design.
Now, there are certainly a percentage of people out there that use the wizards in Word to create a letter, no doubt, but I would suggest that most people do not. Certainly you wouldn't consider having any great piece of literature resulting from a Word template. Why is it that people believe that a template in presentation software will create an effective presentation? This has to be the greatest misunderstanding ever foisted on the poor audiences of those template built presentations and their custom animations.
It seems to pass by most people that a presentation is a form of media. Media, as defined in wikipedia, is "those organized means of dissemination of fact, opinion, entertainment, and other information”. Now "the media" as we know it is a huge industry. It includes TV, movies, radio, newspapers, and the internet, just to name the biggest players.
Could you imagine a world where the creators of these elements of the media used a standardised approach to the the production of their content? If all movies had the equivelent of a slide heading, then bullet points, a logo in the bottom right hand corner...you get my drift. We would suggest that if that had been the case, the industry would not be what it is today but would have sunk into a well deserved oblivion. In fact the media has been defined by those who stepped out from the boring to generate the original. Rather, many of the pioneers in these industries looked on themselves as craftsmen and artisans, creating an expression of who they are, an elegantly defined example of what they perceived as an art form.
Now, many of us don't have the inclination or the time to craft presentations...or that is their belief...so they stick to the standard format...slide title, bullet points, logo in the lower right hand corner, blah, blah, blah. And then they wonder why their presentation had little impact and they had trouble keeping the audience interested.
Like most things in life, presentations reflect the adage "you get back what you put in". The next time you whip open a software package to create your presentation, I urge you to pause and ponder for a moment on exactly what is at stake in this presentation. How much money is "on the table"? What career options may arise out of it going well (or poorly)? When you do, you may realise that a new approach may pay big dividends, not just to you but the poor audience who is sick to death of template prepared presentations. Then, we might see a reduction in the 54,000 "Death by PowerPoint" references on Google alone and like good presentations, will understand that best sellers don't come from Word courses.
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