Long, slow slide | Spare your audience the torment of PowerPoint
“Advice Squad” is written by members of the Maine chapter of the Association for Consulting Expertise, a trade organization of 88 consultants around the state. This issue’s column is written by Dave Griffiths, owner of writing and media relations firm Dave Griffiths Communications in Mechanic Falls.
On far too many occasions, I’ve been at meetings of various organizations where PowerPoint is the dominating technological presence. Here’s a typical scene:
To keep track of his or her slides, the speaker interrupts eye contact repeatedly; most of us more than one table back from the screen can’t make out much of the lettering, and the give-and-take that should enliven any presentation takes a nosedive, offering nothing but the illusion of coherence. Locked in by the carefully crafted “show,” the presenter clicks through the busy charts and graphs, and the rest of us glance at our watches. It’s technology as a crutch, standing in poorly for the good old-fashioned display of speaking skills that we have within us.
We can all interact with an audience directly and express ourselves in a well-prepared fashion. Well-prepared means a 15-minute presentation that you’ve laid out in logical form, as if writing an e-mail to an intelligent friend or associate. Once you’ve got that down, rehearse it in front of a mirror or a family member or a co-worker. The goal is to speak to your listeners, instead of looking away and repeating endless bullet points on a slide. That way, you set the stage for trading ideas verbally instead of passively absorbing one image after another. It’s that simple.
Do it well — because you’re proud of your expertise — and you’ll prime your listeners for a lively Q&A. As a writing and public speaking teacher who shuns PowerPoint, my greatest pleasure lies in stimulating listeners to exchange ideas and anecdotes and challenge me with questions. More often than not, I come away with plans to re-examine some old assumptions.
A better way
PowerPoint’s emphasis on process over product hit home when I worked recently with some Navy SEALs in Virginia Beach, Va. Back in the states between combat and security deployments, they were on the staff of the Naval Special Weapons Development Group, and they asked me to help cultivate a concise, to-the-point writing style to communicate with their Pentagon superiors. It quickly became apparent that they were also frustrated by PowerPoint briefings they were expected to give to senior officials, including ambassadors and politicians.
To a man, they hated PowerPoint. As elite warriors, SEALs are subject to constant training — updates on weaponry, civil affairs, language, explosives, you name it. Too often, they complained, that meant absorbing one slide after another, then being pronounced “trained,” as if that’s all it took. They would appreciate these words from Richard Danzig, Navy secretary in the Clinton administration: “The idea behind most of these briefings is for us to sit through 100 slides with our eyes glazed over, and then to do what all military organizations hope for … to surrender to an overwhelming mass.”
Against that background, here’s what we came up with for the SEALs’ briefings: Instead of a PowerPoint projector, make sure there’s a flip chart, blackboard or whiteboard within a few steps of your podium or lectern. Leave the lights on and lay out your presentation, pausing every few minutes to walk over and write out some key points. I told them their audience would track their moves and pay close attention to what they had to “say” with the marker. In other words, a few salient words or phrases on the board would link them to their listeners in an almost physical sense, with nothing technological standing in the way. What’s more, that flip chart or board can be a canvas for jotting down listeners’ ideas. (As a side benefit, strolling from podium to board and back is a good way to deal with nerves.)
But what about all the information you want your audience to take away? What about all that stuff that shows up on all those slides? No problem. At the beginning, just tell your audience not to fret about scribbling down any details you throw at them. Tell them you’ll hand out fact sheets at the end.
Locally, the Portland law firm Drummond Woodsum, which represents the Regional School Unit 16 board that I chair, cut way back on PowerPoint for client briefings, finding that traditional, uncluttered presentations are still the most efficient. When the law firm held a daylong program on education law for school board members statewide, the only slides flashed on a screen were a few humorous quotes. The rest of the action was two or three lawyers alternating at the front of the room, punctuated by numerous questions from the audience and bolstered by a thick handbook to take home.
I can’t say it any better than renowned Italian marketing and advertising consultant Giancarlo Livraghi: “The PowerPoint syndrome isn’t just the misuse of specific technology. It’s a cultural disease.”
Dave Griffiths can be reached at dave@davegriffithscommunications.com. Read more Advice Squad at www.mainebiz.biz.
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