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Slideshows perpetuate the idea that a presentation is linear, rather than full of variables
Talking to people is way less linear than, say, putting a pizza in the oven.
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PowerPoint was created by developers and is now ruling the way we communicate
Whilst I respect IT people to develop IT stuff, I’m staying in charge of my own communication, thank you very much. (Oops, did I just offend my main clients?)
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Slideshows perpetuate the idea that you can plan an interaction in detail in advance
Do you script your conversations? If you do, you’ve read too many 1950s sales books.
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Slideshows encourage you to ignore the people in front of you
Must follow slides. Must. Follow. Slides.
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Slideshows encourages performance rather than communication
And generally bad performance, at that.
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Slides make you up the formality of your language, rendering you more difficult to listen to
Remember: conversational is better.
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Slideshows make you think you can deliver other people’s presentations
You can’t. No really.
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Slideshows mean someone else thinks they can write your presentation
They can’t. No. Really really.
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Slideshows encourage recycling of half-examined ideas for what is actually a new audience
The ‘What slides can a re-use’ or ‘How can I treat people like canned goods’ travesty.
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Slideshows make people stand and talk in the dark
Hello? That’s not just evil. That’s insane.
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Slideshows make you feel like when you’ve got the slides ready, you’ve got your talk ready.
That’s like thinking that because your windscreen is clean, you’re going to have no traffic. Or because your DVDs are in alphabetical order, it’s not going to rain for a week.
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Slideshows make you talk in headings and sub-headings
Yeah, because that works so well in reports, essays and academic documents. Such successful models to copy.
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Slideshows mean everyone, all over the world, is delivering the SAME PRESENTATION
Or at least it makes your listeners feel that way.
Enough with the slideshows already. Enough. ENOUGH!
Anything to add?
Learn to plan for sensible visual aid use with my free e-book ‘Rapid Presentation Planning – be ready with a smart presentation in hours not weeks’ by clicking here. No strings.
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Related tirades posts
~ The only book to read about designing PowerPoint slides
~ 3 reasons why you should plan conversations, not presentations
~ 3 reasons why you should deliver your presentation like it’s a conversation
Andrew,
This is a masterpiece. Thanks for consolidating all the negatives about Power Point into one concise list.
The opportunity for us now is to describe and promote alternatives in each of these areas. If a speech or presentaiton has to start and finish, what happens in between?
I believe that thinking about a presentation using a step by step approach (my Speech Development System)helps the presenter craft a presentation. However, the thinking and planning should not be done using the slide software. And most importantly, the speaker should use slides sparingly, and cleverly, rather than being a slave to the technology.
Susan
I *so* need to show this to my students next year. PowerPoint is ingrained in the corporate culture of Singapore, to the point when it sucks away all spontaneity and creativity. Thanks for this, Andrew.
Hi Susan and Jason
I’m glad to see that I’m not alone!
Thanks for your input…
Andrew
andrew, i love this piece.
what’s missing for me is that powerpoint drains away the power of the presenter.
goddess Zana i credit with “powerpoint will make you powerless!”
love your work!
ed
xx