PowerPoint Sucks

Would you like me to shout it? PowerPoint sucks!

If you've ever attended a meeting of any sort, and I mean any sort, you could no doubt instantly identify with the conclusion in this heading.

This well-known and widely blamed software tool from Microsoft Corporation makes it easy to create, manage, and share presentations in person, on a mobile device, or via the Internet. This software represents the single greatest abuse when it comes to making meetings suck—even the most updated version.

Let's begin with the most important principle of this abuse—providing graphic representations to back up your facts and figures. Yes, PowerPoint delivers visual and audio stimuli that build emotion and engagement into the subject you're presenting. But remember, its purpose is to enhance your presentation … at least that's what I wish the instruction manual said!

However, the vast majority of people use PowerPoint (or an equivalent, such as Keynote for Mac computers) as the presentation itself. What happened to using visuals to enhance your own presentation, not as a substitute for it? That's why we can't blame PowerPoint outright. When your PowerPoint slides suck, you have only you to blame—you and your unknown desire to deliver mindless presentations when you could simply have shared the presentation via other means.

But hey, don't think I'm alone in believing this. Countless blogs, books, and articles discussing presentation-type software contend that PowerPoint and its brethren reduce meetings to a compilation of poorly executed bullet points with small text and flying graphics.

The fact is, the moment you dim the lights and your attendees start getting pummeled with slides, they naturally go into lecture mode, thus reducing your meeting to a one-way, noninteractive experience.

PowerPoint has been so long abused that it destructively sucks all the energy out of your meeting. You can compound the problem by turning your shoulder and facing toward the screen as you read slide after slide in a color scheme that's difficult to view. If that's what you do, you've just doomed your meeting. Consider your attendees down for the count.

With a massive amount of material written on the subject and a vast resource of information on the Internet, let's keep this diatribe brief. That said, if you must use PowerPoint, here are some SRDs that will put you miles ahead of other presenters. Use them and launch the Bore No More! movement in your office. It's easy.

Want more detailed information? Visit the Boring Meetings Suck web site and be on the lookout for PowerPoint Sucks, the Sequel, as well as the made-for-TV movie.

Presenter SRDs

• The PowerPoint is not the presentation; you are! Learn it; live it!
• The vastness of your slide arsenal has no bearing on your ability to communicate effectively. If your slides are text-heavy and unfocused, then expect results like this:

  Number of slides	Result of showing them
  1–15	Potential for an effective presentation if used only as visual support.
  16–24	Too many. You're losing your audience.
  25–34	If content-heavy and text-based, thanks for coming!
  35+	Please accept our free gift: PowerPoint Sucks.

The purpose of this list? To tell you to keep the PowerPoint part of your presentation as short as possible. Fewer slides with fewer points per slide help attendees stay focused on you and more engaged.

• Open your pitch with something more engaging then dimming the lights. Do you really need a title slide when you begin? Don't these people know you anyway? Instead, refer to the projected slides only when you need to or when your content dictates it.
• Keep the lights on. If your image doesn't show up, get a better projector. If this isn't an option, dim the lights only during the phases requiring low lighting and then turn them backup for more content and your conclusion. Worst case, it wakes up the people you've put to sleep.
• Don't dim the lights at all. Stop using a projector and get an LCD display view able by everyone in your meeting space. Then you don't have to worry about silhouettes or that bright beam of light burning your retinas.
• It's okay not to have anything on the screen. Don't feel you have to have a slide, photo, or graphic on the screen at all times. If you want the screen to go dark or have a slide go away completely when you are finished, press b on your keyboard. The screen will instantly turn off (go black) and quickly turn back on when you press b again. If you prefer, the screen can go white by using the w key (who said they weren't clever over there at Gates's Microsoft complex?)
• Insert a black or white slide. If you're working with a remote control and don't have access to the keyboard, insert a slide that's all black or all white wherever needed in your presentation when you want all the focus on you. (I recommend black so you can then walk in front of the projector without causing shadows.) Amazingly, some remotes have a special button built in with a blackout function.
• Do you use your slides as your outline? If you have to have slides to guide you along, then create two presentations. Develop the first one with all the text and commentary you wish to present. This version doubles as your handout or follow-up documentation. Then go back and create the actual PowerPoint you'll use in the meeting. Take out all except the most important points. The SRDs that follow will help you create your presentation slides, so keep reading.
• Do you really have to push the button? Do you walk over and press a button on the laptop to advance the slide, or say to someone, “Next slide, please”? Really? Seriously? Get a remote to advance your slides so you can walk around. Better yet, use the timer function that automatically advances the slides after a specified amount of seconds or minutes. Not only is it seamless, but it keeps those “dogs off the leash” at a distance. If you are in desperate need to stop the show, it's easy to pause by using the s key on the keyboard and pressing it again to resume. Use bullet points in place of full sentences. However, too many bullet points on a single slide can detract. I favor using additional slides in place of putting too much text on one slide, even in the form of bullet points—a maximum of five.
• Maintain eye contact. If nothing else, learn to make your primary points while engaging your audience visually. Walk away from the lectern and interact with attendees. Have at least three main points to summarize that don't require reading from the screen.
• With and without the slides, be sure to enunciate and pronounce your words clearly.

In the end, do your homework. If you're making a large or important presentation, take time to rehearse the media you'll use. Practice controlling your PowerPoint program so it fits with your complete presentation. Know when you need to advance the slides and how each relates to the content you're talking about.

Beware. If you intend to use PowerPoint or a similar program, be prepared for an instinctive reaction of boredom. It's nothing against you, just something that your ancestors have bred into humankind.