7. What’s Your Point?

Leave Pointlessness to Woody Allen

Existentialism is defined by Wordnik, the online dictionary, as “A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, and regards human existence as unexplainable.”¹

Woody Allen, who has made frequent references to the philosophy in his films—name-dropping its advocates, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Sartre—is reported to have once said, “I took a test in Existentialism. I left all the answers blank and got 100.”²

In his 40th film as a director, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Mr. Allen turned to the subject again, if not in philosophical quotes, in theme. As a matter of fact, the only—and most pertinent—quote he used is by William Shakespeare. At the beginning of the film, an off-screen narrator speaks these famous lines from Macbeth: “A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

The tale that Mr. Allen then goes on to tell is about two couples whose marriages break up because each of the members strays in search of a better partner. But in the end, all four searchers wind up in circumstances worse than they had left; their failed searches pointless.

In his review of the film, Mick LaSalle, the movie critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote:

Allen once again contemplates the pointlessness of existence, but this time he has an additional idea, one that has an effect on his movie’s story and structure.... His goal is not to make you walk out thinking, “Ahh, yes, perhaps there is no moral order to the universe. Very interesting.” His goal is rather to make you walk out thinking, “Huh? What was the point of that?”³

“What was the point of that?” and its companion phrase, the teenagers’ frequently-uttered, “And your point is...?” are the very last words you want your audience to walk out thinking at the end of your presentation. How many times have you have been in the audience to someone else’s presentation and muttered those disdainful words?

You can avoid that reaction in your audience by following the advice of author Stephen R. Covey, whose bestselling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People identifies Habit 2 as “Begin with the End in Mind.”⁴ Start the development of your presentation with the last sentence; then build up to it with strong, powerful ideas and words.

Woody Allen can get away with pointlessness because he goes for the laughs; you are going for the gold. Make your presentations full of sound and fury, signifying everything that you want your audience to do.