On the other hand, as Tessa points out, delivering some sort of report or linear sequence of information might get done in person today with PP as the tool for illustrations while the speaker replaces written narrative with verbal. At a training class on pres’ns (many years ago, pre-PP), I was taught that the presenter is the hero and the visuals are the backdrops. Thanks!)Īs one who has used PowerPoint many many times, I’d say it’s a double-edged sword. I’ll pick one comment by 5:00 PST on Monday. Just share an insightful comment to this week’s post. (Marketoonist Monday: I’m giving away a signed print of this week’s cartoon. However we communicate, our ideas are too important to commit idea camouflage. Science writer John Bohannon recently advocated using modern dance instead of PowerPoint. Here was one of the most influential design thinkers in the world, and he communicated with stick figures. Stick figures also guaranteed that everyone in the room would understand him. He said that stick figures forced him to really know what he was talking about, because he couldn’t hide behind a PowerPoint slide. Chris explained he always presented with stick figures, whether at a board meeting or a factory. As he spoke, every slide was nothing more than a hand-drawn stick figure and a few words. Years ago, I heard an riveting talk by Chris Bangle, who led design for BMW. And rarely do we see more “blah blah blah” than in PowerPoint presentations.
Yet too much of communication is “blah blah blah”. We think that speaking well is the cornerstone of intelligence.” We think that talking is the best way to share an idea. “We think that thinking means stringing words together in a meaningful way. It’s a handbook on getting beyond the “blah blah blah” in any form of communication. This cartoon was partly inspired by Dan Roam’s wonderful new book called “ Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don’t Work“. People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint.” I wanted them to engage, to hash things out at the table, rather than show a bunch of slides. People confront a problem by creating a presentation. “I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking. I was struck by this quote from Steve Jobs, soon after he returned to Apple: We sometimes assume the longer and more verbose the slide deck, the more credibility our idea will have. Yet it is common to neuter ideas with mind-numbing slide presentations. Our ideas are only as good as how we communicate them. PowerPoint presentations may not have actually killed anyone, but they’ve sure killed many an idea.