I just finished a 20 year stint teaching at a local, private "career" university, and for a full ten years, every section of Intro to Communications has included a unit on proper construction of A/V material, and why playing "PowerPoint Karaoke" is just about the worst choice you can make as a speaker. The other two worst choices you can make as a speaker, by the way, are constantly apologizing for your perceived lack of ability/experience, and audibly farting.
There are two kinds of powerpoint presentations, and the problem is they are often conflated: to horrific effect.
The first is a story presentation - this is the one you want to sell people with, it's pictures and eye contact and you telling them a story of who they will be, thanks to you. Keep words on the page to an absolute bare minimum, never more than 3 bullet points, ideally only a few words per slide at all. If you show a graph or something, you still need axis titles and labels etc - brand logos don't count either - but paragraphs are a fatal error in this situation, and sentences are extremely risky.
Ideally, you should be able to hand this printed version over to your client and it should only make any sense to them as recall to the presentation - they should NOT be able to use this to explain the presentation without you. That's intentional. It's an experience, the powerpoint is just a visual aide for your dialogue. You are required. The slides are not.
The second is an analysis presentation. In this case, you actually want to document as much as possible in a visually appealing, digestible manner. It's a spruced-up white paper with color and charts. This is the exact opposite intent from the above - if it's done correctly - you should be able to hand this presentation over to your client and they should be able to flip through it, and draw the exact conclusion that you intend for them to draw. You are guiding them through the evidence to your point. You are not required. The slides are required.
These are separate decks and they should always be developed separately (but using the same themes). They are often conflated to horrific effect.
Now, in a fancy presentation with multiple stakeholders - you are going to have both kinds of audiences in the room. You're going to have an Executive, or Ops manager, or middle manager who shouldn't even be here - they all want you to tell them the story that sells the product. The executive wants to look in your eyes and see when you're lying (and they'll know), the Ops manager just wants to hear you'll wake up at 3am when he calls in a panic, the middle manager wants to look attentive without having to actively participate. They want your eye contact, every time they have to study a slide - breaking eye contact - it's like you're lying to them.
You will also have the fresh MBA analyst who will flip to your data and start checking your math: and they will call you out if it's wrong (putting too much data in your story presentation will harm you for this reason). There's the eager corporate climber who will start applying the details to your company, and will show off to the Executive/Ops Manager if they find something that won't apply to your company. And there's probably a lawyer in the room who will flip directly to the fine print and start redlining how you're planning to screw them. The more data you give these people - the more they will fuck you. That's even if you aren't trying to fuck the client - because the nature of a story presentation is that it does not include the full context: but details people will judge it as if it does. Give them nothing or everything.
The best solution IMO, is to have a story presentation at the front of your deck so the people who aren't going to flip ahead are going to see the slides you intend them to see. Then have your analysis presentation in the appendices. The details people will find it, if you want to know who is who - just hand them a powerpoint deck, details people often habitually open printed decks from the back: they're looking for the appendix, or at least your conclusion. Give them tons of information in the appendix to chew on, so they don't maul your over-simplified story slides. Like a chew-toy for a dog so they don't chew your shoes.
Fourty9 on June 8th, 2021 at 19:25 UTC »
People need to focus on the purpose of the meeting and not filling the hour. So much time wasted
OperationEconomy3346 on June 8th, 2021 at 19:44 UTC »
I just finished a 20 year stint teaching at a local, private "career" university, and for a full ten years, every section of Intro to Communications has included a unit on proper construction of A/V material, and why playing "PowerPoint Karaoke" is just about the worst choice you can make as a speaker. The other two worst choices you can make as a speaker, by the way, are constantly apologizing for your perceived lack of ability/experience, and audibly farting.
You're welcome.
Yvaelle on June 8th, 2021 at 22:08 UTC »
There are two kinds of powerpoint presentations, and the problem is they are often conflated: to horrific effect.
The first is a story presentation - this is the one you want to sell people with, it's pictures and eye contact and you telling them a story of who they will be, thanks to you. Keep words on the page to an absolute bare minimum, never more than 3 bullet points, ideally only a few words per slide at all. If you show a graph or something, you still need axis titles and labels etc - brand logos don't count either - but paragraphs are a fatal error in this situation, and sentences are extremely risky.
Ideally, you should be able to hand this printed version over to your client and it should only make any sense to them as recall to the presentation - they should NOT be able to use this to explain the presentation without you. That's intentional. It's an experience, the powerpoint is just a visual aide for your dialogue. You are required. The slides are not.
The second is an analysis presentation. In this case, you actually want to document as much as possible in a visually appealing, digestible manner. It's a spruced-up white paper with color and charts. This is the exact opposite intent from the above - if it's done correctly - you should be able to hand this presentation over to your client and they should be able to flip through it, and draw the exact conclusion that you intend for them to draw. You are guiding them through the evidence to your point. You are not required. The slides are required.
These are separate decks and they should always be developed separately (but using the same themes). They are often conflated to horrific effect.
Now, in a fancy presentation with multiple stakeholders - you are going to have both kinds of audiences in the room. You're going to have an Executive, or Ops manager, or middle manager who shouldn't even be here - they all want you to tell them the story that sells the product. The executive wants to look in your eyes and see when you're lying (and they'll know), the Ops manager just wants to hear you'll wake up at 3am when he calls in a panic, the middle manager wants to look attentive without having to actively participate. They want your eye contact, every time they have to study a slide - breaking eye contact - it's like you're lying to them.
You will also have the fresh MBA analyst who will flip to your data and start checking your math: and they will call you out if it's wrong (putting too much data in your story presentation will harm you for this reason). There's the eager corporate climber who will start applying the details to your company, and will show off to the Executive/Ops Manager if they find something that won't apply to your company. And there's probably a lawyer in the room who will flip directly to the fine print and start redlining how you're planning to screw them. The more data you give these people - the more they will fuck you. That's even if you aren't trying to fuck the client - because the nature of a story presentation is that it does not include the full context: but details people will judge it as if it does. Give them nothing or everything.
The best solution IMO, is to have a story presentation at the front of your deck so the people who aren't going to flip ahead are going to see the slides you intend them to see. Then have your analysis presentation in the appendices. The details people will find it, if you want to know who is who - just hand them a powerpoint deck, details people often habitually open printed decks from the back: they're looking for the appendix, or at least your conclusion. Give them tons of information in the appendix to chew on, so they don't maul your over-simplified story slides. Like a chew-toy for a dog so they don't chew your shoes.