The Perils of PowerPoint
Author: Joan Curtis

When PowerPoint became a tool for today's speakers,
workshop leaders, and presenters, we all rejoiced. It was
the end of the slideshow era. Unfortunately, we moved from
boring slideshows to boring PowerPoint presentations.

Whether you are using PowerPoint or a fancy video program,
the purpose of your audio visual is to punctuate your
presentation. It adds that extra something, like a bit of
salt on food. It is not supposed to overpower you. You
are the star of the program. What is more important, the
audio visuals are not a substitute for your notes! Too
often we see PowerPoint slides full of words. Those words
are there to aid the speaker, not for the learning benefit
of the audience.

When Benjamin Franklin said, "I hear and I forget, I see
and I remember, I do and I understand," he was talking
about the power of the visual message along with the verbal
message. Not having an inkling about slides or PowerPoint,
he recognized how important it is to see as well as hear
(and, of course, to do). The name PowerPoint suggests that
the makers of the software intended it to add "power to
your points." How clever! So, why is it we put people to
sleep with our presentations?

My answer to that question is that we depend on PowerPoint
to do too much. We expect the software to remember our
words, to serve as our handouts, to entertain our audience,
and to prop us up when we lose focus. Speakers who abuse
PowerPoint often are in "cruise control." They are not
tuned into the audience; instead, they are tuned into their
slide program. They zone out and so does the audience.

PowerPoint Do's and Don'ts

- How many slides do you need for a 30 minute presentation?
The answer to this question will probably shock you. In
my view, you need no more than 5. Some people go by a rule
of 10 slides per 30 minutes, and I will forgive you if you
have 10. But any more than 10 is too many. When I teach
3-hour workshops or even 6-hour workshops, I often have no
more than 12 slides and often less.

- What do you put on the slides? A list of bullet points
is boring. What are the major points you are presenting?
What are the feelings behind those points? How can you
show those two things on a slide? Perhaps a huge word or a
photo is enough.

- Facing your slides and reading them is a huge no-no. You
should never turn your back on your audience while you are
talking. If you do, you lose them. They turn their
attention to that slide and off of you. At that point,
their eyes glaze over, and you've lost them.

- Do not turn off all the lights to show a PowerPoint
presentation. Dim the lights close to the screen. You
know the obvious reasons not to turn the lights off, right?
First, the audience can't see you! And second, they will
get sleepy. People become drowsy when the lights are off
no matter how entertaining you are.

- Remember to include handouts. Handouts are where you can
put your detailed information, not on a PowerPoint slide.
Slides are the program; handouts are the take-aways.

- Eliminate unnecessary slides. If you do a good job
practicing your presentation with your PowerPoint slides,
you will see which slides are necessary and which are not.
Go through your presentation at least 5 times with your
PowerPoint show; eliminate the slides you do not need. You
don't want to be flipping through a series of unnecessary
slides during the presentation. Worse still, you don't
want a slide to pop up about something you just said. Your
audience will believe you were unprepared. Practice will
get you comfortable with the slides and relaxed with using
your notes along with the slides.

- Have a separate set of notes for your presentation.
PowerPoint gives you an opportunity to add notes to each
slide. Do that in your preparation. It will help you
determine what you want to say around that slide. But,
once you've done that, develop a separate set of notes that
you will carry to the presentation. The notes attached to
PowerPoint are simply one step in your preparation. It's
like the sketch the artist makes before painting the
landscape. He would never show those sketches to his
viewers!

- Finally, use the black screen function on your computer.
When you are talking about a point that is not depicted on
a slide, do not show the slide. In other words, click the
slide off when you are finished (another good reason to
have the lights on). You do not have to have a slide for
every sentence you utter.

As presenters, we are grateful for the technology
PowerPoint offers us. Now, we must be diligent not to
abuse it. Beware of the perils of PowerPoint! Paying
attention to these simple guidelines will propel your
presentations to a new dynamic level.


About the Author:

Dr. Joan Curtis is a nationally known communications coach.
She has over 20 years experience as a trainer and
educator. Dr. Curtis' new book: Talk Your Way Out of Sticky
Situations at Work which will showcase the Say It Just
Right Model of communication will be released in 2009 by
Greenwood Press. Find more at
http://www.totalcommunicationscoach.com