Imagine a Presentation without PowerPoint
What? You’re giving a presentation without PowerPoint! Are you crazy?
That might be the reaction you would hear if you announced that you were planning to deliver your next presentation without the crutch of PowerPoint.
PowerPoint is a presentation tool for presenters who want their notes on the screen. Why know your presentation when you can read it from the screen? Most presenters might as well warn their audience at the beginning of their presentation. “Hi, I couldn’t be bothered to practice and learn my presentation so I’m just going to read the words on the screen to you. And I hope that you won’t notice that I am insulting you by reading what you see.”
How do you feel when the presenter reads the words on the screen to you?
Do you think, “Wow, what a great presenter. He can read the same words that I see on the screen.”?
Or do you think, “Why is this speaker treating us like children?”
PowerPoint is an easy-to-use presentation software. It’s so easy to use that it makes people stupid. They forget to ask, “What is the best way to get my message across?” They fail to ask, “Should I use PowerPoint for me presentation?” Instead they act like Borg drones, “If I deliver a presentation we must use PowerPoint. Resistance is futile.” I salute Microsoft and the power of their marketing.
It’s funny what people get used to. How easy we accept mediocrity. When I presented at a conference in Vancouver this week I instructed the AV guy to turn off the computer projector because I won’t use it. His response was, “Oh, you don’t have a presentation?”
Isn’t that curious that he equated presentation with PowerPoint.
I laughed while pointing to my head and said, “Of course I have a presentation and it’s in here. It won't get lost and it won’t break down.”
PowerPoint is a presentation crutch for handicapped presenters. It doesn’t make them better presenters. It emphasizes their handicap.
Presentation does not equal PowerPoint.
George Torok
Speech Coach for Executives
Business Presentation Skills Training
Avoid the PowerPoint Sins
PowerPoint is a registered trademark of Microsoft
Any comments about PowerPoint on this blog are not endorsed by Microsoft and are the opinions of this blogger.
What? You’re giving a presentation without PowerPoint! Are you crazy?
That might be the reaction you would hear if you announced that you were planning to deliver your next presentation without the crutch of PowerPoint.
PowerPoint is a presentation tool for presenters who want their notes on the screen. Why know your presentation when you can read it from the screen? Most presenters might as well warn their audience at the beginning of their presentation. “Hi, I couldn’t be bothered to practice and learn my presentation so I’m just going to read the words on the screen to you. And I hope that you won’t notice that I am insulting you by reading what you see.”
How do you feel when the presenter reads the words on the screen to you?
Do you think, “Wow, what a great presenter. He can read the same words that I see on the screen.”?
Or do you think, “Why is this speaker treating us like children?”
PowerPoint is an easy-to-use presentation software. It’s so easy to use that it makes people stupid. They forget to ask, “What is the best way to get my message across?” They fail to ask, “Should I use PowerPoint for me presentation?” Instead they act like Borg drones, “If I deliver a presentation we must use PowerPoint. Resistance is futile.” I salute Microsoft and the power of their marketing.
It’s funny what people get used to. How easy we accept mediocrity. When I presented at a conference in Vancouver this week I instructed the AV guy to turn off the computer projector because I won’t use it. His response was, “Oh, you don’t have a presentation?”
Isn’t that curious that he equated presentation with PowerPoint.
I laughed while pointing to my head and said, “Of course I have a presentation and it’s in here. It won't get lost and it won’t break down.”
PowerPoint is a presentation crutch for handicapped presenters. It doesn’t make them better presenters. It emphasizes their handicap.
Presentation does not equal PowerPoint.
George Torok
Speech Coach for Executives
Business Presentation Skills Training
Avoid the PowerPoint Sins
PowerPoint is a registered trademark of Microsoft
Any comments about PowerPoint on this blog are not endorsed by Microsoft and are the opinions of this blogger.
I TOTALLY agree with your comments. I am a professional speaker and the author of the book, "10 Days to More Confident Public Speaking" and teach public speaking and presentation skills.
ReplyDeleteI actually hate PowerPoint and agree it is a crutch.
Lenny Laskowski
www.LJLSeminars.com