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PowerPoint Abuse?

Filed under: Power Point Presentations, Career Training — Steve Mertz at 11:17 am on Wednesday, September 27, 2006

I was on a conference call last evening with some speakers. A woman on the call mentioned that she had given a presentation last week that lasted an hour and thirty minutes…And her presentation included 129 PowerPoint slides! At first, I thought she was joking.

When we called her on it, she became a little defensive. She saw no problem at all showing 129 PowerPoint slides in a 90 minute presentation. Let’s see-that’s only one slide every 1.4 minutes!! (Check that, 1.4 slides every minute) Which begs the question-Was the audience paying for a PowerPoint slide show or the speakers expertise?

I’m sure you all know by now that I believe slides should only be used to clarify or accentuate a point in your presentation. When PowerPoint becomes the show it makes it easier for the meeting planner to hire someone else who will give a cheaper slide show. Audiences want to learn from your experiences and your expertise!

Steve Mertz
Beyond PowerPoint!

2 Comments »

Comment by Rodney

October 19, 2006 @ 8:34 am

When is it okay to use PowerPoint? I have good days and bad days and would love to be able to use (not abuse) PowerPoint to keep me on topic. Surely there is a way to mix PowerPoint with live expertise. Might we aim for a slide every 5 minutes, or a general slide that stays up until you move to a chart you want everyone to see, or slip some video or audio into your PowerPoint to keep it moving? Would you ever use PowerPoint for a short, luncheon or dinner talk that’s probably 15-20 long? Thanks.

Comment by Steve Mertz

October 19, 2006 @ 10:00 am

Hi Rodney, I try to use PowerPoint to clarify or enhance my presentations. My advice is to build your presentation first and then look to see if PowerPoint could enhance it by adding humor or some great aha! Some of the best and most memorable presentations I’ve seen had no PowerPoint-the content was just rock solid. In a 15-20 minute talk I might use a slide or two if I were using it to inject humor or make a profuound point-otherwise, I’d stay away from it. Hope this helps. Steve

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