Blame the Bullets, not PowerPoint
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Bullets are related to the main PowerPoint problem, which is having the medium drive the message rather than having the message drive the medium. When you create a PowerPoint presentation that relies on bullets to deliver a message, you essentially cripple the intellect of anyone attending the presentation.
I thought about this yesterday while listening to Johnny Cash. Let's imagine Johnny wanted to explain the devotion someone feels for his significant other. If his default thinking involved creating a PowerPoint presentation every time he wanted to communicate, the bullets might look something like this:
Title: Reasons I Walk the Line
- Key points about me:
- My heart: keep a close watch
- My eyes: keep open
- My "ends:" "keep out for ties that bind"
- Easy for me to me true
- I'm a fool
- Proof I'm true:
- End each day alone
- You're on my mind
- Day
- Night
- Happiness
- I'd turn the tide for you
- I walk the line
- Reasons you keep me true:
- You're a got "a way"
- You "give me cause"
- You're mine
Or, instead of delivering this disaster (which probably takes 5 minutes), Johnny sings "I Walk the Line" in 2 minutes 44 seconds. Which approach is more effective, efficient, powerful? This doesn't mean we should all start singing when we need to deliver a message. Rather, determine the message first, and then select a medium. Don't lead with PowerPoint.
Comments
http://www.globalnerdy.com/2010/04/29/powerpoint-is-not-the-enemy/
"[the problem is] that they’re misusing PowerPoint in the same way that drunks misuse lampposts: as a crutch, rather than as a source of illumination. "
http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/sld001.htm
People have become so institutionalized to the Office suite, you can't stray from the status quo. I tried to give a presentation on enterprise forensics to a group of federal executives, but was told I must put it in the agency's PPT template and present following the PPT template. It was horrendous and felt like I was giving a eulogy.
Thanks for the thought provoking two minutes.
http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Style-PowerPoint-Pitching-Corrupts/dp/0961392169/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272992731&sr=8-1-spell