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I was watching a rerun of "The Office" the other day. Ryan, who used to be Michael's temp, is now his boss. He asks Michael to prepare a presentation. Emphatically he says, "It must be on PowerPoint, Michael!" Michael, of course, doesn't know how to use PowerPoint and comedy ensues.
But my question is, why...why must it be on PowerPoint?
I have had what I think most people would consider a reasonably successful speaking, training and consulting career. I have never once used PowerPoint. Nope, never. Sacrilege I know.
Not only has this caused very few problems and raised virtually no complaints, I believe it's actually contributed to my success. I have had many more people tell me that they are glad I don't use it; that it's refreshing that I don't.
Well, I said virtually no complaints.
About eleven years ago, when I was just getting my speaking career off the ground, I had a potential client who insisted I use PowerPoint. All of his speakers did. I wouldn't. I didn't get the job. Call me stubborn. I just hate filling a fake need.
Then, just last year, I ran into my next problem when a CEO would not hire me to train his management team because he found out I didn't use PowerPoint. Didn't matter how effective I was. Didn't matter the results I produced. Didn't matter how much his own people, who had seen me in action, told him they wanted me. He himself had not seen me speak, but someone told him that...I...did...not...use...PowerPoint.
It's a real shame Socrates didn't have PowerPoint...he might have made a name for himself. What's this obsession people have?
I want to be clear; like any visual aid, PowerPoint can be a good thing. When you're dealing with numbers and graphs, it and a pointer can be especially helpful. Or if pictures help support the content (I'm making a speech about the nearly extinct donkey so I show you a donkey), or if one uses a slide to support his or her humor (I'm talking about a person who is an a-- so I show you a donkey); these can also be good reasons to use PowerPoint.
But often it's an ego thing and intellectual snobbery. It's the packaging. It's the bells and whistles. It's mostly style and not substance. It's, "He must know what he's talking about, he uses PowerPoint!"
Really? I'd rather have practical down-to-earth content that will ultimately lead to profound results when practiced. I can't do that without PowerPoint? Actually I can do it better.
Here are the reasons I don't use PowerPoint:
- It slows my pace down tremendously, and doesn't fit with my style of speaking.
- It's a barrier between me and my audience. Their eyes are on the screen and not me, and my eyes are too much on the screen and not them. Engagement between the audience and me, then, is less. I like it being me, you and some handouts. I don't want you reading, I want you listening to me. Let's look each other in the eye and let's roll!
- Too many people take comfort in the barrier, and hide behind it making their presentations far less effective.
- I don't like a darkened room...dulls the senses. Are you getting s-l-e-e-p-y? A bright, well-lit room does just the opposite.
- Too many mechanical problems add to the stress and steal from the quality, efficiency and impact of the presentation. "Hmm...wrong slide."
- Prep time of slides and setting up equipment steals from prep time for the content. I've seen so many speakers running around scrambling to get all of their "stuff" set up right before their presentation and I think, "Man, I'm glad that's not me."
- It would be wasted redundancy given the handouts. Why should I put something on a screen that I can simply put in front of you that you can take with you?
You ask, well what about the "visual listeners?" Yes, there are some people who are more "visual" than others, but the couple of people I've trained who've expressed concern to me beforehand, told me how much it didn't matter after I got done with them.
In the end, it's what works for you and what you're most comfortable with I suppose. But this addiction to PowerPoint really needs to go away.
Of course, you may not believe anything I've written here...unless I put it on PowerPoint. Sigh.
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