For those organizations and individuals who swear by PowerPoint and who can’t make a presentation without it, listen carefully!!! PowerPoint presentations are the next 8-track! Those who come to your presentations are PowerPoint overloaded to say the least, and PowerPoint fatigued at worst. When the wonderful presentation software made its debut, it was great, even cool. Flip charts could finally be left in the closet. We now had a high-tech method to get our information across. And get it across we did. We chose every weird transition between slides as possible–fade from left to right, right to left, dissolve, swirl–if it was available we used it. And of course, each slide transition had a sound to accompany it. Cool at first. Outdated today.
Today people really do want to be involved in the presentation. PowerPoint today creates mindless involvement and passive participation at best. It is a medium that’s had its day. It is overused to a fault and to the detriment of good presentations. Never use it again, you ask? Well that would not be practical. PowerPoint for getting information across can be a helpful tool. But it cannot be the centerpiece of your presentation.
So, next time you’re asked if you need a screen and LCD for your presentation, say, “No way!” Work hard to create an interesting, captivating, and informative presentation. Bring out the flip chart, and leave PowerPoint at home!
