*Yawn*
I have a few quibbles with PowerPoint. First, it's ugly. Horribly, unforgivably ugly. Yes, it's possible to create an attractive slide show using this program, but as someone who has wrestled with it herself and seen designers tearing their hair out over the program, I find myself wondering how many hours of productivity have been wasted in this manner? Particularly when alternatives like Apple's Keynote can effortlessly create presentations that don't make your eyeballs bleed.
Of course, aesthetics only go so far. My bigger issue with PowerPoint is its fixation on bullet points. Is this always the best way to present information? Let me go out on a limb here and exclaim: Hell, no! And yet this is the default standard in presentations thanks in no small part to Microsoft's continuing dominance in the market.
You likely saw the article "We Have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint" recently, which featured an insanely complex chart designed to illustrate the complex strategy under way in Afghanistan. As the caption dryly notes, it "certainly succeeds in that aim." If you haven't seen it, take a look. That's one heck of a chart.
I would love to show some examples of brilliant slide presentations. I have seen some, but can't seem to put my hands on them at the moment. I welcome your suggestions...maybe this will be a future blog post!
So anyway, after all this, it will come as no surprise that Jen and I chose not to use a PowerPoint in our presentation to a Board of Directors last night. We were aiming for something more personal and down to earth. This was a small enough group that we were hoping to share some information and spark a dialogue about our topic (the nuts and bolts of strategic communications plans), rather than leave our audience with the feeling they should have earned continuing education credits for enduring another consultant clicking through yet another PowerPoint presentation.
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