Every so often, I introduce one of my workshops by asking the audience whether they want PowerPoint slides or not, letting them know that I'm quite happy either way.
Care to guess how often they prefer to see the PowerPoint slides in addition to hearing me talk?
The answer is... never. Not once have the workshop participants asked for PowerPoint slides!
Interesting, isn't it? Especially since we have all been told that people are mainly visual; that people learn better if you present the material in more than one way, engaging several senses.
I'll tell you something more about my workshop experiments: people's response isn't a neutral, "That's ok, we don't need it." It's more like an emphatic and/or grateful, "Please, don't!"
And by the way, that's before they've heard me speak, so it's not a comment on my personal abilities. It's a reflection of their past experience with PowerPoint presentations.
They are - for the vast majority - extremely boring!
It's almost become a Pavlovian reaction during a business meeting, conference or workshop: the eyes of the audience glaze over as soon as the PowerPoint screen comes on.
That's because presenters tend to drone on and on, reading exactly what their slides say. And I do mean drone; the fact that they are reading flattens their emotional delivery - yet to interest their audience, speakers must convey strong emotions!
It is possible to deliver an interesting speech using PowerPoint slides, and a few presenters are quite good at it. How to use the slides effectively is to make sure that you use them as anchors for the listeners' attention. They should not show everything you plan to say, but only a summary, a few highlights, or an image that evokes their interest in the topic you are covering.
Unfortunately, most unseasoned presenters use PowerPoint slides as a memory aid or a crutch to hide their nervousness.
It doesn't work; if you do that, you might not forget your words, but you will ensure that you are boring.
The slide show is not a substitute for sufficient preparation. It doesn't relieve you from memorizing your speech because the words will be there for you to read. You can only deliver an animated talk if you've truly internalized what you want to say.
Put yourself in the audience; which speaker would you prefer: the one that droned on, reading verbatim every single excruciating word, or the one that engaged you with his or her emotions, looked you in the eye... and had to take a minute to consult some notes after drawing a blank at some point?
The way that I worded that question shows my obvious preference, and having observed countless
audience reactions, I assure you that I'm not in the minority, far from it.
So if you wish to make a positive impression with your listeners, don't hide behind PowerPoint slides. Use them if you must, but judiciously.
Helen Dee:
Related: PowerPoint