Falling in love with PowerPoint all over again
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Title. Bullet point bullet point bullet point.
Suddenly, Earnest’s computer crashes. His face registers confusion. Then, panic.
He spends the next 3 minutes fumbling with his laptop.
If you weren’t in such a deep state of sedation, you might feel sorry for him.
You decide to put him out of his misery.
“Look, these things happen. Why don’t we reschedule for next week? I’ll have my assistant give you a call.”
Earnest’s face drops a set of 5-pound-dumbbells.
“Thank you!” he says. “Thank you so much.”
Of course, you never do find the time to reschedule.
Things come up.
And then, three months later, you get the opportunity of a lifetime.
Steve Jobs agrees to speak with you about a potential partnership.
You find yourself in the unenviable position of having to create your own PowerPoint presentation.
What do you do? How do you keep from becoming Earnest?
Step 1: Buy Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds.
Step 2: Read Presentation Zen.
Step 3: Put newfound wisdom into practice.
In the meantime, I have read the book. Here are 6 lessons learned that helped me fall back in love with PowerPoint/KeyNote:
- Slides should support your talk. Not the other way around. Don’t create a slideument unless you want your audience to fall asleep. Instead, free yourself to focus on the most important messages by creating a separate Word document as a handout. Never distribute your slides as standalone documents.
- Simplicity and creativity are acts of kindness, for both you and your audience. Before you turn on your computer, plan out your presentation on paper. Then, use a Sharpie and Post-It notes to storyboard it. One idea per slide. If it’s too complex to fit on a Post-It note using a Sharpie, you need to break it out.
- Use stories to express abstract concepts. Have fun. When you lighten up, so will your audience.
- Before you begin, identify your core message. Your presentation should continue to answer the question, “Who Cares?”
- Use the 1-7-7 rule: One idea per slide. 7 lines of text max. 7 words a line max.
- If your computer crashes during the presentation, you should be able to continue talking because you’ve prepared so well—you know your core message and supporting points.
If you or someone you love uses the word “preso” in ordinary conversation, you need to buy this book. Together we can make a difference, one PowerPoint presentation at a time.
4 Responses to “Falling in love with PowerPoint all over again”
Hi Kelly - I love your posts! =^) Presentation Zen is on my short list of books to read this spring. Another great book on how NOT to create the typical, boring PP presentation is Beyond Bullet Points, by Cliff Atkinson. Ciao, Kathy
I second Kathy’s recommendation of “Beyond Bullet Points” as much as it pains me to recommend something by Microsoft - a better way to fall in love with your presentation software is to use Keynote (part of the Mac’s iWork package) 
Michael
Thanks, Michael! As a Mac person, I would love to use Keynote for presentations. The only thing stopping me is no one else seems to have a Mac, so it’s difficult to circulate for reviews. I wonder if there’s some obvious solution I’m not seeing.
Hi Kathy, Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll have to check it out.
I just saw a post in the Marketing Sherpa blog about another way to break free of bullet points–using an ellipsis… This might be more useful in long copy than in PowerPoint, though…
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?id=30370
-KP