Thanks for your comment. Of course, PowerPoint can be a useful tool, but I believe the key to making it useful is never to lose sight of the fact that it is only a tool, that is, something that you may or may not use to support what you say, rather than the platform for you whole presentation – i.e. a ‘PowerPoint presentation’.

This is where I think your comparison between Word and PowerPoint falls short. The idea of a ‘PowerPoint presentation’ has entered common parlance, whereas the idea of a ‘Word novel’, or ‘Word report’ would leave people understandably puzzled.

Love it or loathe it, Word is considered – if it’s considered at all – as little more than a tool for writing, organizing, and editing texts – it may be the most widely used word processor around, but it’s not the only one.

And there’s nothing intrinsic to it that would make the copy it produces any different to the copy produced by its competitors. Plus there’s nothing about it that restricts the kinds of texts you can write with it – it’s capable of producing anything from a novel, and screenplay to a scientific treatise, or a personal letter.

Finally, I think the average presenter/speaker actually has more in common with one of the fine orators you mention, than the kind of presenter who’s skilled and knowledgeable enough to be able to get the best out a PowerPoint presentation.

Cheers,
Martin

And you know what? In the right hands (and wrong hands), it can be incredibly powerful… http://blog.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/?p=116

I love the references to Churchill, Mandela and Obama – fine orators who captivate an audience. Whilst we should all aspire to be as impactful as this “A List” of presenters, we also have to face facts that not everyone is able to. PowerPoint can help bridge the gap between them and us mere mortals so let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water, eh?

Finally, why has no-0ne ever criticised Word for being responsible for boring reports or speeches? How about giving Excel a hard time for making numbers really complicated? Death by Word anyone?

I’m with you on this one 100%.

The question is not should I use PowerPoint or not, but what do I want to accomplish.

If my goal is to communicate information that people can understand and use — which is a common goal of many, if not most business presentations — then I may use PowerPoint. (I personally don’t use it, but I coach individuals and teams who use it all the time.)

If my goal is to influence how people think and feel or to inspire people to take action — which is what politicians and other leaders usually want to do — I find PowerPoint counterproductive. In such cases speakers are better off appealing to people’s imaginations, values, and emotions. They should use visual language, as you suggest, tell stories, and rely on the power of the spoken word and of the human voice to evoke, entice, and entertain.

Though I am a TED aficionado I had not seen Sir Ken Robinson’s presentation. What a wonderful precursor to a dinner party conversation. grin

As I watched, I designed in my mind what his .ppt might have looked like. Still on the first slide . . . and it’s still blank.

Gratefully, W!

“However, when training people on good practice in giving presentations, I’m very conscious of making sure they can walk before they can run.”

I agree completely. So I suggest going back to real walking, the way they learned to tell a tale before they had heard of Powerpoint. The real basics. Sit face to face and ask them to tell you the story. Ask them to tell you why you should care.

THEN think about which parts of the tale need what kind of emphasis, and which tools you could use. Props, witnesses, visuals, movement, even slideware (but be careful with the latter )And remember that for the important parts, the very best tool might just be a look in the eye, a jump in the air, a clap of the hands, a pause for breath.

The best presentation I ever saw was given by a person with no oratory skill, no technique and certainly no Powerpoint. He spoke almost inaudibly and moved hardly at all. His only prop was his clothing, which he pointed to twice. He held 100 passers-by transfixed for an hour in the burning sun, without even asking them to stop. But he believed what he said, and lived what he believed.

For more on the effective use of images for presentations, I recommend “Presentation Zen” – the book and the blog by Garr Reynolds: http://www.presentationzen.com/

And if you like the brevity of TED talks – come to our event next month : http://www.europeansummit.org – recently cited by the Huffington Post and the TEDFellows blog as the plce to be in November…