Life After PowerPoint!

I came upon a blog — I can’t find it now, I’m looking for it — that asked the question: Is PowerPoint evil?

That’s not the question.

There are actually three questions that need to be asked:

1. Is PowerPoint a good tool?
2. Is PowerPoint a well-used tool?
3. Is PowerPoint the right tool?

I’ll address all three questions in future posts. But in brief I think it’s an adequate tool that can be used well (though it is most often used poorly) and that is the right tool for a limited number of applications (though it is frequently used for every sort of presentation.)

Before I say more, what are your thoughts?

I’ve been rereading Marshall McLuhan lately. Always challenging. Always a delight.

Media, according to McLuhan, is an extension — any technology a person or society uses to expand the range of the human body or mind in a new way. Telegraph, radio, movies, TV, the Internet, e-mail, and IM are all extensions, because they are — or were at one time — new technologies that expand how we communicate.

Extensions bring about amputations — technologies that are lost because of the adoption of a newer technology. The telegraph, for example, is an amputation caused by the telephone.

McLuhan noted — and was concerned by the fact — that most people are excited about extensions while ignoring amputations. We are, in simpler terms, excited about what we gain by a new technology, a new medium, without giving much thought to what we lose.

PowerPoint is a case in point.

It is clearly an extension, a new technology for presenting information. It makes many things possible: the relatively easy creation, display, and dissemination of visual elements (words, graphs, charts, diagrams, etc.).

It also creates amputations — lost technologies, lost media, lost ways of communicating. Presenters almost never use a chalkboard or (thankfully) an overhead projector any more. Few people (sadly) use flip charts. Almost no one creates handouts. (I don’t consider a printed version of your PowerPoint presentation a handout.) And fewer and fewer people (tragically) are writing research papers or white papers.

We are, I think, quick to celebrate the benefits of PowerPoint and slow to acknowledge the losses. What do you think?

Photo courtesy of Medipedia.

Jon Steward of The Daily Show expands here on the NYT article I referenced in last week’s posting. He embellishes on the article in his own inimical fashion and then extends it to speeches from the movies Patton, Star Wars, and Braveheart. Check it out.

A PowerPoint diagram meant to portray the complexity of American strategy in Afghanistan certainly succeeded in that aim.

The New York Times ran a great article yesterday — great, because I agree with so much of it — called “We have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint.” Read it here.

(My book Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint, which was published last year, addresses some of the same concerns. Read more about it here.)

The article raises issues about how PowerPoint is used in the military (and, by extension, everywhere else). These are the three main problems I’ve picked out of the article:

1. It is a poorly used presentation tool. When it is poorly used — that is, most of the time — PowerPoint produces some of the most confusing and boring presentations imaginable. That’s for two reasons.

   First, presenters don’t think through their presentations. They don’t analyze their audience, establish a goal, create a logical and persuasive structure, select the most telling evidence, and create a clear message. They don’t consider what other types of support material — like handouts or white papers or demonstrations — might better help them communicate their message. They simply turn on PowerPoint and begin “populating slides.” They then read the slides to their audience, inevitably speeding up at the end of their presentations because they’ve run out of time. They print up PowerPoint notes as pre-reading material, as handouts, and as leave-behinds.

   And second, presenters don’t even use well the one thing PowerPoint is good for — projecting images. They create confusing graphics (like the one pictured above), charts and graphs that can’t be read (have you ever tried to decipher a spread sheet imported directly from Excel?), endless lists of bullet points or, worse, entire paragraphs of text.

2. It is the wrong presentation tool to use.The real problem with PowerPoint, to my thinking, isn’t that it’s so poorly used so frequently. (It is poorly used more times than not.) The real problem is that, even when relatively well used, it dumbs down most presentations.

   PowerPoint makes it hard — not impossible, but hard — to present complex material and sophisticated ideas. You cannot present the same amount of detail on a slide that you can on a hand out, for example. Complex thought, which isn’t the same thing as complicated or confusing thought, requires you to string together a lot of material in a coherent and meaningful argument. The connections are what matter, the way information is ordered and tied together. PowerPoint allows, even encourages, you to present discrete bits of information without needing to make any connections. You can simply show a slide, talk about it, and say “next slide.” You don’t have to show how the information on one slide leads logically to the information on the next slide. You can present a succession of slides — tons of information — without giving your audience any sense of what it all adds up to.

   PowerPoint’s best feature — its ability to project images — is also one of its greatest flaws. Images can be problematic, because they can impede reflection and deep thinking. We can see something — the photographs from Abu Ghraib prison, for example — and think we understand what is being shown and what it means. And when we see a rapid succession of images, especially if they’re powerful or visually stimulating images, we are even less likely to probe their meaning and implications.

3. It is time consuming and costly.
   
   To avoid the errors associated with my first point above — the poor use of PowerPoint — you have to spend a fair deal of time and energy on creating each presentation.There are some great PowerPoint Presentations out there. (Go to TED: Ideas Worth Spreading for examples of how to use PowerPoint in a way that will blow your audiences away.) If every PowerPoint presentation were as well designed and rehearsed, you wouldn’t hear people talking about “death by PowerPoint.” But imagine how much time, energy, expertise, and money goes into producing those great presentations. Do you have that many resources available to you?

What do you think?

Here’s the common wisdom:

1. There are three basic learning styles – visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
2. People learn best when they’re able to access and process information according to their preferred learning style.
3. Speakers should, therefore, present information in a way that appeals to the preferred learning style or styles of their audience.

But what if the common wisdom is wrong?

What if there’s little or no evidence that those styles have anything to do with how people actually learn?

I’m not arguing that people don’t have preferences and highly developed skills when it comes to sensing the world. (Preferences and skills don’t always go together, by the way. You can love music, for example, and be tone deaf.)

I just don’t know of any credible evidence that supports the claim that those preferences determine much, if anything, about how people learn.

(If you want to see for yourself some of the evidence I’ve been reading, you can view this video of a cognitive psychologist’s critique from my previous post. Or you can read “Different Strokes for Different Folks?” published in The American Educator. Or you can read “The Trouble with VAK” published in the British Education Studies Association Journal.)

I started this line of inquiry for one simple reason. People cite this theory of learning styles to justify using PowerPoint. And as you might guess from the fact that I’ve published a book titled Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint (Crown, 2009), I’m not its biggest fan.

When used well (which it rarely is), PowerPoint is one way — not the only way — of helping presenters communicate information effectively. Don’t use PowerPoint simply because you want to address people’s different learning styles. Use PowerPoint only when and if it will help you explain or illustrate your ideas.

Let me give you an example. If you ask me for directions, I may draw or show you a map. (That’s visual.) I may give you spoken or written directions or both. (That’s auditory and visual.) And I may point you in certain directions. (That’s kinesthetic.) But I would do so not to appeal to the three learning styles, but to make my intention clearer. Even if you were a kinesthetic person, I would still show you a map and I would still give you verbal directions.

When I’m explaining a theory (as I’m doing now), I rely mostly on words. (That’s either visual or auditory.) I could add a picture, I suppose, like the one I’ve attached to this post. But pictures only occasionally make theoretical explanations clearer. And I have no idea how I could add a kinesthetic aspect to such an explanation.

Here’s my point. Use whatever techniques and strategies explain, illustrate, and reinforce your ideas. Come at it from as many different angles as possible. Don’t try to address the three different learning styles. Ask only how you can make your message as clear, engaging, and memorable as possible.

What do you think?

Photo courtesy of Hamed Masoumi at Flickr.

I went to a Lion’s Club meeting at noon today because Joan Embery was the guest speaker. She’s been the goodwill ambassador for the San Diego Zoo for a gazillion years. She’s appeared on the Tonight Show, first with Johnny Carson and then with Jay Leno, over a thousand times. Maybe you’ve seen her. She’s the person who brings exotic birds and animals and shows them off while Johnny or Jay sits by hoping something goes wrong so they can make some smart remark.

As a speaker she was terrific. She’s an intelligent, well-spoken, charming, and passionate advocate for the environment and for wildlife.

She used PowerPoint to show pictures. Really great pictures. To my way of thinking, that’s just about the best way to use PowerPoint — as a glorified slide projector. The only problem is, PowerPoint almost did her in. The computer went to sleep during the preliminary announcements so when she stood up to speak, the screen was a jumbled mess. “Help,” she cried to her assistant. “I don’t know what to do.” Her assistant stepped in and, after 30 seconds, got it up and running. (That’s not the kind of impression you want to create at the start of your talk.) Three other times during her presentation the computer locked up or flashed a message requiring her to do something she didn’t understand. Three times she called for help.

Now you might think it’s her fault. She’s an accomplished professional speaker. She should know how to use PowerPoint. I would agree with you if she’s the only person who has ever had problems with PowerPoint during a presentation. But she’s not. She’s not even in the minority.

Last month I spoke at the Inventors Forum. Three other people spoke before me. Each one used PowerPoint. And each one had a problem with it. One couldn’t show the video embedded in his presentation. One couldn’t get his transitions to work. (They were something special, he said, and he was devastated that they weren’t working. Pathetic.) And the third person couldn’t get her presentation to show up at all.

I work with smart people. Most of my clients are high-tech professionals — engineers, researchers, and the like. Many are executives — CEOs, presidents, business owners. They’re smart and accomplished. I often ask them, “Have you ever attended a presentation where PowerPoint gave the speaker problems?” They all have. Then I ask, “Has PowerPoint ever given you problems during a presentation?” Ninety percent say it has. (The other 10% don’t use it often.)

If one person has a problem with a piece of software, it’s that person’s problem. He/she should 1) learn how to use it, 2) avoid using it, or 3) get help using it. If lots and lots of people have problems with it on lots of occasions, it’s not their fault. It’s the software’s fault.

PowerPoint is stupid for many reasons, but mainly because it makes smart people feel and look stupid when they’re in front of an audience.

What do you think?

The lively hosts of LifeTips at Odeon.com, Bryon White and Amanda Smith, interviewed me last week, February 26. As often happens in radio interviews, the conversation ranged over a number of topics. We stuck mostly to the area I’m most familiar with — presentations by leaders and by technical experts.

Bryon raised a question about something that was new to me: word cloud. It is, according to Wikipedia, “a visual depiction of user-generated tags, or simply the word content of a site, used typically to describe the content of web sites.” The words that are used most frequently are represented in larger or more colorful fonts. Byron was interested in how you could use a word cloud to analyze a presentation. You could, say, enter the text for your speech — if it’s written — into a program and create a word cloud. The word cloud would, in turn, show you the words you use most frequently.

How often you use a word is important. (Repetition reinforces your message.) And you might be surprised by the words you use most frequently. But I’m more concerned with the type of words you use — with their clarity, concreteness, and power to evoke a response in people’s imaginations and emotions.

I went to Wordle where in about two minutes flat I created the word cloud you see here. It’s fun. Give it a try.

Have a listen to the interview and let me know what you think. (If it’s taking too long for the interview to begin, you can go directly to the site and listen there.)

You might think that with a book titled Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint I’d be opposed to using it in each and every presentation. But I’m not. At least half of my clients use — and need to use — PowerPoint. And I help them to it.

Here’s my reasoning. PowerPoint (and other slideware like it) can be — isn’t always, but can be — an effective tool in communicating information. It’s an instructional aid. So if your main intention is to teach, instruct, train, or inform, feel free to use it. Use it well, mind you, but use it. (There are other ways, sometimes easier and more effective ways, to communicate information, but that’s another issue.)

When leaders speak, their main intention (most of the time) is not to communicate information. (They don’t want to sound like or to be regarded as a trainer or sales rep.) When leaders present information, they do so in order to support or advance another, more important goal. Leaders primarily give speeches:

1. To establish their group’s identity (“this is who we are”) either internally or externally
2. To shape the way the audience thinks and feels about big issues (i.e., to influence them)
3. To inspire the audience to take action.

To accomplish those goals, leaders — and speakers who have similar goals — have to appeal not just to their audience’s intellect, but also to their emotions, values, and imaginations. PowerPoint doesn’t help speakers do that well. At least not yet.

Many presenters — especially technical experts — need to communicate a significant amount of information about their companies, products, services, procedures, etc. They may be conducting training, for example, or making a sales pitch or an oral proposal, or giving a project update. In those cases they and their audiences may well benefit from using PowerPoint. If it is used well.

Andrew Lightheart at realsmartnow.net has some great advice about how to use PowerPoint. He spells out a rule that I wholeheartedly agree with:

You only need a slide in a presentation if you’d need one in conversation.

Creating slides for technical presentations

Do you agree with his rule? What do you think of my assertion that PowerPoint doesn’t help speakers appeal to people’s emotions, imaginations, and values?

P.S. The picture is of me. And I’m violating one of my own rules: Keep objects (like pens) out of your hands when you’re presenting.

Max Atkinson, author of one of my favorite books on speaking (Lend Me Your Ears — All You Need to Know About Making Speeches and Presentations) is taking a poll on his site.

I’ve already voted. Why don’t you?

If you haven’t noticed it yet, there’s now an end of year poll with one simple question:

How many inspiring PowerPoint presentations have you attended during 2008?

If you’d like to vote, you’ll find it on the left, just below the Blog Archive.

Max Atkinson’s Blog.

I’m mostly against leaders using PowerPoint, because I think they should speak more to influence and inspire audiences than to give them information

But I work with a lot of high-tech experts who, by the nature of their presentations, want to present a lot of information. They almost always use PowerPoint. And I keep having to remind them that PowerPoint is only an aid. It is not their presentation. It is not their script.

That’s why I absolutely agree with Dave Paradi:

No matter how flashy your slides are, the audience won’t leave excited if your message lacks substance. But I am not sure it works the other way around.

If your content is great but presented with lacklustre visuals, the audience will still leave enlightened. They just may not be as informed or inspired as if you had also used great visuals to drive home your points.

That’s why I start almost every presentation by talking about the importance of properly structuring your message before you even consider your slides. Without a good structure, making sure that you have points that move your audience from where they are now to where you want them to be, the rest doesn’t matter.

Dave Paradi’s PowerPoint Blog: Does great content trump poor visuals?.

Start with your strategy, determining what you want the audience to do as a result of listening to you. Decide what they need to know and feel in order to do that. Figure out why they would want to do what you want them to do. Then create a structure, an outline that organizes your content as clearly, cohesively, and simply as possible. Then, and only then, start creating your slides.

Agree or disagree?