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Anti-PowerPoint? Who, ME?

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Many presenters consider Microsoft's PowerPoint a lifesaver. Most consider their PowerPoint slides the very essence of their presentations. Others use PowerPoint because it has achieved the status of a basic business norm.

Small but vitriolic pockets of resistance push back. People use the phrase "Death by PowerPoint" so often that the phrase itself became a cliché in record time. (Interestingly, I've discovered that many who say these words with disdain regularly use PowerPoint.) Our relationship with PowerPoint seems to have boiled down into an old, grouchy marriage--we live with it only by complaining about it, and we certainly can't live without it.

Anyone who has participated in one of my workshops knows the passion I have for active, participatory adult education. Since I don’t use PowerPoint in its conventional way, it may seem strange that I'm the one to bring up the question: Can PowerPoint be used to support and enhance participatory training and presentations? Or is it, as some claim, the most toxic challenge to participatory learning the world has ever seen?

What are PowerPoint's "Pros" and "Cons?"

On the positive side, Powerpoint…

• Adds a great visual element to a plain speech or lecture. It provides clean, crisp graphics and rich, saturated colors.
• Can truly enthrall. Adding streaming video, photographs, and other visual and auditory thrills can really add "wow!" to a presentation.
• Can imbue a beginning presenter with confidence. The information looks good. Audience attention is deflected from the presenter (whew!!) onto the slides.

There's really only one thing to say about the negative side, and it's huge.

PowerPoint Supports a Boring Lecture Style.

PowerPoint makes it easy to deliver tons of information, much of it unnecessary. Presenters who are dependent upon PowerPoint keep rambling along, oblivious as to whether or not the audience is "getting it." In worst-case scenarios, presenters read from the slides.

The audience sits passively, enduring. Retention is minimal. Nothing is learned, but the presenter has "done" his or her job. S/he is acquitted. Is that what presentations should be about?

My Final Judgement as an Adult Educator and Presenter?

PowerPoint is GREAT! (Surprise, surprise.) I wouldn't go back to the days of black and white overhead transparencies for the world. Trainers and presenters can use PowerPoint in conjunction with active training.

That said, here are four tips to use PowerPoint as effectively as possible:

Dramatically reduce the number of slides in a presentation. (For training, use even fewer.)

Here are some rules of thumb:

• For a 30-minute presentation, use 1-2 slides.
• For an hour presentation, use a maximum of four slides.
• For an all-day training session, use a maximum of eight slides.

So, what can you do instead of pushing the remote button? The things that have always made great presentations great: connect with the audience, give them time to reflect individually or in pairs, give them activities to help them process and retain the information.

Do not darken the room.

Nothing says "It's OK to space out now" more than a dark room.

Don't use the PowerPoint "Notes" pages as a handout for participants.

Instead, create your own Guided Notetaking pages. When you must lecture, provide a handout with important points left blank. Instruct the participants to fill in the missing words as you bring them up.

(I know, I know, this is only one tiny step "up" from plain lecture, but have you ever seen anyone actually using those lines to take notes anyway?) Field tests confirm that participants listen better when they have a structured task to complete.

Consider using PowerPoint to make overhead transparencies.

Use PowerPoint to create bright, beautiful transparencies you can carry around in your briefcase. This way, you can re-order them in seconds to spontaneously fit your presentation "flow," allowing for great flexibility. Sound good? Why don't more people do this?

Partly, it's because that poor old standard, the overhead projector, is slowly leaving this world. It's sometimes difficult even to find one any more in an organization. Granted, the projector "arm" can be an impediment to viewing. Also, unless you're lucky, slide resolution may not be great. However, document cameras are becoming more popular, and can project at least as well as digital projectors.

Use your colorful PowerPoint transparencies with an overhead projector, and never get sabotaged with technical problems again!

In closing…

Whether for a presentation or a training session, use more activity and fewer, (judiciously developed) slides. People will retain more information, guaranteed. Nothing is lost and everything is gained.

Click for more information about Guila Muir's Presentation Skills Development or see great articles on training and presentation skills

 

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About Guila Muir & Associates

Guila Muir and Associates is the premiere Train-the-Trainer firm on the West Coast. Using participatory adult education since 1981, Guila Muir & Associates has developed the skills of hundreds of trainers and facilitators in business and government. Enhance your organization's ability to transmit information the way adults learn best-actively! Visit our web site at guilamuir.com, write us at connect@guilamuir.com or call us at (206) 725-1994.