jack barse

The only problem with Michael Hyatt’s article about PowerPoint is that too many people won’t read it, and too many of those who do read it won’t heed his advice.

PowerPoint can be a wonderful tool if used correctly. It can also be a dangerous distraction that interferes with communication rather than facilitating it. In my role as President of Thomas Nelson, I sit through scores of presentations. Most of these are on PowerPoint. Most of them are done poorly. I sometimes think the presenter would be more compelling if he would ditch the PowerPoint and just speak. Because of this, I’ve even thought of outlawing PowerPoint in our company.

His five rules are innate to those of us who started speaking publicly before computer-aided presentations were possible, much less ubiquitous. I gave many, many presentations based on 35mm slides, page-sized color ‘foils’ and even bullet points drawn on acetate rolls in real time. Those sorts of props forced me to learn how to give a speech using props appropriately. They were either too expensive or too tedious to use to allow one to use them as a crutch.

Hyatt’s most familiar advice is in his 2nd rule: “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.” I first heard that from John Thompson, from whom I learned a little history in the 7th grade. It is the basis for all good factual speaking and writing and it often ignored, to the detriment of the speaker or author.

I’d add 6th and 7th rules to Hyatt’s piece, too: don’t read your slides to the audience (also included in Seth Godin’s Really Bad PowerPoint), and don’t forget to rehearse.

Too many presenters substitute reading their slides for telling their story. If a presenter makes this mistake I rarely listen to what he’s trying to tell me; if he doesn’t have the sense to tell me the details (or doesn’t have the sense to not put every little detail on his slides) then I figure he doesn’t actually have much to say. What is becoming more and more evident to me is the number of people who expect to learn what *I* have to say by reading my slides. I’ve been asked often, especially recently, if I would send a prospective customer or investor my standard slide pitch. I decline, because the meat of my pitch is in my notes and my bullets merely reinforce each point I make verbally. Of course, I always offer to come in and give the presentation in person.

And yes, rehearsals are a must. Not only do you have to know your business, you have to know your slides, too. Most good writers read their work out loud before they publish it; most good speakers rehearse until they’re familiar enough with their material to be able to give their presentation without constantly reading their notes. You have to find out where to speak more loudly, where to emphasize a key phrase and most importantly, where to pause. In my book there is no such thing as over rehearsing. If your speech bores you after only 3 or 4 dry runs it’ll most likely bore your audience when they hear it. If your rehearsals bore you and you don’t do anything about it, you likely deserve the reaction you’ll get.