Altman - Why most PowerPoint presentations suck : and how you can make them better

Contents

Foreword

My morning routine starts with a 7:00a trip to my favorite local drive-thru latte stand and Ive found that in just 10 minutes, I can be back in my office checking emails with a hot beverage in hand. Recently my favorite spot went belly up so I drove a block further to another stand. Double tall 20 oz. mocha - light on the chocolate, I requested. As far as lattes go, this order is pretty much a no-brainer so I was frustrated to find that it didnt taste at all like my usual drink.

At lunch I tried another stand and was frustrated with yet another version of a light chocolate mocha. The whole experience left me scratching my head. Everyone used pretty much the same ingredients but the results were dramatically different. The real magic is in the hands of the craftsperson, not their tools.

For the most part, presenters today have access to all the same tools as well. They have a version of PowerPoint that isnt more than a few years old, an image editing program and maybe even a vector drawing application. But much like my latte experience, given the same basic ingredients, presenters and presentation designers manage somehow to produce dramatically different outcomes.

One person using an older version of PowerPoint produces a masterful work of personal communication art, while another using the latest software packages only manages to build a mind-numbing, convoluted, self-indulgent presentation that does little to accelerate information and ideas.

If audiences really are asking for more and we have a higher level of sensitivity to what doesnt work, why do so many still fail to deliver on those higher expectations? The answer is easy. Presenters and presentation designers still believe their presentations are all about them.

Audiences dont care about how much fun presenters are having with PowerPoint. Their brains go numb every time a presenter fills their screens with sub-sub-sub level bullets. Use of animation is often gratuitous and the pervasive stock flavor of everything is a constant reminder that their presentations are courtesy of Microsoft wizards, not a single original thought.

All this said, take heart. There are those helping us better navigate the presentation design process and within these pages, Rick Altman helps shed some much needed light on this important business communication process. He challenges whats all too easy but also provides some much needed insight into what does work and how to do it.

If youre like most presenters or presentation designers, youre looking for resources to help take your presentation visuals to the next essential level. Read on and begin to fill up your personal toolkit with the kinds of fresh insights and creative skills you can put to use in your next presentation.

Your audiences want more. Its time to finally deliver for them.

Thanks To...

It might take a village to raise a child, and there are times when I feel a book cannot adequately be written without an entire community. I am fortunate to be part of a phenomenal one. The professional presentation community has many gathering points today, not the least of which is the Presentation Summit, the annual end-user conference which I have hosted since 2003.

Each year, I have been privileged to have met some of the most passionate, enthusiastic, and dedicated presenters, designers, and content creators anywhere in the world. Their group energy is an almost intoxicating call to action for anyone who thinks out loud in public and I am so very grateful for having them in my head throughout this process.

And surprise, surprise, I dont have to venture past this group to assemble an excellent team of editors:

Chantal Boss is a gifted trainer and presentations specialist from Quebec Canada. She is not only an eagle-eye through the text, but with English as her second language, she is a great reality check against some of my runaway jargon. She now knows what bass-ackwards means, so the relationship has been of mutual benefit. www.chabos.ca

Geetesh Bajaj is one of the legions of the Microsoft Most Valued Professional team of dedicated volunteers who help PowerPoint users with issues and questions. A trainer and consultant based in India, Geetesh creates custom PowerPoint presentations and templates and is a featured speaker on presentation technologies. www.indezine.com

Sandra Johnson blends impeccable design sense, practical slide
making expertise, and fastidious attention to detail. In other words, she dings me on bad-looking slides as well as misplaced modifiers...nothing that a few sessions of therapy wont solve... (Oh, and she doesnt like when I use ellipses.) www.presentationwiz.biz

Finally, three cheers for a wonderful group of readers of previous editions who offered to give the third edition an early read:

Valerie Carnett, Talahasse FL
Kjell Brataas, Oslo Norway
Cindy Parman, Powder Springs GA
Lynette Johnson, Irvine CA
Jen Card, Fairview OR

And a special shoutout to Judy Powell and Jeannie Shea for being, lets see...proofreaders is not quite the right word... beta-testers for this first-ever attempt at ePub and Kindle versions.

Introduction

The word he used was meshuga , known by both Jews and non-Jews alike to mean crazy. And my father was looking right at me when he said it.

Youre going to say that in the book?

Actually, Dad, Im going to say it in the title.

You must be meshuga!

And there you have either the most compelling reason to, or not to, author a book without the assist of a large publishing house. Ive written for Sybex Books, Peachpit Press, Que Publishing, and several others, and I have the distinct impression that, were I to have followed that path this time, you would now be holding a book in your hands of a different name. Pretty good chance, also, that a vacuum cleaner would not grace its cover.

My reason for self-publishing was not because I sought an edgy title, although I do admit to enjoying the shock value that comes along for the ride. I did so because of a seven-year-long frustration with being asked (make that required) by traditional publishers to include in any book proposal a clump of PowerPoint-centric topics that few in my intended audience find interesting.

Lets take a poll of one: Do you need to be taught how to create a slide? Did you buy this book because you dont understand how to make a string of text bold or how to make the bullet square instead of round?

If you bought this book for its intended purpose, its because you have bigger issues.

• Your weekly load has now exceeded 200 slides and you are beginning to feel like a slide factory.

• Your presentations are not being received the way you were hoping they would and youre not sure why.

• You have good instincts but they need to be honed.

• Your co-worker messes up your templates and youre about to scream.

• Your boss creates the most dismally-ugly slides and you dont know what to do about it.

• Or maybe...just maybe, it is you who needs a refresher in the principles of good presentation design.

Really, the potential market for this book is plenty vast without catering to the brand new user. How many horrible presentations did you sit through last month? In the face of how many colleagues or potential vendors would you like to shove this book and say Here, please read this?

I remember the first time I experienced it. I refer, of course, to the phenomenon we all know as Death by PowerPoint. The year was 1990, and three representatives from a well-known public relations firm wanted my partner and me to pay them $10,000 to help us market a series of seminars.