If all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a "nail"
Every once in a while you need to step back and take a look at your "normal process". Since I do a lot of workshops, my norm is about 5,000 PowerPoint slides a year. So, it was a bit of a shock to read a NPR article to find that top leaders are ditching PowerPoint in order to achieve new levels of interaction and problem solving. Has PowerPoint become a barrier in business? If so, what are the alternatives? How can you and I become more effective?
Why this is important: Many companies spend inordinate amounts of times preparing PowerPoint decks for business reviews. Yet, if the goal is interactive problem solving, PowerPoint is the barrier that needs to be banned from meetings.
Generals and CEOs agree on the need to ditch PowerPoint
As I was working on the fourth iteration of a PowerPoint deck this week, I ran across a NPR article with headline that could not be ignored: Physicists, Generals and CEOs Agree: Ditch the PowerPoint. What are they discovering that the rest of us need to know?
The NPR article sites an interesting case of a group of physicists that are working on the Large Hadron Collider trying to solve problems. As is typical in most business, whenever they had a meeting, everyone prepared a PowerPoint deck. The problem was that the scientists tended to stick to the prepared slides and couldn't effectively step outside of their deck to brainstorm ideas or answer questions that weren't in the prepared deck.
Removing the straightjacket of PowerPoint to open problem solving
According to one of the physicists, Andrew Askew: "The use of the PowerPoint slides was acting as a straightjacket to discussion. If we removed the PowerPoint slide, it was like a big glass barrier was removed between the speaker and the audience." So, they did the unthinkable – they banned PowerPoint from their meetings!
When the physicists banned PowerPoint, they basically asked the speakers to go "improv". If they needed to illustrate something, they were asked to use a marker and whiteboard. Some very interesting things started to happen at their meetings:
- Speakers stopped droning on for 20 minutes or more
- The audience started looking up from their computers
- The communication became more interactive
- The group actually started focusing on solving the problems
- More scientists started to attend meetings and contribute to the solutions
CEOs are also recognizing the limitations and banning PowerPoint
Scientists are not the only ones recognizing the limitations of PowerPoint-style presentations. The NPR article reports that the CEOs of Amazon and LinkedIn have eliminated PowerPoint presentations from meetings. The main advantage of forgoing PowerPoint decks is that it forces the speaker to be focused, yet interactive.
And, it's not just the scientists and business leaders leading the crusade to ban PowerPoint from strategic meetings. In his published memoir, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates referred to PowerPoint slides as "the bane of my existence in Pentagon meetings; it was though no one could talk without them". General James Mattis, former commander of U.S. Central Command has said: "PowerPoint makes us stupid".
Counter Points on the Benefits of PowerPoint
PowerPoint is not inherently bad. It's a tool. Like any tool, PowerPoint has specific uses and advantages. It is an incredibly powerful tool for communicating visual information and concepts. Even Robert Gates who banned PowerPoint as the CIA director, allowed presenters to use PowerPoint slides to show maps and charts. While a presenter could conceivably sketch something similar on a whiteboard, why waste everyone's time as they struggle to draw and talk.
By the way, PowerPoint is not the only presentation software out there. I am using PowerPoint as the example because it has become the icon standard for business. There are other visual presentation packages. Apple has Keynote. Prezi is a new presentation tool used by many schools. Regardless of what you use for software, there are advantages of a PowerPoint style presentation deck. Don't through the baby out with the bath water!
Some key advantages of PowerPoint slides:
- Ability to summarize large amounts of information in one place
- Graphically capture an idea or portray a concept
- Display video and multi-media as well as graphics and words
- Organize information in a logical flow
- Tell a story with illustrations and highlights
- Portray a though process or journey
- Showcase visual examples and photos not otherwise possible
And, the list goes on. There is nothing better than PowerPoint like presentations for summarizing information, graphically portraying concepts, and creating a tangible summary.
Want to make a lasting impression, take a lesson from TED
If you think you are a good polished presenter, then go take a look at TED on YouTube. TED is a nonprofit "devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading". They host TEDx events and invite some of the best speakers in the world to their conferences. The speakers are from the arts, sciences and everyday life. What is so compelling is how TED speakers captivate their audience. So, after reading about Generals and CEOs ditching PowerPoint, I have been watching the best of the best speakers on TED.
Best Practices of the best TED Speakers:
- They start with compelling questions
- They use a lot of stories and anecdotes
- Most use almost no PowerPoint!
- Any "slides" are often pictures, simple graphics
- Many draw on whiteboards to illustrate instead of presenting slides
- They the audience ask compelling questions
- They don't present … they create an experience
So, what does all of this mean? Ban PowerPoint … or not?
I personally will not be abandoning PowerPoint anytime soon. It is just too valuable of a tool to summarize information, graphically illustrate concepts, and bring real world examples into the classroom. PowerPoint can literally create a rich reference library of information. I just received an email from someone who attended at Retail U class 8 years ago. They wanted a copy of the most recent PowerPoint deck because they said they use it as their retail reference guide.
But, it's never too late to learn! What I am learning is that the use of PowerPoint depends upon your objectives. If the objective is to "educate, inform and disseminate" information, then rich PowerPoint decks with a lot of information and detail are appropriate.
If the objective is to "engage, problem solve and move to action", then there is a real question of whether PowerPoint is a useful tool or barrier. As I meet with more and more retail CEOs and leaders, my PowerPoint decks are getting very lean … about a dozen slides max. There are very few words on any slides. And, I'm using a lot more slides with just pictures or graphics. What this approach does is stop the "mind going on autopilot" syndrome. It engages the audience to ask questions and problem solve. What it also means is that you are no longer a "presenter" … you become a storyteller and discussion guide.
If you want to engage the audience and make them remember, the words of Maya Angelou are probably the best guide. It's not about the slides, or even the best graphics … did you create an experience that made them feel something?
To receive more information and sound bites from IMS follow IMS Results Count on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.
Sources:
- NPR: Physicists, Generals And CEOs Agree: Ditch The PowerPoint, By Alan Yu; March 16, 2014
- Meeting Image: Ambro; Freedigitalphotos.net
- TED Screenshot: YouTube.com
A really interesting post and I do think that there are certain limitations with PowerPoint presentations. As you have pointed out above, they really restrict participation. What is your stance on the so-called 'death by PowerPoint?' I think part of it does come down to the person ho is presenting. If the slides are clean with just a few points and they are confident speakers who can get an audience involved, there really isn't a problem. However, the majority of people cannot do this and this is why interactive presentations are becoming more popular.
Posted by: Lucas Davis | June 18, 2014 at 08:08 AM
Indeed! Another fun presentation format emerging is called Pecha Kucha. Very TED like. 20 images x 20 secs. each.
Posted by: Jacqueline | April 17, 2014 at 09:00 AM