Orange Envelopes | Small Business Optimized Marketing > By Design

I was invited yesterday to attend a couple of high-level presentations at an enormous Cleveland-based health care concern that intends to pursue web-based fundraising initiatives.

Two groups were invited to compete for a seven figure campaign to test the efficacy and potential of web-based fundraising and each sent high-powered teams to deliver their extraordinarily mediocre messages through their numbingly ineffective PowerPoint presentations.

At the end of the day, after our private recap of both presentations, we were all in agreement that neither company did themselves any favors with their presentations, although each had the potential to blow the other out of the water with an exemplary, creative, memorable and distinctive presentation.

What went wrong? Both were wedded to the PowerPoint presentation template that insists on delivering text based information in a visual environment. With bullets. Endless bullets. Each one read to us. Just in case we had become suddenly stricken illiterate.

So, let’s review. Each presenter brings a laptop to connect with a high-resolution LCD projector capable of displaying brilliant video, and each decides to present…. (wait for it)… TEXT. Brilliant.

Here’s the rub. Both competitors had amazing, compelling and memorable stories to tell. Huge, nationally recognized clients with exciting success stories. Creative campaigns that generated lasting results. And neither elected to tell any of these stories.

However, we were graced with annoyingly derivative methodology diagrams, dense process flow charts and unnecessary recitations of dry stats and figures that contributed nothing to our attempt to determine one thing: are you the guys we want to execute this campaign?

Let’s revisit the irony here… two firms send teams to demonstrate how wonderfully creative and capable they are and both center their presentations not around story, emotion, community, engagement or connections (words not even mentioned for the first 90 minutes), but around bullet points. I’m sold.

I know it’s been said before, but let’s say it again:

1. tell a story. first. foremost. If you don’t know how, read Beyond Bullet Points and learn. Before your next presentation. I’ll remember a story. I won’t remember that 4.8% of direct mail recipients will elect to give their contact information if presented with a free premium option. Or is that 8.4%? Or 6.9%? Oh hell, I forgot.
2. use visuals. See the slide deck embedded above. Simple graphics aren’t so simple, but they are devastatingly effective. And they support your story. (see how this all ties together?)
3. edit ruthlessly. Don’t use eight words when five will do. Or two. This is a presentation, not a shared group reading session. If you pick the right visual, you won’t need a single word on the slide.
4. learn your presentation. I believe that most presenters fill their slides with bullet points as a crutch. They’re afraid that they’ll forget to mention something, so they make sure that every single talking point is included in their slides. The solution: practice. Learn what you want to say with each visual. Use the slide notes feature if you need to have a visual reminder visible only to you. Just get rid of the lists of text that detract from you and your story.

Want to separate yourself from your competitors? Learn how to tell a visually compelling story. Your clients will be eternally grateful that they never have to sit through another miserable PowerPoint bullet point recitation and you’ll be their hero. Win win.

This is it. I’m putting my foot down. Or, more accurately, putting both feet down, one after the other and hurriedly walking out. I can’t take it. I won’t take it. I will never (one more time for emphasis), never sit through another tortuous PowerPoint presentation.

Starting with today’s luncheon speaker, and extending into perpetuity, I vow to get up and leave the room when confronted with the equivalent of  presentation waterboarding, which includes:

1) A recitation of how wonderful and accomplished the speaker is – delivered by the speaker. If you want a glowing into, write one and have the moderator use it to introduce you. The fact that you’re on the stage conducting the presentation carries some impact with the audience. We expect you to be expert at something, and to share some of that knowledge goodness with us. You don’t have to toot your own horn with a series of slides detailing your accolades, accomplishments and awards. When in doubt, adhere to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s motto: Less is more.

2) Masses of bullet points. I get it. You have a lot to say. Do you need to write it all out? Can’t you sum up your genius in one concise, pithy headline? Contrary to your assumptions, writing out masses of bullet points is actually the lazy way of creating a presentation. It’s a brain dump. Throw in everything you know to make sure you don’t miss a single thing, and inundate your nearly comatose audience with the breadth of your knowledge. Who needs to be interesting when you can be overwhelming?

3) Text, text, text, text, text, text. You’re employing a visual medium. So use some visuals. Big, bold graphics that complement your topic. Videos that enhance your narrative. Charts and graphs that reinforce your major points. How about some color? Liven things up for us. We just ate a big lunch, and if we hear you read one more seven line bullet point, we’re dozing.

4) Everything, all at once. Once in a while, you’ve got to introduce a list to your audience. Dreaded bullet points that simply can’t be avoided. A list of features. A list of ingredients. A set of directions. If you were simply speaking to us, you’d introduce them one at a time. Go one mile. Turn right. Then take the first left. You wouldn’t say goonemileturnrightthentakethefirstleft. PowerPoint lets you introduce one bullet item at a time. So we stay with you. You make more sense and are easier to understand. One bullet at a time. Learn how.

5) A interminable display of the presenter’s reading ability. Bullet by seemingly endless bullet. A dry and embellishment-free recitation of the exact words displayed en masse on the screen before us. I can read. We can all read. If that’s all you’ve got, put it in an e-mail. It’s more humane.

6) Lack of any narrative or story. Come on, these are the basics. Who are you, why are you on stage, and why should I care? What’s in it for me? I don’t want to hear you recite a list, I want to hear you tell a persuasive story that establishes a problem or issue, involves the audience in the conflict and recommends a solution. Sure, it’s tougher than writing out a series of bullet points, but that’s why you’re up there and we’re down here. Too much effort for you? Then let someone else speak.

7) Slide overload. You have 30 minutes to talk. You’ve prepared 55 slides. And you’re committed to reading every one. At 26 minutes, you realize that you’ve only read 6 slides, but you remain steadfast in your resolve to read the remaining 49 slides over the next four minutes. What a lucky audience we are.

If you don’t know how to create a compelling, thoughtful and engaging presentation, it’s time to learn. It’s not hard and you’ll appreciate the adoration after delivering a knockout presentation. The groupies alone are worth the effort.

Check out the following resources:

• Beyond Bullet Points, Cliff Atkinson
• slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations, Nancy Duarte
• Presentation Zen
• Really Bad Powerpoint, Seth Godin