Again, these are not my words but those of Peter Shankman.
You may remember this post on his dire prediction of the life-span of the beloved press release.
Well, Peter tossed out another comment that day at the TIMA conference in downtown Raleigh, that I’d written in my notes with the intention of asking him to explain his thoughts a bit more later.
I finally took a second look at those notes and asked Peter (via twitter) to tell me why he felt that way. After all, I do use PowerPoint when I’m speaking and wouldn’t characterize myself or my knowledge of the subject matter as weak.
Here is his response in 93 characters:
“If you need charts and graphs to get your point across and you’re not a physicist, your point isn’t strong enough.”
I’ll admit that I do find myself talking more than advancing slides, but my audiences so far have not been very social media savvy and didn’t know much about online communities at all. Because of that, I’ve felt the need for visuals.
What are your thoughts on PowerPoint? Enhancement or crutch? And if you’re a physicist, no need to respond.
5 comments
Comments feed for this article
December 7, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Matt
1. Send Peter this presentation. Notice how the graphs tell the story. His point was strong, but he used the presentation to captivate the audience and inspire.
2. Powerpoint is the new form of corporate communication. At my corporation, I would be challenged to find someone that still produces documents in Microsoft Word.
December 8, 2008 at 3:36 am
Nathan C.
Let’s be straight – powerpoint sucks. Ever pasted something in and it changes all your font sizes thinking it somehow can read your mind and knows you want it differently…. AGH!! I hate it. But the technical side apart, some people are visual learners. For instance, I am in South Africa for a year and am meeting lots of new people with names very strange to me. I know I am a visual learner, so if I ask them to spell their name, then I can see it in my head and I’m more likely to remember it.
Also, some people remember by writing things down (like me). The act of doing it puts it in memory (and you can then throw the paper away). So giving a powerpoint may help someone who’s taking notes to catch your points to write them down, esp. if you’re also a perfectionist (like me) and you hate misspelling words!! Man, I must be high maintenace
December 12, 2008 at 12:34 pm
mark
Powerpoint is a decent tool, useful to clarify complex thoughts to bullet points that can be remembered.
Too many people forget a very basic concept howerer: “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
Which means if you’re just reviewing in speech what is on the screen in your ppt., then you’re wasting everyone’s time. Just send the presentation and be done with it.
Likewise, that picture on the screen OVERPOWERS what you are saying–people are looking at that, and not at you. And they are only giving *maybe* half of their attention to you and half to what is on the screen.
One should use ppt. to *augment* or enhance what you are saying. It’s okay to have blank screens to give emphasis to what you are saying. The trick is to know when you NEED a visual representation to make your point, and when you want your audience engaged with *you*.
May 5, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Presentation: Making social media work for you « Online Community Strategist
[...] I’ll go without a presentation at some point, after all…PR pro Peter Shankman says PowerPoint is for the weak. Enjoy, and please share if you feel so [...]
December 16, 2009 at 5:08 pm
HARO: A big-time community-building success story « Online Community Strategist
[...] PowerPoint is for the weak [...]