PowerPoint in the firing line

Today’s Daily Telegraph carries an article reporting on research by professor John Swells of the University of New South Wales suggesting that presentations using the ubiquitous PowerPoint slide package cause audiences to lose attention and ‘switch off’. Apparently the brain cannot cope with the amount of information being received. Microsoft not surprisingly support PowerPoint as a powerful business tool. Personally I have made less use of slide presentations whether PowerPoint or Keynote as client meetings have now tended to become less formal and reverted to more of an old fashioned discussion, without the encumbrance of visual aids. A few years ago it was quite different. The arrival of video projectors and lap tops enabled slide shows to be quickly arranged and slides projected onto screens, or simply the office wall. But now the excitement over the then ‘new found’ ability to do this plus our trend to closer client involvement instead of ‘lecturing’ the client, it is not something I encounter so often. My criticism of PowerPoint was not the information overload or boredom factor, or even the time it took to create an acceptable presentation and the sheer intricacy of some presentations, but the use of slides as a substitute for a full report. Busy people would ask me to send them the PowerPoint presentation or to present a market research report in PowerPoint; not simply as a reminder of a more detailed presentation or report, but instead of a report. To me PowerPoint was more a descendant of the flip chart, itself simply a visual aid to help underscore key messages. Soon the key decision makers were only receiving bullet point briefings – the rationale and depth of analysis largely unseen. So the presentations changed from being an aide-memoire into a mini report that resulted in a huge file size. Recently we concluded some market research on behalf of another agency, extensively supported by charts and graphs and at the last minute was asked for a PowerPoint version as an alternative to a presentation and report for their client. There was no discussion on the findings and recommendations although the client was reported to have been delighted .. and no doubt on to the next project – or PowerPoint!

Footnote: the Google ads served to accompany the online version of the news story was for an agency specializing in guess what … PowerPoint. Right after an article totally decrying it. How weird is that?