Ditch PowerPoint
Kathy Sierra has written a great piece about boring presentations. If you go to the same meetings I do where they always crack open the old PowerPoint presentation you know what she is talking about. Kathy puts it best when she describes most PowerPoint presentations:
Sometimes the best presentation is… no presentation. Ditch the slides completely. Put the projector in the closet, roll the screen back up, and turn the damn lights back on!
Especially if the slides are bullet points. Or worse… paragraphs.
If your job has you making a lot of presentations you should read this article right now. My tips on the subject for Tablet PC owners- ditch PowerPoint and make a thoughtful presentation using MindManager. Make it interactive by annotating and drawing on the screen. Anything to turn it into a fully interactive experience for the audience, this prevents them from tuning you out because it’s new to them and they are naturally curious about what you are going to do next. If you have to use PowerPoint but want to avoid the presenter/ audience barrier then bring them into the discussion. Hand the slate to them and ask them to ink their note right on the slide. Then go around the table. The attendees will not forget your meeting and presentation for a long time.
What an awesome idea — to dynamically mind map your presentation. I’m going to think very seriously about doing this for my next talk. Thanks!
That’s Anarchy I say.
“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats, living together… mass hysteria!”
At an education conference I was at a couple of years ago that focused on IT solutions in the learning environment, one panel’s title was “Death by PowerPoint.” It was packed, because we’d all experienced it.
I agree with James, dynamic presentations having the audience participate. MindManager. You can also do that with a tablet and PPT using inking functions, but leave the slides open-ended enough to allow for participation, emphasis, illustrations, responses, etc. MindManager is easier because you have the whole presentation up at once, and it unfolds as you proceed with your group participating. It can be quickly emended as you work.