Powerpoint: 25 years of benefit?

Powerpoint celebrated its 25th birthday recently, as mentioned on the BBC website, and I wondered about whether we can say it has really benefited our society.

How many presentations have you had to sit through where the slides are crammed full of text at some ridiculously small point size? Or include an image (or, if you’ve been particularly unfortunate, multiple images) covered with annotations which are completely incoherent and render the slide useless? I know I’ve seen a few.

And yet it’s common sense that people take in smaller amounts of visual information more effectively than reams and reams of text and images, particularly if they are also listening to someone talking…isn’t it?

And that got me thinking: maybe it isn’t common sense. Maybe people use Powerpoint in a variety of different ways, some effectively, some less so. My own experience definitely supports this.

Unfortunately, I have to say I’ve had much more of the latter. One example I can recall (while working for a previous company) presented the new product updates of a well known brand of car. The client’s product specialist put the entire presentation, including imagery, virtually word for word on their slides. As well as looking cluttered (and full of automotive industry acronyms and jargon), the text was tiny and only clearly visible from the front row of seats. As a result the majority of the audience had to concentrate far too hard on what was being said, vaguely using the images to support their comprehension. I was exhausted by the end of it.

And yet there have also been experiences where the presenter, their words, their presenting style and the slides have all worked in harmony to give an effective, informative and memorable (for all the right reasons) experience. And in each of these, the slides were light; showing bullet point terms which summarise what the presenter was talking about at each point in the presentation. One of my university lecturers used to get it spot on time after time; and I always did better in his end-of-module exams.

I’ve heard many people moan about Powerpoint, but it really isn’t the problem. In fact, it’s a bit like a gun, or a car; on its own it’s not dangerous, but in the hands of the wrong person…..

OK, a bit of a dramatic analogy, but the lesson is the same: if you’re going to use it, use it properly.

Be economical with your slides; many people think that if something is on a slide then they’ve communicated it. Don’t make that assumption – a presentation shouldn’t be viewed as a box-ticking exercise, where you need to make sure you’ve covered everything. It’s your responsibility to communicate your message so that your audience understand it. Don’t assume that if a piece of important content is on a slide, buried in text, you’ve achieved this.

Sparse, well laid out and good sized text allow the audience to easily read and digest a slide’s content. And with only a little to text read, they spend more time listening to you. Ideally, your slide text should act both as content to support the audience’s understanding and be a prompt for you while presenting.

Think about your audience, think about what you’re going to tell them (which you know in a lot more detail than they do) and make sure your slides are designed for them, not for you – and if you need help with this then get some training in. It benefited me when I went on a course.

Use it correctly, and the benefit is clear for all to see – particularly the people you're presenting to.