In this match-up, you will lose.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with PowerPoint per se, but it is frequently a deadly weapon in the wrong hands. It can stupefy just when you want to edify.

Here is the formula for maximum stupification:

1. Turn off the lights
2. Turn on the PowerPoint
3. Turn your back to the audience, and
4. Read the word slides

There are people who actually think that this format constitutes ‘public speaking’. It does not. Do you remember looking at those drawings that asked you, ‘How many mistakes can you find in this picture’? With that in mind, let’s examine our formula.

Turn off the lights. What do you do when the lights are turned down –especially after lunch or dinner? Probably the same thing I do; take a little nap. Turning off the lights is a conditioned cue to go to sleep, for heaven’ sake. What do you expect?

Turn on the PowerPoint: Probably the most misused technology we’ve had in a long time. Audio-visual aids are supposed to supplement the speaker with nonverbal illustrative material. They are not supposed to totally supplant the speaker to the point that he/she is just a voice in the dark.

Turn your back to the audience. No. No. No. You don’t do that. Neither should your face be buried in a written script or scrutinizing your laptop settings. When you talk to people they need to see your face (and read your lips), need to feel eye contact from you for a conversational relationship.

Read the word slides. Don’t you get irked when someone reads a slide to you that you could read yourself, only much faster? A dissonance occurs between the delivery rate of the auditory and the visual symbols. The word slides are usually a lazy person’s answer to content notes.

Taking a more positive approach:

You may dim the lights to enhance a visual aid, but keep the lights up on your face. You have no idea how important it is for many people to be able to use information from your visible articulation to help follow your speech. It also maintains your relationship with the audience.

Limit PowerPoint to only what’s necessary to illustrate your material. It’s good for charts, graphs, comparative figures, etc. You – your physical speaking presence - need to be the main show, not the slides.

Always face your audience. You wouldn’t turn your back on someone in a one-on-one conversation. Also, facing the screen means that you are projecting your voice into the back wall, not out into your audience where the ears are.

If you want people to see a lot of material, data, etc. or to read content, pass it out in paper form after your talk when they can attend to it more carefully later. You don’t want to introduce a competition between your spoken and your written word. If detail, data, and citations are important, put them in a handout.

I know of companies that do not allow PowerPoint presentation at all. Executives grow impatient with showy techniques and suspect that way too much time was invested in a flashy presentation. So, while variety and audio-visual aids are a Good Thing, there is such a thing as too much of a Good Thing.

Copyright © 2004 Dr. Carol Fleming. All Rights Reserved.