Death by PowerPoint

The Circuit was pleased to feature David Bowman, Marketing Manager of Lucrum, for our professional development program on Death by PowerPoint. David write this on his website (www.davidebowman.com)

Did you know that fear of public speaking ranks above fear of death. Seriously the top three fears are public speaking, death, and spiders. Who knew? Maybe one reason we all fear speaking in front of people is that we don’t want to look foolish. Sadly, the use of PowerPoint as a presentation tool often results in just that. Speakers look bad, audiences are bored, and public speaking remains something scary – wooohaahaaahaa. Fear not! It does not have to be this way.

This morning I got to deliver one of the more enjoyable presentations I have done in quite some time. The audience – 50 or so members of The Circuit, an organization based in Cincinnati, Ohio that brings together Information Technology professionals from around the region. The topic – Death by PowerPoint.

I opened the presentation with an original song entitled Death by PowerPoint. I must say I was a little nervous about starting the event by performing a song I wrote two days ago – and never played in front of anyone but my wife and kids. Happily the song went well, and I didn’t mess it up too badly. Everyone seemed to find the humor in it, and it proved to be a great segue into the presentation. Right after I was done singing it, I jokingly said that the 4 minute song contained just about every point I wanted to make – which is not far from the truth. Ahhh music. How I miss you. Maybe I was missing the boat all those years of playing until 2:30am in bars? Perhaps my future is 7:30am in conference rooms?

1. Death by PowerPoint

2. Seriously? You can do better

3. How most people use PowerPoint

4. How most people look using PowerPoint

5. How most people feel about PowerPoint

6. PowerPoint should feel like this

7. PowerPoint could be the most powerful tool on your computer… but it’s not - Seth Godin

8. and the Lord said it was bad. Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.

9. “Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.”

10. Life’s too short for death by PowerPoint

11. Do’s, Don’ts, Hacks, Tips, Tricks, Tactics, & Techniques for better PowerPoint

12. presentation or conversation presentation or conversation

13. nobody wants to watch you reading

14. bullets kill people

15. WHAT THE FONT?

16. One logo is enough

17. “If you feel tempted to use a picture of two hands shaking in front of a globe, put the pencil down, step away from the desk, and think about taking a vacation or investigating aromatherapy.” – Nancy Duarte

18. Cut the Clip Art

19. Them Us More The Others c i f b e h a d g 14 NOISE CONFUSION

20. 99% suck Charts & Graphs Make charts & graphs Meaningful

21. 1970 2009 Kids today consume 5 times more fast food than kids in 1970

22. You’re supersizing us 30% eat fast food every day

23. POW! BLAM! ZING! WHOOSH! SOCK! NO SOUND EFFECTS or ANIMATIONS!

24. keep it simple stupid

25. Simple tips from: Seth Godin

26. bullets 1 point 6 words words, words, words, words, words, words.

27. Simple tips from: Guy Kawasaki

28. 10 slides 20 minutes 30 pt Font abc Guy Kawasaki

29. Simple method: Pecha Kucha

30. 20 slides 20 seconds 6.6 minutes

31. step by step

32. decide where you’re going

33. write it down, and draw it up

34. Death By PowerPoint Unplugged

35. outline

36. storyboard

37. deliverables 3

38. Balancing content

39. Process Ideas Feelings Ideas Feelings Process Facts Facts The Human Brain

40. Practice

41. check yourself

42. Find your voice

43. have fun

44. Thanks! David E. Bowman Marketing Manager, LUCRUM http://lucruminc.com http:// davidebowman.com

45. Photo Credits http://www.flickr.com/photos/annguyenphotography/3268547290/sizes/l/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/perfectoinsecto/1593972902/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualpanic/1996389857/sizes/l/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/powi/2185809467/sizes/o/