A Manifesto to All Presenters Everywhere

I’ve been resentfully working with PowerPoint ever since it launched. Trying to use PowerPoint is akin to a surgeon using only their thumb and index finger. It is a pathetic tool. Actually, it’s only pathetic to use in the way corporations and organizations are using it. It has devolved into a crutch for inexperienced, unprepared and reluctant presenters flush with convoluted charts, gobs of copy and – <insert deity of choice> help us all – hackneyed clip art. The vast majority of the time it yields woeful presentations. In fact, I can really only remember two in my 20 professional years that were interesting and informative (here’s one). It is a real phenomenon called Death by PowerPoint.

I beg you to please help me start a revolution.

Because, there is hope. If you truly want to give a great presentation. Here are the three immutable steps:

1. Take your allotted time, divide by three and that’s your maximum amount of slides. (30 minutes = 10 slides)
2. Use text-free photography or graphics to make your point. If you have to use text, see #3 below.
3. Set all your type to 38 point or larger. If it doesn’t fit, cut it.

And…

• Deliver it, don’t read it.
• Start with a single, compact point you’re going to make. Every thing you put in a slide and every thing you say supports that. If you have to make two points, have a second meeting.
• If you put anything in the “notes” field of PowerPoint, start over – you’re doing it wrong.

Thank you.