For the Smart Money Cookie

Believe it or not, the answer is not NOTHING! Even though that is what most people who know me would expect me to say.

I actually think that there is a role for the typical text-filled, bullet point laden PowerPoint slide, only it isn’t to be used on the PowerPoint projection screen. I love PowerPoint, including builds (that’s when you slide one new line of text on top of an existing page) on my computer, whether it is on a web site or as a separate document.

Why is it OK in one place but not the other? Because I like to read on my computer (and no one really likes to read a big screen from 30 feet away). PowerPoint slides with building lines of text on a web site can be a great way to have people focus on one idea at a time and to go through lots of data. PowerPoint builds can keep people from skimming ahead. Also, reading a printout of the document after having gone through the presentation mode online is a nice way of reinforcing the points and can serve as a reference tool for weeks or months to come.

When clients come to me to practice a typical PowerPoint speech using slides with tons of data and words, I try to reassure them that their slides do have some valuejust not as a visual aide during their speech. Instead, I urge them to use their text-driven slides as a document they can email audience members after the speech, put on their web site for additional information, or give as a paper handout (but only after the speech is finished).

So there is a role for text and number heavy PowerPoint slides in life, just don’t project them up on a big screen unless you want to bore and confuse your audeince!