01 Dec
The Overuse of PowerPoint
We always worry about the communication and not the process of the communication in business. Quite simply, we need more interaction and informal communication. These issues are well illustrated in a discussion of PowerPoint, which is among the most overused current communication tools that ignores the needs of the audience. I certainly applaud the benefits of the technology, capabilities, ease of use and its inherent ability to make presentations simpler and clearer. However, it is a tool gone whacky. There is nothing worse than having the lights go out, and sitting through a 30-60 minute canned, slick, PowerPoint sales presentation that talks about how passionate, skilled excellent, involved experienced, and differentiated the supplier is.
The presenter is usually a sales person who has nothing to do with implementing the project, and may have sold for a competitor or another product three weeks ago. In addition the presentation is frequently prepared by a graphic artist or department that has no relation to the product or presenter. Similarly, the presentation is mostly about how great the supplier is without saying what they can do for the client.
They frequently ignore the fact that in most cases they wouldn’t have been asked to present if the client didn’t know how great they were to qualify in the first place. What’s worse is they don’t allow interaction because they aren’t really prepared, have little information on the specific clients needs, and refuse to provide the presentation before the meeting to allow the client to prepare and ask questions. Furthermore, they are oblivious to the fact that half the people take a nap with the lights out and that the client has listened to virtually the same presentation from however many resources they have qualified to present.
