Presenting
Just like everyone else in the corporate world, I have to put up with a multitude of boring, ugly, un-motivating presentations. It’s amazing that the people that put together their presentations on their “official” corporate deck and pages full of bullet-points think that anyone is going to pay attention. I hate to have a presentation read to me and I hate staring at bullets for any more than two minutes. I’ve actually grown allergic to bullet points.
The ultimate value of the presentation is much more than the deck that is being presented, but I have noticed that the interestingness of the presentation and the simplicity/story/thought that goes into the deck usually seem to be in alignment. If I walk into a presentation and I see the standard corporate title slide, I almost immediately know that I’m getting ready to plunge into a an hour or so of straight bullets. The standard title slide isn’t 100% as a leading indicator, but it’s pretty high.
There are so many better ways to present and to use a slide deck to help with messaging. If you’re interested or intrigued by giving great presentation and being a better communicator - I highly recommend Presentation Zen. This is the best site out there for tips on communicating, presenting, and giving effective presentations. If you are new to presenting or if you just want to spare your co-workers or audience of sitting through another mediocre presentation, check out the site. The book recommendations are always top-notch as well.