Presentations. We all give them and attend them. Some are good, some…not so much. But what can we do, and help others to do, to prepare and provide presentations that are engaging and rich in content but are not overly dependent on tools and technologies such as Powerpoint as a crutch.

Yesterday Mickie wrote a great posting about the use and misuse of Powerpoint, specifically revolving around the use of slide templates. After reading her thoughts it got me thinking about the use of Powerpoint in general. I am, by education and profession, an educator/trainer and believe that the tools used to convey a message are not nearly as important as the message itself. That’s not to say that I don’t think technology can be used to augment and enhance a message or learning experience, rather, I believe it should only be used as a means to an end, not an end in itself.

The problem with that type of thinking is the fact that Powerpoint (and any other presentation tool such as Keynote on the Mac or Impress on Linux) have become rather ubiquitous tools in the workplace and people are expected (or think they are expected) to use them when presenting information. Despite the propagation of these tools and the fact that most people are, at the very least, comfortable using these tools, very few know how to use them effectively - both in the creation and presentation of information. For far too many presenters use their slides as the entirety of the presentation, a crutch of sorts, not, as it should be, as a tool to enhance and clarify their message.

I suggested in a comment to the post that perhaps what is needed is a really concerted effort to educate presenters not only on how to create good presentations but also how to use the tool as a support rather than the focal point. I also suggested the impact that Cliff Atkinson’s book Beyond Bullet Points had in my own thinking, knowing fully it was but one approach to giving effective presentations. After leaving the comment, I couldn’t help but wonder what else was available to serve as a guide and provide some inspiration. Thanks to my feed reader, just this morning I turned up a link to a new 43 Folders posting where Merlin Mann discusses a number of really good resources not only from a design and development perspective but also from a creative perspective. It’s definitely worth a look, especially if creating presentations is part of your day-to-day work or a struggle.

Here is a presentation Merlin made to Google a few weeks ago called Inbox Zero where he gives a behind-the-scenes look at how he put together the presentation.