Last week I posted some thoughts about what we need to do about bad PowerPoint presentations in response to a posting by Mickie Rops at her Association Knowledge and Credentialing blog. For those involved in education or conference-related activities at their association the problem is particularly acute. We have conferences, congresses, symposiums, seminars, and countless other opportunities where there are individuals in front of a crowd of people tasked with sharing their knowledge, experience and expertise. And while every association has their own nuances and intricacies that make them unique, the one thing that is pretty common throughout is the fact that most, if not all, provide their presenters with a computer, projector and PowerPoint to make their presentations.

Mickie being a well known innovator and educator in the association community obviously decided that the feedback she received was loud and clear. Today she did a follow-up posting: Powerpointless that consisted of a summary of the comments she recieved and a pretty cool call to action. She suggested that we not only needed to share good practices and ideas for coaching and preparing presenters from associations that were doing a good job of it, but also that perhaps we needed to educate ourselves as well. The suggested medium: a virtual book club where we could pick a few relevant titles and share our combined learning. Now this isn’t a new concept by any stretch, but it is a great approach to solving a common problem many of us are facing.

This is one of the reasons I am so passionate about blogging, and the whole social media phenomena in the first place. It not only allows you the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas very easily and also connect with people you wouldn’t have the opportunity to normally, but it also, if done properly, allows you to connect with these same people to solve problems that you would have otherwise faced alone. This is an example of social media done right, and while this also happens pretty often, it’s one of the benefits that can be easily lost in the hype.

As an adjunct to the discussion I wanted to say thanks to Lisa Junker for suggesting the resources that she did. One piece in particular: Really Bad Powerpoint by Seth Godin, proved to be a quick and enlightening read. It just so happens that Seth just updated it at the beginning of the year in response to the abundance of bad presentations, presentation templates and presentation practices still floating around. If you have a few minutes, follow the link above, it really is a worthwhile read.

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.