Book Review: 5 Steps To Conquer 'Death by PowerPoint'

Anyone who reads this blog knows my viewpoint on PowerPoint in presentations: it's generally used as a crutch by most business presenters to make sure they remember what to say, rather than as a mechanism to add additional clarification and depth to the presentation content for the audience.

So it won't surprise you that I am in violent agreement with author Eric Bergman when he states in his new book, Five Steps to Conquer 'Death by PowerPoint': Changing the world one conversation at a time,

"...slides are not working. They stifle discussion. They impede understanding. They hinder decision making.They crush audience participation. They smother critical thinking. They leave boredom and lost productivity in their wake."

Right on, Eric!

Bergman shows his understanding of the pervasiveness of the PowerPoint epidemic early on in the book by citing ten assumptions that people use to justify their practice of mixing the spoken word and the written word in presentations: [It = PowerPoint]

1. Everyone Uses It.
2. It's Expected.
3. People Have Different Learning Styles.
4. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.
5. My Slides Are My Notes.
6. The Audience Can Take Notes.
7. They Can Share the Presentation with Others.
8. People Will Remember Our Key Messages.
9. The Focus is Off Me.
10. It Saves Time.

Then with stories, examples and research, Bergman debunks each of the assumptions and provides a different perspective.

"Stepping off the PowerPoint treadmill requires courage," says Bergman, and to help guide us in this new direction, he provides a 5 step model:

1. Put Your Audience First by tailoring the discussion to the audience's specific needs.
2. Structure the Conversation by using a framework to put ideas into context.
3. Minimize Visual Aids by questioning the value of each and every slide used.
4. Convey Your Message & Personality by creating a relaxed two-way conversational exchange.
5. Answer Questions Throughout by keeping answers short to enhance interaction and interest.

Not new advice, but Bergman fleshes out each one of the steps with lots of background rationale and specific suggestions, making them easy to apply. For further illustration he takes a mock presentation [the Barking Dog] and works it through some of the steps.

One thing I particularly liked about the book was Bergman's assertion that audiences should take some responsibility in this epidemic by demanding better presentations. To this end, he includes an "Audience Manifesto' in the final chapter with recommendations on how to communicate it and a downloadable poster at www.FiveStepstoConquer.com/manifesto.html.

Whether this is the first time you're hearing about an alternative to bullet point-laden slides or whether you've already joined the revolution, Five Steps to Conquer 'Death by PowerPoint' will offer you something to make your presentations more compelling.

Comments

[Maid Service Red Bank]

5 Steps to Conquer 'Death by PowerPoint' Changing the World One Conversation at a Time tackles our obsession with popular slideware programs head on while providing an easy-to-follow framework for presentations that inform and influence.

[Kathy Reiffenstein]

Hello Adhiti,

Thanks for your comments.

You are absolutely right that visuals help with understanding and memorability. But the key is in the definition of "visuals". An abundance of words/bullet points on a slide is not the type of visual that provides an audience with more clarity or the ability to better remember the presenter's message. When you ask an audience to *read* words on a slide at the same time the presenter is speaking (which is the norm for most presentations), you are actually creating a conflict for the audience. They don't read or listen with their complete attention and as a result, they struggle to take in everything. Written words and spoken words are processed through two different parts of our brain, adding to the conflict.

The visuals that can really create impact for an audience and help them better understand and remember the key points of the presentation are *true* visuals like pictures, illustrations, graphs and charts. These are not a duplicate of what the presenter is saying but rather a supplement to provide additional insight for the audience.

So the advice about minimizing visual aids is to encourage presenters not to confuse and overload their audience with a lot of words on the slides. But it is also to encourage presenters to focus more on their audiences. The very best presentation is a dialogue between presenter and audience, even if the presenter does most of the talking. If the audience's attention is constantly being directed away from the presenter to visual aids (even good ones), that dialogue becomes much less effective.

Hope that has clarified the issue. I applaud you for working to understand how to make more effective presentations..because it's as early as university where some of the bad PowerPoint habits are born!

Best,
Kathy

[Adhiti]

hello Kathy,
Thanks!As I'm a M.B.A student your post wil be very useful for my presentations. In your post the 3rd point tells to minimize visual aids but as far as i know vision dominates all other senses and "The more visual the input becomes, the more likely it is to be recognized - and recalled."
"If information is presented orally, people remember about 10% That figure goes up to 65% if you add a picture."
Will you pls clarify this.
Awaiting your response.