The following three things are guaranteed to make me tune out and start daydreaming:
1. Dinner conversations involving 401k allocation and/or wedding dresses
2. Group musical numbers on American Idol
3. Bullet points that appear/disappear via Power Point’s “spiral in” and “fly out” animated features.
All three items on this list are incredibly lame. Luckily, the first two are avoidable. The third, unfortunately, is an everyday part of my white-collar world.
In my line of work (author/speaker/consultant) I am frequently exposed to painfully boring presentations. In fact, the vast majority of the professional presentations I see are lame.
This is a problem…and an opportunity.
If you are looking for a way to stand out and get a leg up at work, learn to design and deliver effective presentations. In a world where most presenters binge on bullet points and aim for lame, you can stand out by crafting presentations that go beyond crowded slides and painful puns.
Don’t settle for a “Boy, there sure is a lot of good information in there” presentation. Aim for “Wow!” instead.
You can start by checking out:
Deck ‘Em! A Novel Approach to Presentation Design
I have partnered with presentation guru, Scott Schwertly, on a fast-paced ebook for people who want to learn how to create memorable business presentations.
To learn more, read an excerpt, or order DECK ‘EM, click here.
...AND don't read bullet points off your slide word for word. We can all read too, thanks.
The lamest presentation I've ever been to was a presentation on how to do presentations. At one point the speaker read: "Do not read in a monotonous voice"... in a monotonous voice.
I had to look around at everyone else while wondering "Are you kidding me?"
Posted by: Josh Wong | March 24, 2009 at 06:37 AM
Yeah, that's pretty awful.
Posted by: Jake | March 24, 2009 at 09:09 AM