Recently ,I have been working on a
deliverable – the first of its kind since I joined the consulting world. It is a written document (a business case for
process changes). At first, writing a document
in full sentences with subjects, adjectives, verbs, and objects felt very alien
– I almost started diagramming sentences (flashbacks to 7th grade
and adolescent geekdom!). But after a
little while, I started to enjoy fully expressing a thought, structuring a
paragraph, providing 2-3 supporting sentences, and closing with a summary
sentence. And it came to me that the
freedom of expression in the written document is something that is largely
missing from… wait for it… Power Point.
Power Point.
The life-blood of consultants everywhere. And apparently, the lifeblood of the
military. The article “We
Have Met the Enemy and He Is Power Point” from the New York Times this week described how dependent
the US military has become on Power Point slides, and how dangerous this
dependence has become in executing (or not) engagements in Afghanistan and
Iraq. “It’s dangerous because it can
create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,” General
McMaster said in a telephone interview. “Some problems in the world are not
bullet-izable.”
The danger of bulletizing everything in Power
Point slides is the lack of context around the bullets, charts and diagrams, which strictly limits
the amount of information imparted to those reading or viewing the slides. As a result, “the program stifles discussion,
critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making.“ To quote Army Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn from an article in Foreign
Policy magazine, “Sufficient knowledge will not come from slides with
little more text than a comic strip. Commanders must
demand substantive written narratives and analyses from their intel shops and
make the time to read them. There are no shortcuts.”
As a consultant to HR organizations in large
and not so large companies, I fess up to a disproportionate dependence on Power
Point as a communication vehicle. I use
it when conducting workshops, I use it to communicate strategy recommendations,
high-level project plans, summarized data.
I use it, in short, to provide information that is intended to inform
and drive decision-making. And I can’t
help but wonder if this inordinate dependence on Power Point is really
shortchanging the client. Edward Tufte
commented in yet another New
York Times article that Power Point’s bulleted lists enable users to “dodge [their] responsibility
to tie information together” in a cohesive and understandable narrative. Instead, “Power Point is infused with ‘an
attitude that turns everything into a sales pitch’”.
And I’m thinking that in using Power Point
as much as I do, I’m possibly doing myself a disservice as well. Power Point is not an appropriate vehicle to
demonstrate my conceptual, critical and analytical thinking abilities, or what
talent I may have at integrating ideas and processes into a big picture. And I’d like to think that these are the
competencies through which I bring value to the client (at least that’s what I’ve
been told). I want to present
thoughtful, comprehensive analysis that enables better client decisions. My job title is Consultant, not Power Point
Ranger.
With regard to HR’s use of Power
Point, I have spent enough time in internal HR roles to know that there is a
tendency for HR to over-rely on Power Point to communicate information to the
business. And I have to ask – is our
reliance on Power Point diminishing our ability to contribute to the
business? When was the last time you, as
an HR practitioner, actually wrote an analysis of HR data using complete
sentences, with a hypothesis, supporting arguments, and summary close that
could genuinely drive a strategic decision?
To what extent do we really think about the usefulness of Power
Point to truly communicate information we feel the business needs?
Now, this isn’t to say that Power Point doesn’t
serve a purpose. “Senior [military] officers
say the program does come in handy when the goal is not imparting information,
as in briefings for reporters. Those types of Power Point presentations… are
known as ‘hypnotizing chickens.’” Heaven
forbid we HR practitioners add that
to our job descriptions.
I was JUST thinking about all this yesterday as I went through and formatted a PPT…center align, bullet size 12, black font…next slide – center align, black font, remove underline…next slide… BLAH!
I cannot think of a worse tool to deliver information than PowerPoint. You talked about lack of context around the bullet points. Yes – I see that. But the opposite is also a huge problem. PowerPoint should be used to supplement what you are saying…not for people to read off of, which is so often what happens. If you are putting everything you are saying on a PPT, they why are you even there? People are reading the screen, and not even listening.
And clip art? *cringe* How exactly is that smily face holding a dollar sign helping your case???
Really enjoyed this perspective. It goes back to all things in moderation. Powerpoint and such has come to be the moving Gif of presentations. They can be dynamic, entertaining, and a retention 1/2 life of the length of the presentation itself. I think there is a definite danger when someone regards any one tool, especially powerpoint, as the product itself. I can see how there might be a shift in perspectives as powerpoint becomes commonly associated with presentations, anyone can click “next”.
However, this evolution at work. By realizing this HR/Consultants can start relegating it as a tool and developing their presentations to a higher level, one that truly shows the breadth of their value to an organization.
Thanks again for the read
Suzanne,
You are so right… We are often so caught up in the powerpoint logic that we forget how to CONVEY information in business writing. The next generation has no ability whatsoever in this.
I’m a student of Edward Tufte, who taught at Yale.
He has a series of terrific books on communicating information and the visual display of information. I often use these as source books when I have a challenging issue on visual display and presentation.
Before starting your next presentation, I’d strongly suggest, reading Seth Godin’s ebook-turned-blog-post, “Really Bad Powerpoint” beforehand:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/really_bad_powe.html
Interesting persepective and good points within your article.
The job of conveying information is the role of the presenter and PowerPoint should be a supporting player whose job is to visually connect an audience to the information being presented by the speaker.
When creating a presentation one should write their presentation out in full as you have described. During the writing process is the time to think about the visuals and text that you want to use on your supporting slides.
A full document can always be given to the audience at the conclusion of the presentation that can be referenced back to when needed.
There are many great articles and books on this topic. I enjoyed reading Dr. Richard E. Mayer’s book “Multimedia Learning.” Also, Kelly above mentioned Seth Godin who makes excellent points in his article. Another book I like is Nancy Duarte’s book “slide:ology.”
Thank you again for your insightful information.