31–40 of 126 posts
The written word is also a great equalizer. A "presenter" can be judged based on their content rather than their public speaking ability.
I'm in love with this idea. The information density (in terms of time) of a well written memo is much greater than that of a presentation. Many 30 minute presentations could be read in 5 minutes. The written word is also a great equalizer. A "presenter" can be judged based on their content rather than their public speaking ability.
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Of course they aren't inherently bad. Powerpoint is a tool. There are good ways and bad ways to use it. It's easier to use Powerpoint ineffectively than with other mediums.
I disagree. It's easier to be a bad speaker than it is to make a bad power point. Even thus you can make both bad, speaking is a LOT harder.
I'm in love with this idea. The information density (in terms of time) of a well written memo is much greater than that of a presentation. Many 30 minute presentations could be read in 5 minutes. The written word is also a great equalizer. A "presenter" can be judged based on their content rather than their public speaking ability.
6 pages is a bit too long, though. In a famous Ranked 1st Consumer Goods company (i'll let you guess which one) all team memos to management are only allowed to be of a single page. This is really hard to adapt to it at the beginning but decision making is so much faster.
Yeah. God forbid that anyone making decisions should have to deal with actual details; in the worst case, this would actually make them have to think.
I don't think powerpoints are inherently bad, but they're misused enough that I wouldn't begrudge anyone who wanted to ban them outright. The two best ways to use them, from experience, seem to be: - Super dense slides. These slides have a lot of text and are information-rich. You're not expected to read them, and the presenter will just skim over them, presenting a high-level view of each topic, but definitely not r…
My preferred powerpoints support the talk. They provide things the speaker cannot- pictures, tables, graphs. Sometimes bullets are nice for openings and closings to summarize.
A projector during a presentation should be used to show what you cannot say or to clarify a point graphically.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
6 pages is a bit too long, though. In a famous Ranked 1st Consumer Goods company (i'll let you guess which one) all team memos to management are only allowed to be of a single page. This is really hard to adapt to it at the beginning but decision making is so much faster.
> This is really hard to adapt to it at the beginning but decision making is so much faster. Yeah. God forbid that anyone making decisions should have to deal with actual details; in the worst case, this would actually make them have to think.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This is really hard to adapt to it at the beginning but decision making is so much faster. Yeah. God forbid that anyone making decisions should have to deal with actual details; in the worst case, this would actually make them have to think.
It does not mean it does not have details, but you have to sort out the details that matter for management. That's how they can make decisions instead of drowning them in pages and pages of information.
Good decision making stems from understanding a problem comprehensively, not via often misleading generalities. I would even question whether it's possible to accurately summarize anything more trivial problems in a single page; the sort of menial issue that doesn't warrant a widely-distributed memo in the first place.
I think it's sensible - you can write a PowerPoint in ten minutes and not have to think things through. Try not thinking while writing 6 pages of argument - it will be impossible or achingly clear when it's read.
And my general opinion is that the presentation should be supportive towards the presentator. Not the other way around.