Friday, December 17, 2004
To PowerPoint or Not To PowerPoint....That is the Question ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every time I sit down with a client to discuss an upcoming speech, I dread the phrase "we will need some Power Point slides". Thankfully only about 10% actually go that route. I hate Power Point, and not because it is very trendy to rebel against this very powerful, very robust program. But that is beside the point. For public speaking purposes Power Point is all too often a solution in search of a problem.
Visuals rarely improve a presentation. Most of us have enough trouble getting our speakers to practice their text out loud - let alone learn to speak to slides on a screen. It takes a lot more practice to deliver a presentation when you add bulleted points and convoluted graphs to the mix.
But it goes beyond the matter of bad slides mixed with flawed presentation skills.
Listening to words spoken aloud, like listening to the radio, is a right brain activity to which listeners contribute their own memory and experience. Reading bulleted points on a screen on the other hand tends to invoke logical left brain activity. Asking the audience to listen with their ears and read with their eyes and remain engaged by the speaker is a too muuch to expect. Nine times out of ten your clients will play second fiddle to their slides, and the disconnected audience will be bored to tears.
What about television and movies I hear you objecting. They both engage the eye and ear. True enough. But pictures, moving or otherwise, like words spoken aloud, allow us to fill in the spaces ourselves. So if your speakers insist on Power Point, then encourage them to use a few photographic images. That way they are not a slave to what's going on behind their backs.
The best option, I believe, is not to use PowerPoint at all. Still not convinced? When was the last time you left a presentation saying - "Gosh, wasn't that a great Power Point presentation!"
More on Left Brain...Right Brain ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a similar vein I had an accidental eureka moment some time ago. I was editing someone else's speech - a dreadful bit of work that put me to sleep within the first two paragraphs. I immediately identified the problem. I was looking at a text that was meant to be read, not spoken. Not only was it filled with overblown words. There was no rhythm. No passion. No pattern. There was nothing that catered to the imagination.
All of which made me begin to wonder if there existed any written document that has its parallel to the speech. And it suddenly struck me that there was such an animal - the personal letter. Ever receive a long heartfelt letter from a loved one - a father or mother, a spouse, a fiancé, a son or daughter - a letter that spoke to your heart? When you read it - you did so not with your logical left brain, but with your imaginative right brain. You not only heard the voice of the writer as you read the words, you filled in the silence between the notes.
Food for thought.
In Praise of Failure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I sit down with my clients looking for message and motive, I despair when they begin the interview with how they want to tell their audiences about their great new policy, new direction or new product. When they do that, I know I have got a lot of work to do. Not because I don't want to write about the new policy, direction or product. We can get to that. It's just not a very compelling way to start.
So how are you going to get audiences to buy-in to whatever it is your clients are selling? One way to start is having them talk not about their great successes, but about their grand failures. Stories of failure are much more interesting. They tend to speak to our common humanity. They give the speaker the opportunity to talk about how they ultimately triumphed. Audiences bite because they too have made mistakes, and your speakers' confessions make them sound refreshingly human and imperfect. And they want to know how the story ends. This of course is the perfect opening for the messaging your speakers want to get to.
So, get your clients to confess. It's good for the soul.
Speech Writing Workshops and Conferences ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Washington DC The 2005 Speechwriter's Conference from February 9-11, 2005. I am particularly excited about the prospect of going since I will be presenting this year. You can get more information by going to www.speechwritercity.com/speech05
