Tuesday, March 08, 2005
PowerPoint out of Context...
It happened again. A prospect sent me a PowerPoint file, with the notation: "Take a look at this, it explains everything you need to know about our company and our products." And I get 22 slides of...something? I have no idea what any of it means. It's gibberish to me.
This reminds me of a time in college when an acquaintance who missed a week of class asked if he could borrow my notes. I was busy. I shrugged, gave them to him and told him to knock himself out.
After the exam, he was furious. My notes did not help him understand the material at all. After all, my notes were meant for me. They were MY study aid. I didn't take notes with his point of view in mind. If he really wanted to understand the material, he would have a) attended class (beside the point) or b) asked for a study session with the professor and shown a serious interest in the material.
The point is twofold: 1) PowerPoint does not usually speak for itself. It's a visual aid for a conversation or presentation. Shoving it at someone out of context of the conversation is fairly useless as a communication device: it's a presentation, so PRESENT it! 2) Your audience, like my college friend, does not want to struggle to interpret a message that's crafted for an internal audience. Test your message and presentation on someone who is unfamiliar with your company's offer or material. ¶ 3/08/2005 10:33:00 PM
It happened again. A prospect sent me a PowerPoint file, with the notation: "Take a look at this, it explains everything you need to know about our company and our products." And I get 22 slides of...something? I have no idea what any of it means. It's gibberish to me.
This reminds me of a time in college when an acquaintance who missed a week of class asked if he could borrow my notes. I was busy. I shrugged, gave them to him and told him to knock himself out.
After the exam, he was furious. My notes did not help him understand the material at all. After all, my notes were meant for me. They were MY study aid. I didn't take notes with his point of view in mind. If he really wanted to understand the material, he would have a) attended class (beside the point) or b) asked for a study session with the professor and shown a serious interest in the material.
The point is twofold: 1) PowerPoint does not usually speak for itself. It's a visual aid for a conversation or presentation. Shoving it at someone out of context of the conversation is fairly useless as a communication device: it's a presentation, so PRESENT it! 2) Your audience, like my college friend, does not want to struggle to interpret a message that's crafted for an internal audience. Test your message and presentation on someone who is unfamiliar with your company's offer or material. ¶ 3/08/2005 10:33:00 PM
