Tuesday, September 20, 2005
PowerPoint and the Trophy Wife...
I have a beautiful (young) friend who aspires to trophy wife status. "I'm pretty," she insists. "So the plan is to marry a rich guy, so I can live in a nice house, wear great clothes and shoes and stuff and never have to worry about anything."
When I asked her why a wealthy man would want to marry her, she looked at me as if I were dim.
"I'm pretty," she explained.
Oh.
It's a little short sighted of her, I think. It's more than likely that a man of character and taste would require more than mere physical beauty. But she did say that she wan't interested in character or taste, only the money...and of course, the shoes and stuff that the money buys.
It's short-sighted and shallow to focus only on thinking pretty. In thinking of style over substance. "Pretty" is ephemeral....and there is always someone who will be prettier than you.
"Pretty" in itself is a (pretty) bad long term investment.
I countered that she might want to develop character and substance...that these qualities will last longer than physical beauty and ultimately have a much higher return on investment than the right makeup or outfits. Pretty is OK: but ultimately, people long for something more.
I've seen absolutely beautiful PowerPoint presentations fashioned by world class designers. Without a compelling story behind the gorgeous designs, the presentation quickly becomes hum-drum.
Conversely, I saw the world's ugliest PowerPoint presentation last week. When it came to design and color, the presenter did everything wrong. Colors that clashed. Bullet points with a font that was unreadable. Graphs and charts that made almost no sense.
None of this mattered. I barely glanced at the slides as the speaker performed for close to two hours. He knew his stuff. His content was compelling. He told us lots of stories. He was likeable and friendly.
I think he only developed PowerPoint slides to remind himself to move from topic to topic. Ten minutes into his talk, I realized that I quit looking at his slides at all....and I'm pretty sure most of the audience did, too.
The speaker received a very high evaluation on his talk...and very well-deserved, too.
In this case, pretty didn't pay the biggest dividends. Content and character did.
Can you be filled with knowledge and character and still be pretty? Sure you can.
But you can easily take the focus off pretty and still give a great PowerPoint performance. ¶ 9/20/2005 02:32:00 PM
I have a beautiful (young) friend who aspires to trophy wife status. "I'm pretty," she insists. "So the plan is to marry a rich guy, so I can live in a nice house, wear great clothes and shoes and stuff and never have to worry about anything."
When I asked her why a wealthy man would want to marry her, she looked at me as if I were dim.
"I'm pretty," she explained.
Oh.
It's a little short sighted of her, I think. It's more than likely that a man of character and taste would require more than mere physical beauty. But she did say that she wan't interested in character or taste, only the money...and of course, the shoes and stuff that the money buys.
It's short-sighted and shallow to focus only on thinking pretty. In thinking of style over substance. "Pretty" is ephemeral....and there is always someone who will be prettier than you.
"Pretty" in itself is a (pretty) bad long term investment.
I countered that she might want to develop character and substance...that these qualities will last longer than physical beauty and ultimately have a much higher return on investment than the right makeup or outfits. Pretty is OK: but ultimately, people long for something more.
I've seen absolutely beautiful PowerPoint presentations fashioned by world class designers. Without a compelling story behind the gorgeous designs, the presentation quickly becomes hum-drum.
Conversely, I saw the world's ugliest PowerPoint presentation last week. When it came to design and color, the presenter did everything wrong. Colors that clashed. Bullet points with a font that was unreadable. Graphs and charts that made almost no sense.
None of this mattered. I barely glanced at the slides as the speaker performed for close to two hours. He knew his stuff. His content was compelling. He told us lots of stories. He was likeable and friendly.
I think he only developed PowerPoint slides to remind himself to move from topic to topic. Ten minutes into his talk, I realized that I quit looking at his slides at all....and I'm pretty sure most of the audience did, too.
The speaker received a very high evaluation on his talk...and very well-deserved, too.
In this case, pretty didn't pay the biggest dividends. Content and character did.
Can you be filled with knowledge and character and still be pretty? Sure you can.
But you can easily take the focus off pretty and still give a great PowerPoint performance. ¶ 9/20/2005 02:32:00 PM
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conan the gramarian
conan the gramarian
# posted by 
: 7:56 PM, October 04, 2005
: 7:56 PM, October 04, 2005
Laura: Great article!
Conan: There are two "m"s in grammarian :)
Robert
Conan: There are two "m"s in grammarian :)
Robert
# posted by : 10:10 AM, May 10, 2006
: 10:10 AM, May 10, 2006
Great article Laura!
What if you are not a great speaker like the guy in the article.
Say you are very good at what you do and your boss notices and says "I would like you to present what you have been working on to some peers and at the conference next month."
Now what? Maybe you can wax on for days about your particular subject with your colleagues, but presenting to a large group of strangers in 30 to 40 minutes? Yikes! Not to mention the prospect of a CLM (Career Limiting Move) in form of turning your boss down. Thus creating an opportunity for some smooth talking marketing guy to get credit for your work!
Are you saying I shouldn't use a designer? Or not to use slides? Despite the large screen at the conference that I am sure I will be standing in front of for 30-40 minutes?
What if I do have a lot to say And I have a complex concept that would work better as a visual of some kind?
Although, I get the point that presumably if you are asked to speak at a conference, someone along the way thought you would have something worth saying, and visuals are not required to be a good speaker… I got that.
However, not all of us are good practiced speakers like the guy in the article. So what is the answer? It is as simple as the message of my high school speech teacher??? “Figure out who your audience is, figure out what you want to say to them, write it down and practice, practice, practice on anyone who will listen until you are comfortable with the flow and pace.”
There was no PowerPoint when I was in high school, so I am not sure what she would say about what goes in a script and on a slide or becomes a visual...
Any thoughts?
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What if you are not a great speaker like the guy in the article.
Say you are very good at what you do and your boss notices and says "I would like you to present what you have been working on to some peers and at the conference next month."
Now what? Maybe you can wax on for days about your particular subject with your colleagues, but presenting to a large group of strangers in 30 to 40 minutes? Yikes! Not to mention the prospect of a CLM (Career Limiting Move) in form of turning your boss down. Thus creating an opportunity for some smooth talking marketing guy to get credit for your work!
Are you saying I shouldn't use a designer? Or not to use slides? Despite the large screen at the conference that I am sure I will be standing in front of for 30-40 minutes?
What if I do have a lot to say And I have a complex concept that would work better as a visual of some kind?
Although, I get the point that presumably if you are asked to speak at a conference, someone along the way thought you would have something worth saying, and visuals are not required to be a good speaker… I got that.
However, not all of us are good practiced speakers like the guy in the article. So what is the answer? It is as simple as the message of my high school speech teacher??? “Figure out who your audience is, figure out what you want to say to them, write it down and practice, practice, practice on anyone who will listen until you are comfortable with the flow and pace.”
There was no PowerPoint when I was in high school, so I am not sure what she would say about what goes in a script and on a slide or becomes a visual...
Any thoughts?
# posted by : 5:34 PM, October 10, 2006
: 5:34 PM, October 10, 2006Links to this post:
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