Monday, January 29, 2007
PowerPoint Parade or Pioneer?
Years ago, Seth Godin wrote and distributed a short, snazzy, superficial ebook called "Really Bad PowerPoint."
On the eve of the worldwide release of PowerPoint 2007, Mr. Godin says PowerPoint presentations have gotten worse. So he re-posts ebook highlights in his blog, with the "vain hope" it might work this time.
Mr. Godin is just kidding. He knows that reposting a glib remix of old advice that admittedly didn't work in 2003 is not really going to make corporate PowerPoint presentations any better in 2007.
Follow the PowerPoint parade. On the eve of a major new software release, Mr. Godin saw an easy opportunity to safely get behind the PowerPoint publicity parade. So he took it. His latest post follows the bandwagon beat of bashing OPP - Other People's PowerPoint.
(Do a Google search for Death by PowerPoint today -- and the engine will dredge up over 1.5 million pages. And every page will tout very similar advice.)
Mr. Godin likely knows that many new media communication platforms, including:
You are a Pioneer! And if you use any of these power-to-the-people media to deliver your messages -- you are a communication pioneer.
(It's why Time Magazine made you the person of the year in 2006.)
But as a pioneer: you will likely make a few mistakes.
Learn from them.
Forgive yourself.
And move on.
Continue to grow the medium.
As long as there are communication pioneers, really bad PowerPoint is not going to go away any time soon.
My predictions:
Power to the Pioneers: With today's release of PowerPoint 2007, I predict that PowerPoint presentation design is going to get a lot worse this year!
Power to the Parade Followers: I also predict that Google will serve up an additional quarter million "Death by PowerPoint" pages by the end of 2008. Very few authors will discuss their own failings with the medium: rather, blog pundits will continue to critique the failings of OPP.
Power to the People! And like Mr. Godin, you can be a new media pioneer and a successful parade-follower at the same time! People who deliver pioneering presentations will also find fault with the PowerPoint designs of others... and write all about it on their blogs or chat it up in their podcasts.
How's that for closing the new media feedback loop?
Or increasing the noise-to-signal ratio? ;)
Years ago, Seth Godin wrote and distributed a short, snazzy, superficial ebook called "Really Bad PowerPoint."
On the eve of the worldwide release of PowerPoint 2007, Mr. Godin says PowerPoint presentations have gotten worse. So he re-posts ebook highlights in his blog, with the "vain hope" it might work this time.
Mr. Godin is just kidding. He knows that reposting a glib remix of old advice that admittedly didn't work in 2003 is not really going to make corporate PowerPoint presentations any better in 2007.
Follow the PowerPoint parade. On the eve of a major new software release, Mr. Godin saw an easy opportunity to safely get behind the PowerPoint publicity parade. So he took it. His latest post follows the bandwagon beat of bashing OPP - Other People's PowerPoint.
(Do a Google search for Death by PowerPoint today -- and the engine will dredge up over 1.5 million pages. And every page will tout very similar advice.)
Mr. Godin likely knows that many new media communication platforms, including:
- PowerPoint Presentations
- Cell Phone Conversations
- Online videos
- Podcasts
- Blogs
You are a Pioneer! And if you use any of these power-to-the-people media to deliver your messages -- you are a communication pioneer.
(It's why Time Magazine made you the person of the year in 2006.)
But as a pioneer: you will likely make a few mistakes.
Learn from them.
Forgive yourself.
And move on.
Continue to grow the medium.
As long as there are communication pioneers, really bad PowerPoint is not going to go away any time soon.
My predictions:
Power to the Pioneers: With today's release of PowerPoint 2007, I predict that PowerPoint presentation design is going to get a lot worse this year!
Power to the Parade Followers: I also predict that Google will serve up an additional quarter million "Death by PowerPoint" pages by the end of 2008. Very few authors will discuss their own failings with the medium: rather, blog pundits will continue to critique the failings of OPP.
Power to the People! And like Mr. Godin, you can be a new media pioneer and a successful parade-follower at the same time! People who deliver pioneering presentations will also find fault with the PowerPoint designs of others... and write all about it on their blogs or chat it up in their podcasts.
How's that for closing the new media feedback loop?
Or increasing the noise-to-signal ratio? ;)
Labels: Blogging, PowerPoint Presentation
¶ 1/29/2007 06:44:00 PM
Comments:
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Mr Godin, would you like your wit dry ... or sparkling? Clean, strong and right-thinking ideas as ever from Seth. Are you not falling into his 'trap' by responding Laura?
PowerPoint doesn't kill audiences - selfish, lazy, complacent, arrogant (complarrogant?) presenters kill audiences.
I'm going for the other end of the market. Give people what they want to hear and you'll have no problems with cognitive dissonance.
http://fortifyservices.blogspot.com/2007/01/really-bad-powerpoint-seth-godin-idea.html
PowerPoint doesn't kill audiences - selfish, lazy, complacent, arrogant (complarrogant?) presenters kill audiences.
I'm going for the other end of the market. Give people what they want to hear and you'll have no problems with cognitive dissonance.
http://fortifyservices.blogspot.com/2007/01/really-bad-powerpoint-seth-godin-idea.html
Well, darn.
New blogger is causing me fits. I posted a response comment, only to have it post twice, so when I deleted one post, both went away.
Sorry about that! And sorry about the confusion...I'm going to try to repeat what I just clumsily erased...
In sum:
I admire Seth Godin's work. I think Really Bad PowerPoint makes some good points...but so do the 1.5 million other pages Google brings up for the Death by PowerPoint search.
Seth Godin has produced some innovative, pioneering work. Really Bad PowerPoint is obvious parade-following...but there's nothing wrong with that.
It's no coincidence that Mr. Godin re-released his PowerPoint spin on the eve of a major PowerPoint PR event. Far from a trap, following a big bandwagon is smart marketing.
We can all learn a lot from Mr. Godin. We can follow parades and we can be pioneers, too.
Post a Comment
New blogger is causing me fits. I posted a response comment, only to have it post twice, so when I deleted one post, both went away.
Sorry about that! And sorry about the confusion...I'm going to try to repeat what I just clumsily erased...
In sum:
I admire Seth Godin's work. I think Really Bad PowerPoint makes some good points...but so do the 1.5 million other pages Google brings up for the Death by PowerPoint search.
Seth Godin has produced some innovative, pioneering work. Really Bad PowerPoint is obvious parade-following...but there's nothing wrong with that.
It's no coincidence that Mr. Godin re-released his PowerPoint spin on the eve of a major PowerPoint PR event. Far from a trap, following a big bandwagon is smart marketing.
We can all learn a lot from Mr. Godin. We can follow parades and we can be pioneers, too.
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