Where are the women of presentation design?

I like Slideshare, the presentation-sharing Web 2.0 play.

This year, I used it to upload a short, prophetic PowerPoint presentation on New Year's Day. I even felt honored when Slideshare featured my little presentation on their front page under "most popular" on January 2.

But here is something I don't like to see:


Yup, that is an actual screenshot from a contest that Slideshare has been running at its site for a while now. It looks like Slideshare is taking the current Apple approach to marketing: you know, where only the opinions of men seem to matter.

Please note the phrase: "it looks like".

In a design contest, appearance matters!

And social responsibility matters, too. It's a key part of corporate valuation.

Or it should be.

And hey -- it's not like there aren't any women in the fashion or design industries that would make competent judges of a presentation contest. Talented and opinionated women with excellent fashion sense aren't exactly hard to find!

Now, I like the reputations of the fellas you see in the above screenshot, all right. Guy Kawasaki often provides action-provoking insight at his "How to Change the World" blog. Garr Reynolds offers his unique perspective on presentation and design at his Presentation Zen blog. Both men will likely make superb presentation judges.

But Where Are the Women?

The current state of women in technology marketing is decidedly woeful. Let's go on a brief historic journey:

Remember the Macintosh 1984 commercial? A strong, powerful, vibrant woman breaks through a grey, droning, male-dominated environment to make a striking impact on the way we all conduct business. How uplifting! How inspiring!

Now look at how low Apple has sunk. In its current TV advertising campaign, Apple initially casts two white guys to represent competing technologies. Later, the campaign features a woman as a mere peripheral device to hold hands with one of the men. Next, Apple employs a pouty supermodel -- as an example of stellar design from the male-centric, Mac-centric world view.

Exclusion, stereotyping, objectification -- what can women expect next from technology marketing?

Yech.

I don't understand why this marketing approach has yet to receive a far greater public outcry.

The plain white backdrop featured in every "I'm a MAC" ad is a chilling reminder of the pervasive grey that was pre-1984. The very lack of color in current Apple advertising is in itself regressive and highly suspect.

The Danger of Drinking Too Much Apple Juice

Slideshare is a young-ish company. I can forgive it for making rookie blunders with its first online contest. And Slideshare has already publicly apologized at its blog for excluding many people from participating.

Good for Slideshare. As youngsters, they can be forgiven for initially drinking too much apple juice! I hope those in leadership positions at Slideshare will learn that the Apple style may have been cool in the 1980's -- but that was over 20 years ago.

In the 21st century, diversity and respect should be important.

Heck, it should even be cool.

Unfortunately, if you upload a presentation at Slideshare today, your work product is automatically entered in the contest. There is no way to opt out that I can see -- other than to not upload your presentation until after the contest is over.

(Uh-oh! No easy opt-out of a contest with an all-male judging panel: oops again!)

Here's hoping Slideshare much success -- for their next contest!

Labels: Presentation

¶ 4/18/2007 03:30:00 PM