Be Aware of Presenters without Slides!

May 19th, 2008

I went to a meeting the other day where 3 of the 5 presenters did not have slides. They were all “OK” speakers, but it occurred to me that it was obvious that the 3 with no slides were less prepared and sort of rambled on at times. They all had speaker experience and were experts on the topics they spoke. But is was clear to me that the only one that had taken the time to prepare for the meeting was the one with slides. In this day and age of the occasional trend of “no-PPT” meeting people seem to take less time preparing for their meetings and therefore have less productive meetings.

Good meetings do require time to prepare. Often meetings where information is being shared, if you don’t take the time prepare a strategy for the best way to share the information there is less chance of successfully sharing the information successfully. Successful sharing of the information might be producing a handout and/or PowerPoint slides that summarize the key points or detail the highlights of the content to be shared.

The next time I get invited to a meeting without PowerPoint or handouts, I’m going to pass on the meeting.

2 Responses to “Be Aware of Presenters without Slides!”

  1. Eisabeth Says:

    You obviously have never been to a training with me. I would never use a powerpoint to train in something. The people you have listened to ‘without slides’ just don’t understand accelerated learning, aren’t trained well or for whatever reason, aren’t prepared. I can promise you that the Powerpoint isn’t what makes the presentation. Please don’t think that it does.

  2. Marsh Says:

    Yes, there are speakers that do very well without support visuals, some that do better without slides, but the majority of people are not natural public speakers and therefore can benefit from the use of good support visuals. I agree that “Powerpoint isn’t what makes the presention”, but it can sure help. The primary issue is “good” Powerpoint. The easy to use PowerPoint program allows for easy creation of slides, but just as you say in your Creative Wealth International program – the tools of wealth are available to everyone – but only a few use them properly to create financial freedom. Only a few use the PowerPoint tools correctly to create effective visuals. You need to use the tools correctly to create the financial freedom your slide show speaks of. The slide show on the site has some great content, but amaturish looking – it could just as well be a Microsoft Word document. The organization should invest in a professional, more effective Powerpoint and your organization’s success will happen much faster. I love the Creative Wealth International concept . . . I’m going to look into it for my kids!