If Winston Churchill had used Powerpoint

Confessions of A Community College Dean, offered this gem this week:

Imagine if Winston Churchill used Powerpoint:


Where We Will Fight Them:

- beaches

- hills

- trenches


It loses something.
Dean Dad at Confessions of A Community College Dean, is inviting readers his "wise and wonderful readers" to contribute their PowerPoint dislikes this week

I stand by my advice in my second ever Tip of the Week, way back on 10 June last year: When you are making a presentation, opening PowerPoint is the last thing you should do.  First, start with the audience.  Work out what you want for them.  Work out how you can serve them, and meet their needs. 

Once you know what you want to say, work out your speech or presentation.  When you have an outline, or a draft, then (and only then) turn to PowerPoint (or not - sometimes a flipchart or nothing is better), and use it to enhance your presentation where visual support is needed.

I remember reading a cartoon biography of Winston Churchill as a child (it had been my father's and I found it in the garage) and as I recall it described the young Winston's early years with these lines (from Charles Churchill, often attributed to Winston)

"Much are the precious hours of youth misspent,
In climbing Learning's rugged, steep ascent;"

It strikes me there is a parallel in speaking:

"Much are the precious hours of a speaker misspent,
In formatting PowerPoint clipart and bullet points";

For more on the PowerPoint check out these:

We have met the enemy and he is PowerPoint (New York Times Article)

PowerPoint makes us Stupid (Seth Godin)
He also has a Free EBook Download. entitled Really Bad Powerpoint

And for comedic value, this YouTube video...How Not to Use PowerPoint by Comedian Don McMillan

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