Is your exec killing ‘em with PowerPoint?

Reduce speakers’ reliance on the presentation “security blanket”

Your executive is standing at the podium, ready to deliver a major speech to shareholders—when the IT guy explains that the laptop, carrying the PowerPoint presentation, is a goner. Can your exec shrug off the technical collapse and give a compelling address, or would he or she crumple up and die?

Your speakers aren’t unusual if they’re so tethered to PowerPoint that they can’t imagine making a speech without it. However, it’s worth your while to reduce their dependence on the world’s most popular presentation software—one that elicits groans from professional presenters and indeed anyone who’s had to stay awake in a darkened room while watching dozens of dull slides.

“When PowerPoint was launched, it really helped create a format for executives who got off point, rambled and had no visual aids,” recalls Joni Daniels, principal of Daniels & Associates, a presentation training firm in Baltimore. “Now it’s morphed into a security blanket for those who hate to speak without a slide. “