I had to share this comment from a discussion going on in the LinkedIn Learning, Education and Training Professionals Group group. There have been many great comments, but I got permission from Dr. William Brantley to share this one:
“The worst PowerPoint presentation I ever attended was given by a senior professor in the Education department of a major university. His speech, ironically, was on how to gain and maintain student interest in the classroom. He left the slideshow in the normal view which made the slides small and displayed all of the menu bars.
“The professor spoke in a condescending monotone for over half-an-hour. Each slide was a paragraph of text centered in the middle of slide. The professor read each and every word while spending most of his time with his back to us.
“He gave out such nuggets of wisdom as ‘show enthusiasm,’ ‘engage the student,’ and ‘make the lecture interactive.’ At the end of the presentation, the professor asked for questions. The first question was rather rude but summed up the audiences’ reaction. ‘Why didn’t you follow your own advice when giving this presentation?’
“The professor’s reaction was essentially, ‘Screw you. I’ve got tenure and they can’t fire me for bad lectures.’ Another argument for abolishing tenure.”
Dr. Brantley wrote me, “Your audience may find it unbelievable and I would have too if I hadn’t been there.”
What has your worst experience been, either watching or delivering a presentation?
Thanks for starting this fun conversation. There are definitely ways to strengthen PowerPoint presentation. I’m sure the Office page on LinkedIn would really appreciate you joining the conversation. There you can share your expertise with the community. Check it out at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1913738&trk=anetsrch_name&goback=.gdr_1265943438872_1
Cheers,
KIM
MSFT Office Outreach Team
The first that comes to mind is a 105 slide ppt created by a partner at the law firm I am with. He created it to use as his opening statement for an arbitration and nearly each slide consisted of several lines of text, most of which he read verbatim. The slides he didn’t read he clicked right through.
Attorneys are notorious for creating and giving horrible, verbose PowerPoint presentations.
Not long ago I was Training manager at a site that provided training for the engineering fraternity. I inherited a number of trainers who were extremely knowledgeable engineers, but this expanse of knowedge was almost inversely proportional to their training abilities. To familiarise myself with the programmes at the site I was responsible for, I sat in on them. The first day, one trainer had 220 slides. And we saw them all. Requiring a sea change inthe belief of these trainers is an uphill struggle. Their philosophy is “Everything that I know needs to be told to you so that… Read more »