Great post, but the link for the video speech seems to be wrong.

Where you said “Here is a link to the video speech (I strongly urge you to watch this)” the URL points to a concession speech after the New Hampshire primary. I found a better link for the South Carolina speech is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iVAPH_EcmQ

Maybe someone hacked your site.

Dan

Like most resolutions, this one didn’t stick. I actually have clients who require PPT. But here’s what I did, and I was very pleased.

None of my slides had bulleted lists, and most had no words at all. The slides were simply visual aids–what I suspect PPT was designed to supply in the first place. So a typical slide as a graph of something or a cartoon. The visuals forced the audience to participate at least cognitively (e.g., “What’s he gonna say about this? What do tomatoes have to do with lean publishing?”). What I saw was an attentive crowd, some great thoughtful questions, and a number of compliments I don’t normally get.

I encourage others to do the same. PPT = Visual Aids. PPT does not equal “the presentation.”

People like Steve Jobs can use PowerPoint to deliver a speech and motivate.

Again, wonderful comments and I appreciate your input. Thank you very much.

Garr Reynolds, of PresentationZen fame, linked to this article and the comments there are very instructive; I think you’d enjoy what he had to say and what his readers are saying too.

Have you read Tufte’s manifesto against PowerPoint? I think someone, creatively, created a PowerPoint version of his manifesto — in jest. Very funny.

I never assumed you were the only one, but that doesn’t change my opinion (nor does it lend credence to your own). There are many powerful people who swear by powerpoint, and many who don’t.

Your second point is fascinating and something I’d into which I’d like to delve.
The way I parse your statement is that the goal of any presentation, rally or board room, is communication with your intended audience.
I agree, my point was solely that the means by which you communicate varies from audience to audience, and to expect powerpoint, a tool designed for use with one specific set of audiences, to apply to all audiences isn’t fair.

A political speech, a rally, or any setting in which you are addressing what equates to a crowd is meant to draw out an affective response from the audience – powerpoint isn’t meant to do that.
There is no emotional response to a powerpoint slide, and so yes, it fails as a tool of accessing affect.
But, does the meaning of a business presentation really lie in our ability to manipulate emotional responses?

I’ve been reading the blog for quite some time, I really enjoy it. You have wonderful insights into many areas.

Thanks very much for your comment.

A few things:

1) You’re wrong on “A More Perfect Union”, which is the speech he recently gave in response to the Reverend Wright controversy. The speech that I transformed to powerpoint is different from what you are claiming it is called.

2) At the end of the day, we’re talking about *meaning* and *connecting* and *communicating*, which are principles that hold true whether your audience is a group of executives in a board room, a large crowd in a rally, or anywhere else.

3) I’m not the only one making this criticism against powerpoint — Edward Tufte, Peter Norvig (Google), and many others have made this criticism.

Thank you for reading, JT. I appreciate your comment.

Speeches aren’t meant to be translated into powerpoint as powerpoint, as a medium, isn’t meant for motivational, nuanced monologues – it’s meant for informative/business presentations.

Criticizing powerpoint’s ability to capture a truly amazing speech is like calling French a poor language because English speakers can’t understand it.

Different modes of communication exist and its wortwhile to understand that they differ. If Obama had given that speech to a board room full of executives looking to get V.C. funding, he’d have failed. But that wasn’t his purpose, so he didn’t use powerpoint.

I recommend the book “Presentation Zen” to anyone wanting to learn how to use PowerPoint properly.

http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/