Booher BanterBusiness Communication Consultant

My friend Dennis asked me to speak to his class of graduate students at a local university this week on the topic of business communication. It’s not like I’m looking for places to speak, being on an airplane far more days than I care to count. But I hadn’t seen the friend in a while, nor had I been in a college classroom in X@#& years, so I decided to see what these graduate students had on their minds.

I spoke. They asked questions. We had a great discussion. They had nice things to say afterward. I left.

The next day, I get an email from Dennis thanking me again and passing along more of the comments from his students about my session. But one summary comment from my friend really caught my attention:  “My students were really blown away by the fact that you used so few visuals in the entire hour–and they were all photos! No bullet points. They were amazed at how engaged they were.”

He went on to explain that in his Mass Communication class he had already had a difficult time trying to wean them away from the overuse of slides with heavy text. Why am I not surprised? Bad habits are contagious. Most of these grad students have already entered the workforce. They see slide slush from their colleagues daily.

So why are many people tempted to use slides when they don’t need them?

1. Slides become the presenter’s notes. If you need slides to keep you on track, you’re not properly prepared. Outline, yes. But a keyword outline will do the trick nicely–and much quicker. Glance at a word to bring a “chunk” of information to mind. Then elaborate. But don’t build a boring slideshow when a word will trigger your memory.
2. Slides help your audience to follow your presentation. If listeners can’t grasp your key points, then either 1) your presentation isn’t arranged well or 2) your talk isn’t engaging or 3) you need better transitions and summary statements.
3. Slides add pizazz. True. But so does an earthquake, or a fire alarm, or a magic act. You need impact for your point. If the slide adds to the understanding, learning, or retention, use it. But if the slide only calls attention to itself rather than the message, drop it.

With all the leftover time not spent on building slideshows, you can always do more research on your topic or practice your delivery–an engaging effort.

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