Powerpoint poisoning

Do you know the phenomenon of powerpoint poisoning? I came across this fantastic phrase years ago in a Dilbert cartoon. Someone was giving and endless and complex presentation and the audience went completely apathetic.

The funny cartoon is still reality in many situations at work. This is a waste of time and resources. I have seen strategy presentations that literally had a 3 digit number of slides.

So, should we get rid of presentations altogether? I don’t think so. A good presentation can bring across information in a very memorable way and motivate people.

The difficult task is to boil it down to the very core and relevant statements and present it in an engaging way that catches peoples attention. Focusing a presentation on the core messages is much more difficult than a lengthy presentation of each and every aspect.

More than 10 years ago I was asked to give a presentation in front of more than 100 people about how we implemented a culture of continuous improvement in the company I led. I went over the presentation a couple of times to focus it. In the end I was really nervous that people would consider it to be completely trite.

After the presentation in the Q&A session, one person in the audience said: „I don’t have a question, but I just wanted to say that you are completely right. That’s the way it is.“ – What a relief and great feedback for me.

How long are your presentations?