Power Points and the Pointless

When it comes down to presentation, sadly not all professionals are blessed with the power of the PowerPoint. I remember back in MDI when Asha Kaul kept urging us to use 36 point font and KISS (keep it short and simple), we were wondering why it was so damn important. Later out in the corporate world, when I saw a presentation with a 36 point font, I knew the presenter knew his stuff because he did not put down everything on the slides. Sometime at that time say 4 years ago, all these rules were widely applicable and that is when this video belonged.

But today it is a different story. Today power points are taking over all forms of presentation. If you want to submit a proposal, instead of a long word document, a bulleted power point saves times for both parties. IF you want to submit a report what is better than a good jazzy PowerPoint that does not need introduction paragraphs and a straight jacketed table of contents! It is much more attractive to put links on the side of each slide to help the viewer navigate seamlessly.

For all those number buffs out there, who feel that Excel is the best format to dynamically change project details, think again. Embedded software that acts like Power Point inside the Excel worksheet may be funky, but you never really get a full full-screen with Excel. The charm of the Power Point has been that it can take all your background windows and throw it right out of your mind so that you can concentrate only on what’s playing on your screen. Also, embedded Excel data in your suave Power Point makes a better statement than putting background pictures in your Excel sheet.

Today PowerPoint has become such a necessary evil and one of the quick ways if sharing data especially during your Webex meetings that it has replaced Word (therefore, becoming more verbose than a 36 point fonter), replaced Excel (thus becoming more data ridden than we would have liked with charts and tables) and has replaced Corel Draw (becoming a store house of small cute icons and diagrams). Thus it can no longer be shackled by rules and norms that we used to impose on ourselves. Today PowerPoint is a platform to let your creative juices flow. So all of you who feel their job is not creative enough, click on Start>Programs>Microsoft Office>Microsoft Office PowerPoint and get going.