“Hi. I’m Abe Lincoln. My first slide lays out a timeline for our nation. As you can see reading from left to right, it really all started four score and seven years ago. . . .”

Of course that wouldn’t have done at all. But if there is any doubt that there is a growing backlash against PowerPoint, you need only look at the proliferation of PowerPoint spoofs on the Internet. A funny one is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/the-gettysburg-address-as-a-powerpoint/281636/

In fact, here’s a link to a hilarious video that spoofs every PowerPoint presentation ever given (with frightening accuracy!) http://twentytwowords.com/a-parody-of-every-powerpoint-presentation-ever/

For the record, Speechworks is not anti-PowerPoint. Visual aids can help your presentation have more impact. But PowerPoint is certainly overused.

There is almost always an inverse relationship between the quality of the presentation and the number of PowerPoint slides.

We recently worked with a large Atlanta company that banned PowerPoint from its national sales meeting. And the meeting went great!

Here are a few tips to ensure that your PowerPoint doesn’t ruin your presentation:

• You are the most important visual aid. Don’t use slides that take too much attention away from you.

• Use fewer slides. For a 30-minute presentation, keep it to eight slides.

• Don’t murder your audience with bullets. If you’re going to have text in your slides, then keep the bullets to a minimum. No one is going to read it all or remember it anyway.

• Pictures have impact. The best slides show photographs that the audience can quickly grasp.

• Complex diagrams are terrible. Too often we see complicated diagrams of business processes that would only make sense if the audience had a lot of time to digest the slide. But usually, these slides are up and gone in seconds.

• Don’t read your slides. If you’re going to read to the audience, hand out the slides and let them read it themselves. You’ll save everyone’s time.

Speechworks is a communication and selling skills coaching firm. We teach professionals how to craft and deliver complex messages in a simple, persuasive manner. Since 1986, through workshops and one-on-one instruction, we have helped countless individuals become better presenters and communicators. You can reach us at 404.266.0888, speech@speechworks.net or on the web at www.speechworks.net