Is PowerPoint good or bad? The question invokes strong feelings on both sides. But the correct answer is: It depends.
I am proud to be part of a team that gets to spend one week a year with the dynamic, clever students in the IESE Executive MBA Programme. We help them hone their public speaking skills so that they are able to communicate more effectively about the important things on which they are working.
Our team is led by Conor Neill and includes Tony Anagor, Florian Mueck, Tobias Rodrigues and me. While in Barcelona, Conor interviewed us on a wide variety of public speaking issues. I will be posting those videos from time to time on this blog.
The video below is about PowerPoint and it it, I discuss why it can be good or bad. PowerPoint is nothing more than a tool, the same way a hammer or wrench or screwdriver is a tool. And, as is the case for every tool, you need to use the right tool, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way.
If I gave you a shovel and asked you to dig a ditch, and you turned the shovel around, held it by the spade and stuck the handle into the ground, you would dig a lousy ditch. But it would not be the shovel’s fault; it would be because of the way in which you used the shovel.
Is PowerPoint good or bad? It depends on how you use it.
Just wondering why there aren’t any women on the IESE team. I find it strange that the team is an all-male one!
Christina, as I was the final addition (last year) to a team that has been built up over several years, it is not my place to comment at length on the composition. Having said that, I don’t see any problem with it. There are many different teams out there made up only of men; and there are many teams made up only of women; and there are teams that are mixed.
One of the great teams of which I am a part is lead by Olivia Schofield. We have held events across Europe. Thus far, it has been Olivia as the lead with the rest of the team being men. That’s just how it has worked out. When I was a member of the Geneva Writers’s Group Steering Committee, our team was (as I recall) three or four men and seven or eight women. I wouldn’t read too much into the composition of a team. What’s more important is that the team works well together and produces quality work.
Nice video, good lessons, and a poised, confident, sharp performance by Mr. Zimmer! Good job.
Thanks, Nick! Much appreciated.
I think PowerPoint is a great tool; it gives its users enough rope to hang themselves. 50 slides full of bullets is a disastrous deck. Seven slides with imagery or charts that eloquently back up the speaker’s story a is a thing of beauty.
Completely agree, Sol. In a similar vein, 50 well designed slides are much better than seven poor ones. Thanks for the comment.
Thank you for your prompt response to my comment, John.
In view of the traditional macho culture in certain countries, such as Spain, I would have thought it proper to ensure that such a team would include women. The institute does have women students, I think.
Signals shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s a source of great comfort to me that the US voted Obama in as President. The role model thing…
I think choosing role models just so they can be “role models” is not fair.
John’s comment is commendable. Sometimes it just works out that way. In the future, female members may join the team and it will more closely represent the make up of the general population.
And honestly, who’s propagating stereotypes here with the “macho cultures, such as Spain” remark? Do you live there? Or is that just the way you think it is there?
Thanks, John.