The Risk Of Your PowerPoint Slides

We had a fascinating conversation with a workshop participant recently. He shared a real story, about a presentation he gave soon after he joined his current company. He worked hard at it, he prepared, and he was nervous, but ready. He made the presentation, it seemed to go OK, and then afterwards he asked for feedback.

He pulled aside one of his new colleagues, a mentor of sorts, and asked, “How did it go?” He was hoping for and expecting to hear feedback on substance. But instead, what he got was, “You used the wrong shade of blue on your slides.”

Seriously… that was the sole feedback. You used the wrong blue. Not a thing about substance, about the proposal, about the data. Only about the color blue.

This story would be comical if it were not true and all too common. We hear it all the time, from many of our client companies. All too often, the focus of feedback for slide decks quickly degrades into font, font size, color scheme… the look and feel of the slides. Not the substance.

But this problem, while perhaps annoying, is both typical inside most large companies, and entirely avoidable. This kind of story is an “unforced error” on the part of the presenter. Why? Because if there is such a culture within the organization, and the presenter does not compensate accordingly by simply using the “correct shade of blue” then the presenter created that problem on her or his own.

So the point today is simple… If there is a template that you are expected to use, follow it, strictly and religiously. Otherwise, you risk a reaction from the more “detail oriented” members of your audience, who will get distracted by the wrong things. Honestly, there are people out there, lots of them, who live for the moment when they can nitpick some little detail on your slides, some little mistake. So let’s not give those people anything to chirp at.

The bottom line is that slides represent a major risk for the speaker, a topic we have written about before. Let’s reduce the risk by not opening the door to someone to nitpick the wrong things. Instead, if we are careful about the look and the feel, then it is far more likely that the conversation will remain on the substance of the discussion. Which is exactly where we want it to be.

Have a great day.

—

Does your team:
– Overwhelm the audience with too much detail?
– Make things too complicated?
– Fail to ask for what they want or need?

Does your organization:
– Waste time because of poor internal communication?
– Take too long to make decisions?
– Struggle to clarify and frame discussions?

Do your leaders:
– Exhibit poor executive presence?
– Lean on incomplete communication skills?
– Fail to align the organization?

We transform teams and individuals with repeatable toolsets for persuasive communication. Explore training, coaching, and consulting services from The Latimer Group.