Why oh why do presenters put so, so much text on their PowerPoint slides?

Recently the LinkedIn HR discussion group I follow asked the question: “PowerPoint slides loaded with paragraphs of text … is this laziness? Lack of awareness? Do people really think this is good visual support? What do you think?”

The answers:

they don’t know what they’re doing

they don’t know they don’t know what their doing

they’re lazy and they don’t know any better

it used to be ok, but not now. The world has moved on, but they haven’t

they don’t have the time to do it right

many companies want these kind of slides

people who are afraid of public speaking do this in order to hide behind text-heavy slides

they have no respect for the audience

they’ve never heard of Pecha Kucha, the 6×6 rule, Prezi, the drop the slide at your feet and if you can’t read it it’s got too much on it rule …

they’re consultants

they think it makes them look smart

they don’t know the material

Great fun and a good way to let off steam. Given that you’re not an academic or a consultant, the question is, “Why do you do what you do on the job?”

 

 

Tags: Communications, PowerPoint, Presentations, Time, Tools and tactics