by Jack Roviere

Created on: July 30, 2010

A recent New York Times report noted that misuse of PowerPoint in presentations has become so prominent that, according to some generals, it is an internal threat. In 2005, Brigadier General H.R. McMaster banned PowerPoint presentations while he was in Iraq. Yikes!

So what are you to do if you have a presentation? Should you abandon and eschew the use of this useful software? Has PowerPoint outlived its usefulness completely? Or could there be a way to avoid the pitfalls of PowerPoint and use this software to enhance and support a presentation?

Despite the misuses of PowerPoint, there are ways to use presentation software like it in engaging, creative, and message-reinforcing ways. In fact, Richard Mayer, in his 2001 book "Multimedia Learning," described a "coherence principle" where people learn better when pictures and words are used together. John Medina, in his 2008 book "Brain Rules" reinforced the point that "vision trumps all other senses," backing up that point with research that shows that pictures, when used with words, dramatically increase information recall.

PowerPoint, of course, is a great way to start including those kinds of visuals in conjunction with the text of a presentation, but the next question is simple: how can you make the most of this positive potential of PowerPoint and visual aids? Here are just a few ways to take advantage of this powerful tool while avoiding the pitfalls.

1) The PowerPoint is not the presentation.

The first thing to recognize is that in a PowerPoint presentation, the slide deck is not the presentation, and neither is it the main attraction of the presentation. The presentation is the message that you present and speak, and the PowerPoint is a visual *aid* that supports what you want to say. When you order the importance of parts of a presentation so that your message is central and the PowerPoint is an aid, then the other suggestions should make sense.

2) The PowerPoint is not the presentation outline.

When you have slides, you should never think of these as the crutch or speaking outline from which you speak. When you present, remember that you present to an audience...not to your slides. When you use a visual aid, the aid is for the audience, not for you. As a result, you must work to rehearse and become familiar with your presentation material, whatever the occasion, because you should *not* design slides to be read from. The PowerPoint slide deck is, at best, a treat, whereas the main course of the presentation

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