A simple reason why 90+ percent of all PowerPoint presentations are crap: The presenter thinks that PowerPoint exists to make the presenter’s life easier.
It doesn’t. It exists to make your audience’s life easier.
For example …
- To make a point that’s quicker to see than to hear.
- To make concrete what would remain abstract using words only.
- To give depth to an argument that would be hard to follow using words only.
- To illustrate subtleties that would be hard to spot using words only.
- To visualize complexities that would be hard – sometimes even impossible – to visualize in our minds.
Or, in short: to make life easier for your audience.
There’s not much more to know about PowerPoint. It’s a tool to serve your audience. Everything else follows from here.