Stop thinking outside the box

Reviewed a presentation today, with multiple presenters. What a surprise - PowerPoint was abused (again). I wrote "Dodging the Bullet Points" which has helped many presenters raise their presentation standards, to avoid exactly these sort of painful experiences.

Anyway, rather than bore you by discussing the usual amateurish visuals, the real lesson is from the accompanying speeches.

Presenters used well-worn (worn-out?) buzzwords and phrases as if they were on the leading edge of management theory. "Thinking outside the box", and quoting Steven Covey isn't cutting it for me any more. It doesn't matter how convincingly you say it.

Where on earth have you been for the past ten, fifteen or more years, if you still think that "Thinking outside the box" is going to impress your audience?

Therefore, in your next speech:
1. Take some time to select contemporary quotes from the media or Internet.
2. Read a book published in this century.
3. Ask a trusted advisor to review your slides, to make sure that you are not still "Thinking outside the box"

Needless to say, most of the presenters were oblivious to the time restrictions on the presentation, and kept on quoting Old Dead White Guys (like Churchill) to a young, multi-cultural audience long after their allotted time had come and gone.

The only saving grace was the final presenter who acknowledged the time and cut short her segment of the presentation in an attempt to get the show back on the road. This is what speakers should do - paraphrase your segment of the presentation without making a big deal of it.