Data Dumps

This week, I again saw two data dump presentations, one after the other. Both presenters were blissfully unaware that the audience is literate.

Why does the typical PowerPoint Presenter follow this process:
1. Open PowerPoint.
2. Type in (or Copy and Paste) all the data known about a topic,
3. Get up and read the slides to the audience?

I don't know if most presenters are too lazy to plan the presentation before creating the slides, or just don't yet know about the Pow'Rful Philosphy that is documented in Dodging the Bullet Points for everyone to follow.

Either way, don't allow yourself to become one of the Data Dump Presenters. When you prepare a presentation, and each slide, use some common sense. Answer these questions while creating your presentation.
1. What is the purpose of this presentation? What do I want my audience to think, do or act differently when they walk out of here?
2. What slides best suit my purpose? Should I use graphs, or photos, or black slides?
3. What is the purpose of this slide. You must answer this question for each slide, so that you can craft the best slide for your audience, on every slide.

Have you been in presentations when the presenter wants to show you a website, or a spreadsheet and suddenly hit a technical glitch? The presenter frantically tries to produce the desired result while tech people start to fiddle and the flow of the presentation hits a brick wall.

Remember that Murphy lives in your laptop. Don't "go live" in front of your audience without tons of rehearsal. Rather, when you need to show your audience the intracies of your whiz-bang spreadsheet, then record it with Camtasia so that your PowerPoint slides go smoothly and you are not puzzled by the laptop's embarrasing gyrations when Murhphy sticks up his ugly head and while your audience waits patiently.

Whatever you do, do not do a data dump slideshow for your audience. Stand up, stand out, and do it right - think before you create your PowerPoint Presentation.