PowerPoint may drain our very spirit, but there’s @nichemediahq hope

Your PowerPoint could bomb, or you could feature one on your title slide. Just sayin’. (Gotta love Slim Pickens!)

Recent online conversation has resurrected one of the more important debates of the modern age. In a nutshell: Why does PowerPoint suck, and what can be done about it?

Here’s my philosophy on PowerPoints:

1. They may, indeed, be a sign of the downfall of civilized society.
2. Most often, they are a force for evil rather than good.
3. And, yes, many people sleep through them.

But I have come to be something of a convert to their hidden power—when wielded properly. That may be why this post’s opening image showing one of my own PowerPoint title slides comes not from a law book (booo) but is adapted from one of my favorite movies (yaaay). More on all that later in another post.

My PP dander was raised again recently when colleagues at the National Association of Bar Executives (no, not the good kind of bar) shared a few articles on presentations and PowerPoint. Read one of them here.

(So versatile are those social media mavens that the sharing was done via Facebook and Linkedin. Linkedin! Time to take another look.)

They also shared an article about presentations from the view of Guy Kawasaki. (I reviewed a Kawasaki book here. It included one of just two appearances of my shoes via social media. Ask, and I may unearth the second.)

Smart fellow, that Guy. Enjoy his article, but do not skip the reader comments beneath; they are worth the price of admission.

The best part about that article, though, was that it took me back to a PowerPoint expert whose work I very much appreciate—Eugene Cheng. Eugene is one of those folks who are my favorite people I don’t know yet. Look at what he does with PP, and you may agree he’s worth meeting.

The talented Eugene got me thinking about other digital thinkers and doers who do it right, PP-wise. That group includes the folks at Niche Media.

I have admired Niche’s tone and substance before, so let me do it again.

I get no benefit except happiness to tell you: If you or anyone in need of a creative jump-start are anywhere near a Niche conference this year, you really should drop in. True, they’re not free, but maybe you can sneak in, through the hotel kitchen or something. Try not to look lawyerly, and you may pass as part of the creative class.

The first will be in Minneapolis from September 30 to October 1. That is where you can learn an amazing amount about online revenue (you know, how to get more).

The second nichey opportunity will be in the Big Easy November 3-5. The Niche Event Fest in New Orleans will offer learning raising your in-person events to be top-drawer.

Here is one thing I know about both events: If a PowerPoint is on the premises at all, it will not suck.

Later this week, I’ll offer some of my own thoughts about PowerPoint and what is missing in the worst of the lot.

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