Building a PowerPoint Isn’t the Same as Building a Presentation

Updated on: Apr 26th, 2012

Audience, Potent Presentations Initiative, Presentations, Public Speaking, Slidedecks

I’ve been interviewing evaluators and non-evaluators about potent presentations. I’ve enjoyed chatting with my husband about the good, the bad, and the ugly presentations that he’s attended for his government job. Since he’s not an evaluator, I’m always curious to see whether the lessons learned about presentations in his field might transfer to my work.

We were recently chatting about some of the less-than-perfect trainings that he’s attended. “They just run through their PowerPoint,” he lamented. “I wonder why?” I asked. “Well, because they don’t like their job,” he guessed.

“Or,” he went on, “if they made the PowerPoint themselves, then they probably put a lot of effort into the PowerPoint. But building a PowerPoint isn’t the same as building a presentation.”

I wonder whether this a common misconception among presenters? Do we forget that a great presentation involves a lot more than just building a PowerPoint?

More about Ann K. Emery
Ann K. Emery is a sought-after speaker who is determined to get your data out of spreadsheets and into stakeholders’ hands. Each year, she leads more than 100 workshops, webinars, and keynotes for thousands of people around the globe. Her design consultancy also overhauls graphs, publications, and slideshows with the goal of making technical information easier to understand for non-technical audiences.

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