The alternative to PowerPoint*
There is an alternative to PowerPoint* that increases the impact of the presentation by a multiple factor. Do not forget that there was a time before overhead projectors and PowerPoint*. It is easy to talk about what does not work, but we also know what DOES work.
We do not want to be right, but we just want to get the best result. And with this perspective, the comparison of its alternative score wins in 95 of the 100 cases. It is observable that the alternative is three to five times more effective.
The alternative to PowerPoint is using the FLIP-CHART!
PowerPoint* will almost never beat a real person who is creating something on a flip-chart. As the effect of the illustration is not being created by the result but by the ACT OF CREATING it. That is where the effect lies and not in the result itself. That is the reason why the principle of PowerPoint* does not work.
It is just not true, that PowerPoint* only had to be employed “correctly” (with instructions like "less text", "do not overload", "no more than 5 lines", etc.). When compared with flip-chart in 95 of 100 cases, flip-chart is by far more effective than a presentation with PPt. This is not a claim, it can be proven.
Objections that are heard again and again:
But PowerPoint* are my notes. Without PowerPoint* I would have to learn everything by heart.
No that is wrong. With the simplest case just print out the PowerPoint file and put it in front of you. You take the paper version as notes. But now it is just YOU who sees the content and the audience remains excited. You can also take notes on cue cards and use those for memory.
But if I have 200 people in a hall, then those in the back do not see anything.
No, as you have the projector anyway. So direct a home camera at the flip-chart and that is shown on the screen using the projector for projection. With an audience of up to 100 people you will not need a camera. Even the last rows will be able to see it.
Demonstrations why PowerPoint looses in 98% against a Flip-Chart
Read a few articles by M. Poehm about the flip-chart:
- Rules for drawing with flipchart
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Like many of you already know I consider the flip-chart to be a much more effective medium compared to PowerPoint*. Even the most hard-boiled keepers of the PowerPoint* Grail gave in after I got them to exchange their slides for a pen and a flip-chart sheet at a seminar. [...]
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- Flipchart beats PowerPoint*
If you work with the flipchart then you have chosen the presentation medium that creates the strongest impact of all by far. Here are a few tricks how to become the Copperfield on flip-chart ...
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- Three-dimensional drawing
Something I found out when drawing with flip-chart is that a three-dimensional drawing gives a multiple impact. For instance, instead of drawing two-dimensional circles with circle segments you will draw a real three-dimensional pie. If you then compare the two drawings ...
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- The act of creation
Have you ever watched a soccer game live on television? The impact you get when you watch the soccer game live, and you see the dramatic development of its end has a much stronger effect than reading the final results in the newspaper.
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