PowerPoint: sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying

PowerPoint is a great tool for displaying visuals that enhance, illustrate, and generally magnify your narrative. It’s been used effectively for years by millions of professionals from such disciplines as academia, engineering, medicine, business, education, government (mostly ineffectively in this case), design, technology, and comedy. Comedy?

PowerPoint as pure comedy gold
Below are a few examples of presenters using PowerPoint to help illustrate their messages. In each case the tool actually enhanced the presenter's ability to make a connection with the audience and drive their messages home. The first two presentations are by Don McMillan. Don is a former engineer with a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. He gives some good advice on using the PowerPoint tool properly.

Is there life after death by PowerPoint?



Users guide to life
Whoever it was that designed humans did a pretty good job, McMillan says, but they provided no good documentation. McMillan has compiled his own data and shares some of it below in what he calls the Users Guide to Life.



Economics explained in ten bullet points
Standup economist Yoram Bauman (he’s an actual economist too) uses PowerPoint and bullet points to effectively state his case. See, bullet points are not always a bad thing.

Chicken, chicken, chicken
It is said that only about 7% of our messages are expressed verbally. Is it possible, then, to make a connection with an audience and make meaning using traditional death-by-PowerPoint techniques and limiting your vocabulary to one word? Watch this presentation below by Doug Zongkers and find out.

Motivational business presentation by David Brent
No PowerPoint here, but what would presentation comedy be without reviewing a presentation from business guru and Renaissance man David Brent (Ricky Gervais), know for his maverick management techniques and political correctness. Below David gives tips on motivating employees.

(I love to laugh; it's good for health. I know I'm very slow, but last week I finally received my DVDs of the complete series of The Office (BBC). Believe it or not, I'd never seen it (nor the U.S. version). This show is absolutely brilliant. I've become a huge Ricky Gervais fan and just love Extras as well. The subtlety of the humour is priceless and really brings a "smile to the mind." Hope some of the clips above brought a smile to your mind as well.)

Comments

[Peter]

I love The Office. David Brent is my anti-hero :)

[Rowan Manahan]

Check out Demitri Martin for the best use I have ever seen of a flipchart. Business users could learn so much from this guy (circa 8 mins):

http://fortifyservices.blogspot.com/2006/11/stand-up-speak-out-dont-bump-into.html

[Joe Miller]

Garr,

Thanks for the reminder about how to use PPT effectively and how to present effectively. I just re-watched The Office Christmas Special last night. I never get tired of the show. However, last night was the first time I watched all the extras on that disk. Ricky Gervais is a riot...in real life he is too over the top, like David Brent. There are numerous interviews with him and Steve Merchant on all The Office DVDs and all are worth watching.

Joe

[Dan]

If you like this Ricky Gervais clip, check out these two he did with Microsoft in the UK:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ugVRtth1e44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HARMAiRPx2g

They're a bit long (20 min and 17 min, respectively), but absolutely worth it.

[chicken]

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[Stephanie West Allen]

About that myth that "7% of our messages are expressed verbally":

http://westallen.typepad.com/idealawg/2007/03/what_is_the_big.html

[rudradatta]

hi,

this is absolutely true that power point is a powerful tool to represent your organization and personal info in a more flourish way and that you have shown in a great way of comedy.

The most vital thing is that it is easy for everyone to use

[Rico]

Ah yes, nothing points out mistakes better than by making fun of them. A great way to show that presentations are mainly tools to get your message across. Their effectiveness depends on their use.

[Lisa Braithwaite]

Welcome to the "Office" club! Ricky Gervais kills me; I can't even look at his face without cracking up - he is a brilliant comedian. His performance on "Extras" is brilliant as well. I can't get into the American version of "The Office" - it's just "off" in some way.

Thanks for the great videos; making fun of bad PowerPoint is a good time.

[Vijay Chakravarthy]

On a slight tangent, I want to point out that the above blog post would not be as interesting without the use of embedded rich content, in this case -- YouTube videos.
Since this is a presentation focused blog,
I thought I'd point out a similar example, but with PowerPoint enriching the blog/wiki content..

http://slideaware.typepad.com/slideaware/2007/04/where_presentat.html

[Del DeVries]

Great tips on PowerPoint and presentations in general. Humor can communicate concisely and effectively! A good story has the power to capture our emotions, visual cues, and wake up an audience. Thanks for the organized ideas!

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[Morriss Partee]

These get better every time I watch them! These are just my all time favorites, tears are rolling down my cheeks with how much these make me laugh!!! Thank you, Garr, so much for finding and sharing these! I think we need these regularly; please blog any new ones you find!!! THANK YOU, Morriss

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[pedro]

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[larry]

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