A long time ago, before death by PowerPoint

A long time ago — before PowerPoint was invented — in a galaxy far, far away, leaders gave presentations backed by large electronic wall displays. Below, for example, is a photo of General Dodonna (from Star Wars IV) briefing a packed room full of starpilots, navigators, and droids. Notice how he uses the entire wide screen to display only visual information, a digital vector animation of the inner workings of the death star. Notice too how he has gathered the troops close to the front, how he himself stands close to the back-lit screen (even slightly in front of it at times), and maintains eye-contact with the audience, occasionally pointing to key areas of the animation on screen.

Above: General Jan Dodonna stands and delivers with confidence and brevity.


Above: What the same presentation would look like while following conventional slideware templates found on present day planet Earth. "You can't see this well on this Micro Galactic ProjectionPoint, but an analysis of the plans provided by Princess Leia has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station. Follow this link at the bottom of the screen for more info if needed."


Above: Nothing inspires like a "thank you slide."

A New Hope for clear communication
Let's embrace the spirit of the Rebel Alliance and push back against Imperial template propaganda and the scourge of habit and conventional wisdom. If you have a large screen, use it to show visuals, not lines of text that remind you what to say. You do not have to use a screen, but if you do, use it to display visual information that illustrates or amplifies your message in the clearest way possible. Stand with your visuals, becoming a clear part of the visual experience from your audience's point of view. Do not stand meekly in the corner or behind a lectern, removed from both the audience and the bright screen. May the Force be with you in your next presentation and beyond.

Related
• Contrasts in presentation style: Yoda vs. Darth Vader

Comments

[EvilSue]

brilliant! - ahhh anything to take away the aussie federal election - keep it coming Garr - love the way your mind works, and your books! (when in next one? Get cracking! :P)

Cheers Sue

[Rio Purboyo]

Awesome! it's really, really make me feel free to present my ideas with my audience, while i am using illustration. Yes, only the significant visual information.

[Robert]

The logos and bullets are brilliant and such a creative way of making your point. Thanks for posting this.

[Rich S]

So...awesome. I can't stand it!

[Blogging Tips]

Funny I could not recall this scene in Star Wars!!!!

[Adam Lawrence]

Don't forget how useful the B-button can be.

Or, put another way...

"Never underestimate the power of the Dark Slide!"

[Joe Oviedo]

LOL! That was amazing and so funny. But it also makes the presentation zen principles very clear.

[K. Goldberg]

Genius! What a great post!

[Alex]

Great post!

[Colleen Young]

I love your post - says it all - it's the content that matters - shown clearly (and it does not need all this silly zooming around!)

[Sebastian Reyes]

I love it!!

Great post Garr

[stephen lead]

Very true - even Steve Jobs liked this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbHF63b7g50

[Emma]

I used images only in my presentation for a job interview a few weeks ago. At the time I thought I was taking a huge gamble, but I stood out from the rest of the applicants, and am now enjoying my new job very much :)

[Koen Daems]

Very much to the (power)point

[Jessica Pyne]

Ha, this really made me laugh! And a wise lesson, as always...

[InFocusCorp]

Great post, thanks Garr! Loving the Star Wars references. Looking forward to hearing you speak at InFocus next week.

[andy]

The REAL death star powerpoint:

http://lay-uh.ytmnd.com/

[Toy Chests]

That is hilarious! I need to keep Star Wars in mind next time I make a presenation...

[Louis Vuitton]

　　Once again great post. You seem to have a good understanding of these themes.When I entering your blog,I felt this . Come on and keep writting your blog will be more attractive. To Your Success!

[jodi]

Nice. I might have some geeky videos, but they stand out because of what I'm learning from your blog. Thanks. :)

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I do think that the 18 minutes limit is a wonderful constraint that only helps clarity. Of course

[Maç Oyunları]

This goes for our children, students..I liked the reference to music.

[Dekor Oyunları]

I was taking a huge gamble, but I stood out from the rest of the applicants.

[Alan]

And be sure not to criticize PowerPoint:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100827/tc_yblog_upshot/army-colonel-in-afghanistan-fired-for-criticizing-powerpoint

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[Ellen Egan]

Brilliant message, as always. And, once again you got your point across clearly with three images that told your story.

Thanks

[Jonathan Thomas]

Right on Garr. I love the effort put in to depict what a typical slide would be.

In a recent post I outlined the power of using full bleed images.

Thanks for another simple, powerful post.

Jon Thomas
Presentation Advisors

[Jonathan Thomas]

Oops - that post I mentioned can be found here: http://blog.presentationadvisors.com/presentationadvisors/2010/08/best-presentation-design-tool-of-2010.html

Jon Thomas

[Federico]

You should then see computer graphic on screens inside spaceships in Kubrick's 2001! it was 1968! Instead of CGI they used cartoons!!

[moncler jassen]

Although I do agree with your post, I have my own reservations.