Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had announced already years ago that Amazon has banned PowerPoint (or any other slide-oriented) presentations in management meetings. Instead, they "write narratively structured six-page memos."
Everyone then reads the memo silently "at the beginning of the meeting in a kind of "study hall.""
In the interview attached he explains why. The reason they read it silently in the meeting is to make sure that everyone understands the context and has actually read the memo and was not just pretending to have read it.
Now, I am not a big reader myself. I rather wait for the movie to come out. Hence, in such a meeting, I would like to get a verbal summary from an expert regarding what is in the memo. And if they need a graph, chart or diagramm be it on a piece of paper, on a flip chart or on a slide projected on a wall, then we have a presentation.
The thing is: the audience needs to listen! And it will only listen, if they are not distracted by other things, if they understand the terms that are used and if they are eager to pay attention on the topic because they understand the urgency.
So for me, it is up to the expert to translate their insights into a digestible message for the decision makers to base their business decision on. That could be a six-page memo. But is could also be a capturing narrative supported by enlightening graphics - (even) on PowerPoint!
‼️ Remember: Your slide deck is not the presentation! You are the presentation! Your slide deck is just a visual assistance to underlign what you are saying!
So change the way you use PowerPoint and start telling stories with data!
Convince with data, inspire with stories.
#datastorytelling #donotbanpowerpoint @Lückenkrach