Power (or not) Point - Presentation

I recently read James Christie's The medium’s PowerPoint, what’s the message?. It was one of those articles that makes you stop doing what ever it is you are working on and start thinking.

I will be the first one to admit that when I started using PowerPoint I thought it was the next best thing after Windows. I fell in love with the application. I used it everywhere and anywhere I could to do presentations. The cool animations, the control that I had on how to share the information, the colors I could play with - well the list just goes on and on for things I loved. Yes I loved the power of PowerPoint. I still like the power but the big question is how much power do I really have if I don't cater to my audience.

Presentation is not about the presenter, it is about the audience and like James says "the message".

Yes power point is still a powerful medium but as presenters we have to find the right balance. Depending on the audience and message the presenter has to modify the presentation. Using power point is a choice and should not be considered as the most important element.

Start with "the message", understand "the audience" and "the medium" will automatically fall into place.