My 9 Year Old Niece Gets It. Do You?

My sister recently asked me to help my 9 year old niece with a PowerPoint presentation she had to create for class on U.S. National Parks. No, I didn't just do it for her, but I did send her some examples of presentations that made use of little text and beautiful full screen imagery. It just kind of seemed natural for her topic...

I didn't hear anything else until last week when my sister sent me her completed assignment. The email came with two attachments: a PowerPoint presentation and a Word document.

I liked where this was going...

I'm going to give the credit on this to my niece's teacher for understanding that thereshouldn't be a one size fits all format for delivering information. Too often, that one size is a PowerPoint document, and the in-person, on-screen presentation suffers from too much text and content as does the printed, leave behind that suffers from too little real writing and content.

I know, it's just easier to make one slide-ument that can be presented, printed, handed out and downloaded. But as Olivia Mitchell says: It's also easier to break up with your boyfriend by text message. That doesn't make it right.

Last night someone gave me a spiral bound leave behind from a presentation by an $8 billion dollar hedge fund looking for new investors. It was an inexpensively bound identical copy of what was presented on screen. All my eyes saw were loads of text and information--probably all important and legally necessary, of course. But an $8 billion dollar venture should have created both a professionally printed and designed leave behind (think annual report...) and a professionally designed on screen companion presentation that walks the audience through the digestible highlights of the complete printed piece. And they should have distributed only the printed document. 

I have a client right now that approached us wanting help designing a "PowerPoint." This is a new health consulting company that was paid a lot of money to do an assessment of a corporation involving research, surveys and analysis. My client had planned on presenting its findings in a PowerPoint deck (which would presumably be distributed). We advised them that while they of course will need an on screen version of their findings to present at their 2 hour client meeting, the real meat of their work needed to be presented much more seriously and professionally. So our primary work is now not a PowerPoint deck, but an 18 page professionally designed and printed report. Again, think annual report... After that is written and completed (we're helping the client with their content as well), then we'll focus on creating a matching companion PowerPoint deck to present.

I know it's more work. But many times 2 distinct formats and documents is what's needed.