Insecure Future For PowerPoint Presentation

Matt Blaze of the University of Pennsylvania was astonished to find that his commitment to speak at the RSA Conference in San Francisco included an undertaking to submit a PowerPoint presentation slide deck. Now, what’s the problem with that, you might say. But there was a problem.

Because Matt hates PowerPoint. And he goes to some lengths to avoid using it.

RSA Conference Organisers Demand PowerPoint Slides

Matt had no problems with the RSA 2011 conference. But, then the organisers of the event required him to submit PowerPoint slides that could, no doubt, be copied and circulated in advance of his presentation.

It’s standard practice for most conference organisers. And it’s certainly one big reason why presenters use PowerPoint so frequently at these events.

But Matt rebelled.

RSA conf is insisting I send them PowerPoint for my RSA-2011 talk. Here they are : http://crypto.com/R/12/

— matt blaze (@mattblaze) November 23, 2010

So, he’s created a three-slide PowerPoint presentation for the conference organisers. Slide one is neatly titled:

“My PowerPoint slides for the RSA Conference 2011, Matt Blaze, University of Pennsylvania”

Slide three is titled:

“End of PowerPoint Presentation for RSA-2011, Matt Blaze, University of Pennsylvania”

But it’s his middle PowerPoint slide that’s a work of art. It’s an elegant and eloquent rebuttal of the need to use PowerPoint slides on each and every presentation occasion.

Matt, I salute you. But, something tells me that the RSA conference organisers might be looking to fill your presenting slot with someone else! But, in the meantime, perhaps you might find a membership of the anti-PowerPoint party right up your street.

You can read a whole series of presentation tips prepared for every presentation occasion. You can read the posts, watch the training videos or listen to the presentation podcasts. And, when you are ready to really give your own presentation skills a boost, you can consider specialist presentation training, including an online course. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch when the time is right.