One of the jobs I took when I moved to Nashville was PowerPoint guy at a church.  Ok, I actually did a bunch of other stuff as well, but a great deal of my time was spent preparing the PowerPoint slides to be projected onto the big screens during the sermon each week.  That was seven years ago.  I haven’t touched the stuff since.

The webinar I’m teaching today demands that I use PowerPoint once again. The problem has been trying to use PowerPoint to communicate better and not just because I’m being told to.

PowerPoint, when I’ve seen it used, usually just puts into print what’s already being said.  More than a little redundant.  Why show me the exact words you just told me – or worse – that you’re ABOUT to tell me?  Especially when there’s a hand-out of some kind that ALSO contains that information.

Instead, I decided to manipulate my audience today.  A picture pops up on the screen and they have no idea what it has to do with worship – the topic at hand.  Then, hopefully, as I talk it ties itself in, reinforcing the point, giving them a mental hook to hang the idea on, and whenever they think of submission or service or worship they hopefully remember the image and it helps them recall the teaching.

Yea, I use text too, but not much.  Not more than a handful of words on each slide.  Not entire slides full, not transcripts of what I’ve just said.

My goal was to make a PowerPoint presentation that doesn’t stand alone.  If it makes sense without me talking you through it, then there’s redundancy.

You can use PowerPoint the way a bunch of code-spewing computer guys at Microsoft intended, or you can use it like the creative thinker you are. 

Seth Godin also has some tips on communicating well with PowerPoint.