I must admit I am partial to mind maps, graphic organizers, and well presented PowerPoint. I respect people who can conceptualize, evaluate, and organize thoughts into a logical thesis. Indeed, it's an important skill for anyone preparing to write or present.
An article in the New York Times recounts a meeting when the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan was shown a PowerPoint slide in Kabul last summer that was meant to portray the complexity of American military strategy, but looked more like a bowl of spaghetti.
“When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war,” the general dryly remarked as the room erupted in laughter.
The article goes on to analyze the extensive use of Power Point and one staffer commented that it's not going away any time soon.
Of course, with a brilliant conceptualization comes delivery and balancing the rhetorical with the emotional. Often an effective presentation needs to be storyboarded with a judicious use of image, pacing, and anecdote. And then there is the KISS strategy... (Keep it simple, s.....)
I heard Seth Godin speak recently and his 70 minute presentation seemed like it was 20 minutes. He knows the art of presentation.
Are you a fan of mind mapping? What are your thoughts about the death or vitality of PowerPoint? Were you ever impressed by an effective presentation?
