m62 visualcommunications, the global leader in presentation effectiveness, is today arguing against those who believe that delivering a PowerPoint presentation can be detrimental to presentation objectives, and boring for the audience.

With more and more audiences speaking out against ‘Death by PowerPoint’, many presenters and public speakers are clamouring for presenters to abandon PowerPoint altogether, in order to stop presenters boring their audiences with bullet points. As many presentations given are dull and ineffective, the move away from slides filled with bullets has seemed a viable option for those who have suffered at the hands of inadequate presenters.

However, PowerPoint cannot be blamed for these errors. Boring slides and ineffective presenting cannot be blamed on the program; it is what is done with the tool that is the issue. An ineffective speaker who does not take his audience’s needs into consideration will still be ineffective, with or without visual aids. In fact, presenters who argue in favour of abandoning visual aids altogether have overlooked important research into human psychology.

Studies have shown that when information is absorbed via dual channels (i.e. both visually and aurally), recall can be more than doubled. The effect this can have on audiences is significant, as the impact of a good presentation should last after the audience leaves the room.

This supports the idea that visual aids should be used in presentations, but they should really be visual. PowerPoint design that features bullet points will not work as a visual aid. No matter what program or medium is used, a presenter who uses bullet points will struggle to retain his audience’s attention.

Nicholas Oulton, Founder of m62, commented: “When used correctly, PowerPoint slides can really engage audiences with the content, and help presenters to demonstrate their ideas in a simple and memorable way. PowerPoint is capable of this, and presenters should certainly not avoid it – those who do are missing out on a valuable advantage.”

m62 visualcommunications has produced almost 10,000 presentations for its clients, winning billions of dollars’ worth of business deals. m62 has worked for blue-chip brands such as BP, Siemens, and Microsoft, and operates from offices in the UK, US and Singapore.

For more information about m62 visualcommunications, call +44 (0)151 259 6262 or visit m62.net.