Death by PowerPoint


I hope you had not been in one of those…

A meeting with a Power Point.

Around 130 slides…

Yes.

One.

Hundred.

Thirty.

Graphs.

Tables.

Appendices explaining the appendices.

The speaker?

Monotone.

Boring.

Like a GPS giving directions in the desert.

A funeral seemed a fiesta in Ibiza.

Slide 14…

Slide 38…

Slide 79…

Around slide 92 something magical happened.

One of the client directors fell asleep.

Not metaphorically.

Actually asleep.

Head tilted.

Eyes closed.

The kind of sleep that says:

“I’ve completely given up on this meeting.”

Nobody noticed.

Or worse… nobody reacted.

The presenter kept going.

Slide 93.

Slide 94.

Slide 95.

At that point the bid was already dead…

Look.

You cannot walk into a room with 130 PowerPoint slides and expect people to be engaged.

You’re not presenting.

You’re punishing the audience.

Because the client is not asking themselves:

“Is this technically perfect?”

They’re asking:

“Do I trust these people with a multi-billion-dollar project?”

And if you can’t hold attention for 20 minutes…

Why would they believe you can run a 30-year concession?

Good presentations are not complicated.

They are simple.

Clear message.

Sharp story.

Minimal slides.

Energy in the room.

And ideally…

No sleeping directors.

If you want a few ideas on how to avoid the 130-slide death march, check the link below.

Your next bid, project or promotion might depend on it.

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Vicente Valencia

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