• Two weeks ago, my wife returned from a major conference in Tel Aviv, where she described the lecturers as boring. Even the slides had nothing to offer, she complained.
• In the summer, I attended a webinar, where a series of very clever people offered me slides that had clearly been used for other events.
• One of my leading Israeli clients insists on swamping his Powerpoint slides with hard text, because that is the only way he will remember what to say.

Three totally unconnected events. Several very capable people. All failing to use one of Microsoft’s key programmes, Powerpoint, when trying to highlight key issues of their talks.

Let us be honest, and I say this as a business mentor who is not the most savvy when it comes to tech, you do not need a lot of training to start yourself off in basic Powerpoint usage. It has some cool features. And if you do not like it, there are many decent competitors around.

A title of a posting on the BBC website summed it up very well: “How to avoid death by powerpoint“.

Why, in the age of the internet and millions of digital images, do slide presentations seem to belong to an older, duller decade?

The blog makes some great suggestions. Specifically, it is highly worthwhile providing unique photos. However, there is another issue here.

Most presenters do not take enough time to consider what will really, truly and continuously interest their audience, and then go on to test such assumptions! More often than not, this is not a ten minute process.

Look at it another way. By not investing in this brain-storming session, you are effectively saying that your potential listeners are not worth the effort. A bit insulting, no? I can also add that most people who I have seen do take their time in thought then go on to save hours later on, because the slides become that much easier to bring together.

Friends: We are at that season, when some of us declare resolutions for the new year. Let us all take it upon ourselves to make our presentations so much more acceptable for the rest of humanity. The lives of millions will be so much improved, and your may even go on to sell your products and services to others.