John Bohannon has a modest proposal. In his TEDxBrussels talk from November 2011, he asserts that “bad PowerPoint presentations are a serious threat to the global economy.” Touché, Mr. Bohannon. You’re speaking our language already. He claims bad PowerPoint presentations drain the global economy of $250 million per day and add up to an annual deficit of $1 billion a year. While we can’t speak to the truthiness of either of those claims, we can empathize with Bohannon. Bad presentations waste time and wasting time wastes money. Bad news all around.
Bohannon’s modest proposal is to use dancers to visualize complex ideas. He argues that to understand the big picture of a complex idea, the fewer words used the better. Ideally, use no words at all. Bohannon demonstrates his proposal by employing dancers from Minnesota’s Black Label Movement in his talk. The dancers show through movement how atoms absorb photons and how when they get cold enough they become superfluid, and on and on. Bohannon has a Ph.D in Molecular Biology himself, but claims “the more [a fellow Ph.D] said, the less I understood.”
Indeed, we don’t know anything about photons or superfluids or molecular bio but it sure did look pretty to see all the action take place through dancers. And it made sense– much more sense than reading it from a textbook, or worse: a PowerPoint. Bohannon argues we should use dance to explain all complex problems, whether that be invading a country or bailing out a bank.
Unfortunately we can’t employ dancers to speak at all of our presentations (even though you’d be the coolest ever if you did), but Bohannon makes a crucial point. PowerPoint sometimes creates “an illusion of confidence, simplicity and understanding” and wastes incredible amounts of time if nothing is truly taken from the presentation.
We all can apply Bohannon’s modest proposal in some small way to our presentations. Be creative. Think of what you’re passionate about, whether that be music, art or comic books. Think of ways to make complex information simple and interesting. Instead of all those mundane bullet points describing your company’s success in its last business venture, illustrate what happened on a white board. Open and close your presentation with music, involve your audience with a quick game, do anything to shake up expectations. Ultimately, your presentation will end up being more fun for you to create and deliver, and more compelling for your audience.
Bohannon’s presentation harkens back to the ubiquitous Albert Einstein quote: “If you can’t explain it simply, then you don’t know it well enough.” Find a way to explain and present your information in a simple, compelling way and you will have the attention and respect of your audience. Dancers not needed.
Watch the entirety of Bohannon’s talk here.
