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Going Deckless for the 30-Days – Can You Do it?

Going Deckless for the 30-Days – Can You Do it?

PowerPoint, PowerPoint, PowerPoint. It’s everywhere from schools to board rooms to the military. It seems that we all need it to get through a meeting or new business pitch. Really?!! I challenged myself and my team to attempt a 30-day window with no PPT usage.

I thought it would be easy, simple, and fun. Hey, take a break: free yourself from the master slide, ignore “next slide” directions, challenge people to actually have a direct conversation. I’m not anti-PowerPoint, but I do feel that lots of folks use it as a crutch. We’ve lost the ability to conduct a meeting without a projected presentation.

In fact, some design experts like Edward Tufte, provide us with cautionary tales outlining the dangers of relying too much on slides.

Our group was well on the way to making it happen. We didn’t even open up PowerPoint – the program got rusty from disuse. I even convinced my new business team to skip a deck for a pitch! We actually put together an entire PR program in the form of a cool, color-coded process chart. (Sorry I can’t post it, but I can’t give away a brilliant plan!) Finally, a visual that spoke to our entire initiative at a single glance – as opposed to having it broken into 40 individual slides.

I thought I was home free…in fact, I thought I could go more than 30 days – that is until I received a direct request for a deck. Sigh. I even put in a call to see if I could present the information in a different format, but alas, I was told that only a PPT would be acceptable.

I complied with the request…this time. Once it’s completed, I’m going to try for another PPT-free period.

How about you? Have you found a way to free yourself from PowerPoint?

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