PowerPoint aka Mother's Little Helper
On this podcast episode, we bet you use PowerPoint or other slideshow tools way too much. Career success and business growth rely on you being YOU! You are the star of the show, and you don’t need Mother’s Little Helper to shine.
WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT TODAY? Overusing tools like PowerPoint in your presentations. Most people use these tools as a crutch thinking that it helps the presentation. Sometimes they do, but often they distract from the message. Career success and business growth rely on you being YOU! You are the star of the show, and you don’t always need Mother’s Little Helper to shine through. We show you a few ways to break your addiction.
WHAT TOPICS DO WE COVER?
* We DON’T cover tips on how to use PowerPoint better!
* We DO talk about the ways PowerPoint can be used effectively.
* Use the Rolling Stones's song Mother’s Little Helper to illustrate our point.
* But we emphasize how to avoid using PowerPoint as a crutch
* Examples of how you can shine without using a slideshow
* Break the addiction of using a presentation tool in a sales pitch
* Show you a real-life example of a non-slideshow presentation.
WHAT’S THE TAKE-AWAY? PowerPoint and other slideshow tools can be significant assets - sometimes. But more often than not, they’re not needed. They distract from your message, dilute your brand, and bore the audience. You can change that and be a better presenter by breaking the addiction.
WE USED THESE RESOURCES:
Besides our experiences that directly relate to this topic, we found the following resources very helpful in preparing for this episode:
We mentioned these resources in the podcast:
Microsoft PowerPoint https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/powerpoint
Wikipedia Mothers Little Helper song by the Rolling Stones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Little_Helper
WHO ARE DAVE AND KELLI?
An Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur duo with street smarts, ‘preneurial’ chops, and a penchant for storytelling.
Dave and Kelli met as teenagers and have a life-long story of their own. They took separate and contrasting career paths, both struggling with challenges and celebrating their career successes differently.
Over the years, they noticed similarities in their stories about their work, the people they interacted with, and how business was conducted. Kelli, who “worked for the man like a dog for decades,” and Dave, who “started or ran businesses all of his life,” quickly realized there is substantial value for others in those combined experiences.
The “My Job Here Is Done” Podcast is the result. Ultimately, you’re building a great business or moving up the career ladder of success, and we absolutely know we can help!
HOW TO WORK WITH US
If you like what you hear in the podcast, we have more to share with companies that we work with.
With the foundation of business experience from Dave and Kelli as a team, in concert with subject matter experts from the rich roster of smart people in our network, we have put these goals, culture themes, and operational processes you hear on the podcast to the test - and they work.
If you have a complicated problem AND you like to play to win - click here to learn how you can work with us.
"PowerPoint aka Mother's Little Helper"
My Job Here is Done™ Transcript (for general use only – machine-generated and it may not be accurate.)
Dave (00:00) Hey Kelli, come over here and sit down. Put your headphones on for a second.
Kelli (00:03) Why the rush?
Dave (00:04) I'm doing a test.
Kelli (00:06) Okay. All right. Well, Kelli, the test guinea pig is ready to go at your beck and call, I guess.
Dave (00:14) Thank you for your cooperation.
Kelli (00:16) What do you need?
Dave (00:17) I want you to close your eyes.
Kelli (00:20) No way. I'm not falling for whatever you're planning to do to me. Just so you have some blooper material.
Dave (00:26) No trickery here. Just close your eyes. Just close your eyes. Are they closed?
Kelli (00:31) Yes.
Dave (00:32) Okay. With your eyes closed, I want you to think about what a PowerPoint slide looks like and tell me what you see.
Kelli (00:40) Oh, that's easy. A long bullet list with a cat graphic or something that looks stretched out and weird, right?
Dave (00:47) Exactly. What's in the bullet list?
Kelli (00:49) I don't know. I can't read it. It's too small. Whoever's presenting this is going to be reading it word for word, so I don't need to pay attention anyway, right? Wait, we're not going to do a podcast on how to make PowerPoint presentations, are we?
Dave (01:02) No, we're going to do a podcast on Mother's little helper.
Intro (01:07) Hi, I'm Dave, and I've been starting and running businesses all my life. And I'm Kelli, working for the man like a dog for decades. And you are YOU! The driven career professional clawing your way up the ladder of success. Maybe running your own business ... The next 20 minutes or so is just for you.
Chuck Fresh (01:26) Welcome to My Job Here is done.
Kelli (01:32) Welcome Powerpointers. We're thrilled to have you listening today. I'm Kelli, who definitely does NOT want to talk about PowerPoint presentations, and you can count on me for that. But before we get started, please consider subscribing or following us on your favorite podcast app to show some love and so you don't miss any new episodes
Dave (01:52) and you can interact with us directly at our website. My job here is done.com. And on social media at myjob podcast.
Kelli (02:01) Okay, Dave, you have me a bit worried that you're off on a tangent that literally everyone is sick and tired of and that's tips on how to make slide presentations better. Please tell me we're not going to go down that road today.
Dave (02:12) Hell no! My job here is done is a career success and business growth podcast. You know that - this is where we tell stories that hopefully make you ponder and think about how you can change to be more successful. Could you imagine how boring it would be if we were on YouTube and did this podcast with a PowerPoint slide show?
Kelli (02:32) Gosh, just hearing you say that. I get that same sad trombone feeling I get when I go to a presentation and see the projector showing the obligatory welcome slide on the screen.
Dave (02:44) Right. And relax, everyone. The last thing we want to do and would never do on this program is try to provide PowerPoint tips. And there's a reason why we would never, ever do that.
Kelli (02:57) ugg - here it comes.
Dave (02:59) We won't do it because we don't promote the use of addictive drugs.
Kelli (03:04) I never know what to expect when I sit behind this mic with him.
Dave (03:08) Powerpoint and other Slideshow tools are what the Rolling Stones sang about in the song Mother's Little Helper.
Dave and Kelli sing (03:28) mother's, little helper and it helps her on her way. Gets her through a busy day...
Kelli (03:36) We should not sing. We should leave the singing to Greg.
Dave (03:39) Yes. Thanks for helping Greg with that. We really appreciate it.
Kelli (03:42) Seriously, the point here is that PowerPoint or any Slideshow tool is too often used as a crutch in a presentation. It's kind of like a drug we have to use. If we need to make a point to a group of people, we overuse it. And we think it helps because we're conditioned and expected to use it. But it really gets in our way and often takes away from our pitch, our point, our STORY.
Dave (04:05) Wait, what? Story? You just hit on the keyword we're going to chat about today. When you pitch something, when you want to get your point across, when you need to be convincing, you are what people want to concentrate on, not a screen full of bullet points behind you.
Kelli (04:25) Think about that for a moment. You are the star of your show. Why would you want to display a distraction that takes the focus off of you? A huge screen that is literally larger than you, that's stealing eyeballs from looking at you. You just become a narrator, and that's not what will set you apart from the competition.
Dave (04:43) If you've ever attended a public speaking class, you'll know that there is never a lesson in there on PowerPoint. Rather, it's all focused on how you can act, move, and speak in a way that engages the audience. You are taught to be natural, relaxed, engaging, provocative, convincing, comfortable ...all those words. You're never shown in public speaking training how to use the clicker to change slides.
Kelli (05:10) Next slide, please.
Dave (05:11) There you go.
Kelli (05:13) When you do a presentation, whether it's to two people or two thousand people, it's you they want to hear from ... You. Except in a rare few circumstances, using a crutch like PowerPoint kills three desirable effects you want to achieve. Number one, it makes you look like a narrator of the information you're presenting rather than a thought leader. You lose being the expert.
Dave (05:37) Number two, PowerPoint interferes with relationship building because it splits the attention between you and the slides. All great speakers become involved with the audience and build a unique relationship. This is critical because it helps people remember what you said and it helps them feel comfortable so they think about and ponder about the message you are delivering.
Kelli (06:00) And last but not least, for sure, it may change your personal brand without you realizing it.
Dave (06:06) Brand?
Kelli (06:06) Yeah. When you speak and people just hear you and see you without any distractions, you're building your personal brand. You can think of this as the first thing that comes to mind when you describe someone.
Dave (06:18) Like, oh, Kelli! Yeah, she's great. Very business savvy.
Kelli (06:22) What's my impression of Dave?
Dave (06:23) Yeah, what is it?
Kelli (06:24) He's got the gift of Gab. He's quite a communicator. It's the first thing that comes to my mind. It's his personal brand.
Dave (06:30) Like, she's a sweet old lady.
Kelli (06:32) Hey, wait a minute. What are you talking about?
Dave (06:36) Or he's a real prick. Everyone has a personal brand. And if you stop and think about what that is as it relates to a few people, you know, you'll start to see what we mean.
Kelli (06:47) If all of this is true, why do you see so many people using PowerPoint? And why do we all have that sinking feeling when you see that first opening slide?
Dave (06:56) The reason is simple. We're conditioned to use Slideshows because everybody does. And now it's expected. It's kind of like a good drug. It can have great effects on you if you use it for the right purpose. But if you abuse it, you become dependent on it. And that's why we say PowerPoint is Mother's Little Helper.
Kelli (07:17) So are we saying PowerPoint and other slide presentation tools are bad drugs and they should be banned? Not at all. What we're saying is that you likely don't need to use it in your next presentation.
Dave (07:28) Or even the one after that. When you go to hear a speech or a lecture or even a technical presentation and you leave saying to yourself, wow, that was good. We think you can distill the reason why you felt that way down to one attribute. The presenter told a story that had a curious start, a clear purpose, a concise message, and a provocative finish.
Kelli (07:54) In business, you likely want to sell something when you present, so you need to craft a buyer's journey. You always want to have a beginning, like a customer's story that relates to the prospect, a purpose which tells the story of how you can solve the problem, and a message that focuses on how valuable this can be.
Dave (08:12) And then a finish to that story or "the close" to hopefully get a yes, I'd like to buy from you. So ask yourself, do you need a PowerPoint presentation to do that? Well, do you really have a plan B should the technology fail and you had to go do it on your own without mother's little helper? Trust me and believe in yourself. You can do it without PowerPoint. And believe me when I say this too, you will be much more effective. You just need to detox from that PowerPoint addiction.
Kelli (08:43) So before we get into a few tips, we know that are super effective on how NOT to use PowerPoint. Let's visit some of those situations where PowerPoint is our friend.
Dave (08:53) And just to be clear, PowerPoint and the other tools for slide presentations are great. We just want to promote non-abuse. But even more so we want to promote you as the star of the show.
Kelli (09:07) Powerpoint is our friend, and it's super effective when you use it to create a visual backdrop that helps highlight your story for your presentation. Performers use this technique all the time. You see it at concerts, rallies, scholarly events. It enhances you without distracting the audience.
Dave (09:23) But you'd only do that if you were in front of a large screen. There's really no reason to do a backdrop otherwise, but you might need a picture for people to see or a video for the audience to watch. Creating a PowerPoint with effects like that are a perfect example and a great use of the tool.
Kelli (09:41) Powerpoint is also good for charts and graphs, but with a caveat -- only when you can't use a handout. It's preferable to give your audience a tactile method to relate to your story, and by you instructing them to look at the graph on a page in their hand, you gain additional control and a relationship with the audience.
Dave (09:59) And last and only when you are in front of a screen talking, using PowerPoint is powerful for making a visual exclamation. Let me explain. If you are telling a story about, say, a sports event and you're super animated and sounding really excited, just like you were there and you want the audience to feel the same excitement and you say, "Hooray", the team won at the last second! I'd have a big slide behind me with the huge word HOORAY on it. It helps exclaim and enhance emotion.
Kelli (10:30) So test time. What was missing from that list?
Dave (10:34) Mother's little helper
Kelli (10:36) umm yes words , bullet lists, phrases,
Dave (10:38) intro, slides, thank you slides, silly graphics of cats.
Kelli (10:42) Yeah, jokes, vacation pictures of Dave Snoring in the beach chair while being burned to a crisp.
Dave (10:49) Hey! how did that get in there?
Kelli (10:50) And my all-tim favorite, the questions slide. Maybe the word questions. Maybe a big question Mark. Really?
Dave (10:58) Really. These are all crutches. They aren't necessary. They damage your brand, distract from your message, break your personal connection, and annoy most people. Hence the old saying, oh, not another PowerPoint!
Kelli (11:13) Yeah, it's the drug overwhelming you, the fake urge for mother's little helper. Because that's what you're addicted to ...It's PowerPoint addiction. And it's time for the cure.
Dave (11:23) I hear you. I hear everybody. You're all saying, how do I do a sales pitch without showing the NASCAR slide of all of the customer logos? How do I put our price list up for people to see? What about our customer quotes for them to read? And oh, my God, marketing just rolled out a new logo for the opening slide. And me ... What about me? Shouldn't my name be an 80-point type?
Kelli (11:47) Maybe.
Dave (11:49) Maybe. We say maybe because you just might need a slide or two to exclaim something or as a backdrop or for a video or pictures. But with that said, we believe the first thing that you should say to yourself in preparing for that presentation is - "Do I really need PowerPoint for this?" And if yes, then the next question is, "what is the absolute bare minimum I need?" And then the last question is, "Am I sure I need it?"
Kelli (12:20) In this podcast, we told you a story about the pros and cons of using a crutch like PowerPoint in your presentations, and we emphasized that you should be the star of the presentation. If Dave and I were at your company doing a seminar for you on ways to be effective in presentations, do you think we'd need to use a PowerPoint to do that?
Dave (12:38) Hey, we just did that presentation for you without PowerPoint, right? In the podcast right here! We didn't have the option of Mother's Little Helper, and we think we got our point across. You and Kelli and I connected with a personal conversation and a story about how this topic affects you and your audience in good and in not-so-good ways.
Kelli (12:59) But I bet if someone asked you to do a seminar on this topic, the first thing you think about is what slides do I need? And sadly, that's the addiction talking.
Dave (13:08) We know that great leadership stands out from the crowd and the competition by you being an effective communicator with your own brand showing through. And that means you have to do things that are different and engaging.
Kelli (13:24) If you invite me to a sales pitch, a class you're teaching, or a speech you're making, I'm coming to see YOU. Don't distract me.
Kelli (13:31) Nobody ever said" "Come see my PowerPoint tomorrow at noon."
Dave and Kelli sing (13:37) Kids are different today.
Kelli (13:40) Thank you very much for listening today. Like our singing?
Dave (13:44) No.
Kelli (13:45) Okay. Like our podcast? Great. Please tell just one friend or colleague who you think would enjoy the content and stories we share.
Dave (13:53) You can listen to my Job here is done anywhere and everywhere podcasts are available and check out our website for all the latest info on the show and how you can work with us, at myjobhereisdone.com.
Dave and Kelli sing (14:06) What a drag it is getting old.
Kelli (14:11) That's terrible. No, that was horrible. Horrible, horrible.
Chuck Fresh (14:15) I'm the announcer guy and I sound as good as the story you just listened to. My job here is done as a podcast production of 2PointOh LLC. Thank you and your awesome ears for listening. Want to get involved? Have your own special story to share. Tell us all about it and you might get some airtime just like me. Browse over to myjobhereisdone.com ya squish that all together into one word and look for the My Story link. Until next time - My Job here is done.
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