Don't Use PowerPoint as a Teleprompter

I will never forget what it was like to attend one of the official Windows 95 launch events. A few hundred people were gathered in an auditorium to watch a pair of Microsoft employees extol the virtues of their shiny new operating system.

So what do I remember most vividly about that event? Was it the list of wonderful new features in Windows 95? Was it the fancy new user interface? Was it the sight of Bill Gates on video, showing Jay Leno how easy it was to use the new operating system?

No, the most memorable aspect of that evening was the presentation by the two Microsoft employees. It's not because their presentation was slick or professional, mind you. Quite the contrary; while they had clearly put a lot of effort into their presentation, they clearly weren't prepared enough.

The problem was with their PowerPoint presentation. As the Microsoft drones read their list of the top ten features in Windows 95, they made the same mistake that many PowerPoint users commit. They projected their slides onto the screen, and then they read the slides out loud to the audience. Naturally, before the presenters had uttered more than a couple of words, the listeners had already read the entire text. The entire audience must have been thinking, "Why are these people reading the slides to us? We can do that ourselves!"

This is an all-too-common occurrence. I'm sure that most of us have attended meetings wherein the presenters simply read the text on their slides-in effect, using PowerPoint as a teleprompter. At best, this can make the presentation boring and unprofessional. At worst, it can be insulting to the audience; after all, they can read the words far more quickly than the presenter can vocalize them. When presenters fail to understand this, they come across as being lazy and unprepared-perhaps even incompetent.

There's a critical difference between a teleprompter and a PowerPoint presentation. Teleprompters make the words visible to the speaker BUT NOT THE AUDIENCE. This allows the speaker to read the words while still looking in the general direction of the audience. When used effectively, they make the speaker look polished and well prepared. It creates the illusion that he knows exactly what to say.

In contrast, a PowerPoint presentation can usually be seen by the entire audience. This shatters the illlusion. When the speaker reads the words out loud, it makes him look as though he has poor recall and was too lazy to master his material. As a result, he comes across as ineffectual rather than intelligent.

That is why it's best to use the PowerPoint presentation to highlight key points instead. An effective speaker would then rephrase and expand on each of the points in the slides. If necessary, one can even rely on written notes for additional information-without reading these notes verbatim, of course. Is this more work for the speaker? Certainly, but remember... when giving a presentation, the PowerPoint slides are not primarily for the speaker's convenience. Rather, they exist for the benefit of the audience. Their main purpose is to help the audience follow and understand the discussion more effectively, and that will require preparation on the part of the presenter.

About the Author

Dr. Velasco works for a bioscience firm that provides PBMC samples, ELISPOT assay tools and colony counters.