Death by PowerPoint: what about its AudioVisual Accomplice?
The Junior Seau Foundation moved away from text slides to describe silent auction packages. In this picture, there was a marked increase in bidding excitement when a giant rally car raced across the screens over Warren Moon's head!
Symmetry is overrated. No, I’m not trying to blast the aesthetics of balanced Greek architecture…but I’m tired of walking into events and looking at two 9×12 screens flanking a center stage with a wooden lectern placed square in the middle. Black drape and colored uplights are generally the order of the day, if budget permits. As the meetings and events industry undergoes perhaps the greatest shakedown since Bob Seger sang about it in 1987, close attention is being paid to the quality of the content at meetings, conferences and other educational events. I don’t understand why we shouldn’t do the same for the technology showcasing this content!
Blogs such as Presentation Advisors, Midcourse Corrections and Speaking about Presenting and books such as Nancy Duarte’s Slide:ology fairly beg speakers and educational managers to stop the murderous practice of boring presentations dictated by slide after slide of bullet-laden text.
But if PowerPoint is guilty of leaving a trail of slain bodies in its path…where is its trusty sidekick, AV? For too long, we’ve been lulled into what some AV companies actually refer to as the “Standard AV package”. I’m sorry, but what the heck does that mean? Oh, yes, I already described it – refer to paragraph one. So, what are the alternatives? Well, I have a few ideas and they tie into everything that my presentation advice heroes suggest:
- Budget-friendly advice: Flip that screen on its head. Get creative with your PowerPoint design and design slides that will fit a 12×9 screen…make them vertical and see the limited space for text shakes up some of your creative thinking. You could also use one vertical and one horizontal screen and shift their content back and forth to eliminate any “I couldn’t see the speaker at all” complaints. (For example, use the vertical screen for IMAG [the camera image] and presentation content on horizontal then vice versa as slides change.)
- Bigger production? Have some fun with some blended widescreen projection and go for the fun movie theatre effect. You don’t need a massive budget, but it will require a little creativity with content creation. Suffice to say, bullet points do NOT look great on a big widescreen! At our most recent Junior Seau event, using creative video in place of a text-based auction item description engaged the audience’ imagination as they envisioned themselves racing around with the DC Shoes team. (For more on how video can evoke emotion to engage an audience, see this post from Mike McAllen.)
- Futuristic ideas and the sky’s the limit? The new Christie Microtiles are exciting new technology for displays. With incredible environmental sensitivity and total flexibility in design, any configuration of the tiles is possible! Or, how about handheld devices where each attendee will have the speaker’s voice, presentation slides and any audio/video right at their fingertips?? It’s closer than you think!
Gorgeous Christie Microtiles can be configured in any shape!
I’ll be posting more on the role of AV in the serial deaths of meeting attendees, but in the meantime, what great ideas have you seen to improve tired designs? What new ideas would you like to see?
In what appears to be a precursor to future LEED standards for Hotels, the US Green Building Council has released the “Green Venue Selection Guide: Integrating LEED into Travel and Event Management.”
