Onto my Facebook page this morning floated a pronouncement from the US Army
There was a time when essayists like Johnson and Emerson would influence our thinking through the power of an intelligently turned phrase.
Somewhere along the line came the phrase “every picture tells a story”.
The business community woke up to the power of slides initially on acetate, latterly on Powerpoint.
Those on the “buy-side” of pensions may not be aware of the scale of the Powerpoint production industry.
I have come to dread business pitches not because of the pitches themselves but for the agony of creating and “compliance approving” a set of slides which typically detracts rather than adds to what I am trying to say.
Accepted wisdom within the compliance community is that those presenting ideas cannot be trusted to do so without a “true and accurate record” of the conversation.
That record has become a set of slides that becomes so cluttered with detail that those trying to gauge the probity, intelligence and diligence of the organisation they are assessing, have little or no chance.
I have heard it said by trustees who have spent days conducting a beauty parade that they would have much preferred banning slides and relying on the interraction between the people in the room.
Is there a case for demanding “no slides” from presenters?
Surely a much better test for those of us involved in the business of communicating complex ideas is to request slides be provided but only after the presentation!