IF DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR’s “I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH” WAS DELIVERED ON POWERPOINT, COULD THE DESIGNERS RUIN THE IMPACT OF THE SPEECH?
When I see written, “I have a dream,” I hear it in Dr. King’s voice. The mental picture of his charismatic face, his gestures all continue to impact almost everyone who saw it then or sees it again now.
Yet, imagine if you will, instead of a dynamic speech in a booming voice with charismatic facial expressions and gestures, someone suggested his ideas should be presented as (gasp) a PowerPoint.
I hear over and over again, in learning “Content is King”. Dr. King’s speech no doubt has some of the most compelling content we can imagine, but if chunked into bulletpoints, on 61 slides, with transitional fades, and stopping every 5 slides for knowledge checks with royalty free music behind it, would it lose momentum, lose the impact.
Harassment training, safety trainings, diversity & inclusion training, and other compliance trainings we are “required” to do potentially have great subject matter, yet people often dread taking them.
So, how do we avoid the danger of minimizing great content with our presentations?