How Powerpoint Has Ruined Your Presentations

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers How PowerPoint has ruined your presentations Some of my blog posts are more important than other blog posts. This is one of them. I really want you to come away with a new action plan to attract clients through your presentations. If you want a two sentence answer to my point, here it is: Before PowerPoint good lawyers gave presentations by telling stories. Now, lawyers present bullet pointed slides. Potential clients have never dreaded lawyer presentations more than now. So, how do you connect with potential clients? Surprise them. Tell a story and make them a main character in the story.   When I was a young lawyer the way I prepared for a presentation was writing out each word and then studying what I had written. I recently found my notes from a presentation I gave long ago. My presentation was on the trial of a contract dispute. As you will see in these two pages, I began by putting the contractor audience in a courtroom at the beginning of the trial. When I looked at Courtroom Story  on these two pages, I was surprised by the level of detail I used to describe the scene. You will see that I described the courtroom, the opponent, the judge and the jury. Once again I believe that not having slides required me to paint a picture and let the audience use their imagination.I think I did that fairly well. It might be because as a young child, I listened to radio shows. We had to picture the scene. While, I may have been disrespectful (in my description of the judge and the jury) in a couple of instances, I had experienced judges and juries like those I described in my story. Don’t  let PowerPoint ruin your next presentation. Can you do a presentation to a business audience today by telling a story? If you want to brainstorm your next presentation with me, I will be happy to help you create the story. I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.