Bad PowerPoint: Waterboarding for the Rest of Us.

I’m not a great fan of torture. No, really, I’m not. I particularly dislike torture during business presentations. To my mind, it borders on the unacceptable when conference delegates, who enter a room with nothing more than the innocent aim of catching up on some sleep, suddenly find themselves the victims of an unexpected outbreak of flagellation or kneecapping.

And then there’s bad PowerPoint. Not quite the immediate effect of, say, garotting, but an effective punishment nonetheless. In fact, you’re no doubt aware of the jump in the confession rate at Guantanamo Bay, once waterboarding was replaced with a simple corporate slideshow.

Despite the howls of derision about awful colours and unreadable charts, ugly PowerPoint is alive and well – and, I dare say, coming to a screen near you. So let’s stop the howling, as it’s clearly not working. Instead, let’s do what one should do when something is laughable – laugh!

Firstly, grab everyone you know of, who uses this form of torture, and force them to watch this satirical piece from the brilliant Don McMillan . . .

If, after viewing this clip, your PowerPoint culprits still don’t ‘get it’, do their future audiences a favour by reducing them to a pulp. If, however, they do see the light and want to mend their ways, send them via this link to the very clever PresentationZen man, Garr Reynolds, for some free remedial instruction.

Cheers!