Mike Domitrz warns presenters not to let PowerPoint slides reveal punchlines or next steps before you've set the context. Slides should reinforce your spoken narrative with images or quotes, not drive it. If your program relies on slides to convey core content, something's missing.
A common error when people speak is they reveal before they set it. So the slide tells me the punchline before you set it. Why did I need to be in the room? You could have handed out the slides, right? So this is a common maneuver, or the PowerPoint is my outline for me to know what to do next, which means you're not talking to me, you're giving a presentation. And you have to hit the next item. If there's no PowerPoint, your program should be equally as powerful. PowerPoint is great for reinforcement, for bringing home with an image or a quote. If it's driving the program, something's missing from there. I see people do it all the time, like, and there's 3 steps and here they are. Why should— don't show me step number 3 until you've talked about step number 3, because my brain and many brains in the audience jumps to 3 while you're still talking about 1 and 2.
