Own the Room: Business Presentations that Persuade, Engage, and Get Results

9PowerPoint Revival

Imagine being a juror at a trial and being forced to sit through closing arguments that take two and a half hours and include 253 PowerPoint slides! Is your first thought utter dread? As a captive audience, you have nowhere to hide, no Blackberry or cell phone to check, and you will soon be asked to render a critical decision based on what you have seen and heard. Like a wolf caught in a trap, do you feel like chewing off your leg as a viable option for escape?

These were the circumstances in a high-stakes trial, where the pharmaceutical company Merck was sued by the widow of a man who died after taking the company’s drug Vioxx. Yet surprisingly, the jury saw a PowerPoint presentation so riveting and so powerful that it was ...