POWERPOINT: A NEW WAY TO PERSUADE

When Cape Girardeau City Planner Ken Eftink must make a presentation, he uses a computer program called PowerPoint.

"Based on my experience, a PowerPoint presentation seems to hold the audience better and I am able to provide more information in a shorter amount of time," Eftink said.

He's not alone. In the last few years, PowerPoint has made inroads into business and education circles as a way to enhance public speaking.

However, a high-tech presentation, no matter how glitzy, can't replace a good speech, said Tom Harte, chairman of the department of speech, communication and theater at Southeast Missouri State University.

The program essentially offers a high-tech slide show through the computer. Words and pictures can fly across the screen. They can appear and disappear. Movies and sounds can be added to presentations.

The slide show can be viewed on a computer monitor, or with additional equipment projected onto a large screen.

Harte said PowerPoint has a place in public speaking, but presenters need to keep the medium in check.

"Speech is not a visual medium," he said. "I don't think we should take a dinosaur-like approach, but we need to put it in perspective. A visual aid cannot carry a speech."

A study by the 3M Corp. showed that speakers who use an overhead presentation command more credibility in the business setting.

"I think it is a rare business presentation that doesn't use some type of visual aid," Harte said. "Audiences expect some type of razzmatazz."

Harte teaches a speech writing course offered next fall. Students learn to use PowerPoint as part of the class.

"Often when I make the assignment the first questions are about the visual aids," Harte said. "That's backwards. You need to start with what you want to say."

The good telling of a compelling story can't be reduced to three flashing points on a screen, Harte said.

Using PowerPoint brings with it some inherent dangers. First speakers face the danger of the PowerPoint slides outshining their verbal presentation.

Second, technical difficulties are always possible.

Eftink admits that traveling with his presentation saved to plastic computer disc makes him nervous. He always carries backup discs and has a contingency plan.

Used the right way, Harte said, PowerPoint can aid presentations.

Linda Wiggs, professor of administrative services in the College of Business at Southeast, agrees. She teaches a PowerPoint workshop that will be offered in the fall.

"PowerPoint helps people give a much more organized presentation," she said. "You have to have an outline. You have to have thought about what you are going to say."

"The program is very impressive," Eftink said. "You have a lot of flexibility. There is animation. You can bring up one point at a time, and discuss that one point."

Editing a presentation in PowerPoint is also easy, Eftink said. With traditional slides, making a change required burning new slides. "With PowerPoint it's in your computer. Making changes is as simple as clicking your mouse. Once you set up a presentation, you can alter it depending on the groups you are talking to."

Wiggs uses PowerPoint as an easier way to make transparencies for presentations. The four-color slides are easy to format using the program. "Then I just print to transparency," she said. "It's very striking when you are standing up in front of a group."

Sales representatives, marketing professionals or people trying to present an idea might use PowerPoint, Wiggs said.

Wiggs said combining a speech with the visual PowerPoint presentation adds to audience understanding of the concept.

"Say you are trying to sell the idea of an apartment building," she said. "You can scan pictures, include artists' drawings and graphs of the number of people affected. They can see what you are talking about."

For registration information about the PowerPoint workshop, contact Sharon Hale at the university's department of administrative services at (573) 651-2000.

For enrollment information in the Speech Writing course, contact Tom Harte at (573) 651-2000.