Throwing Out PowerPoint 2

by Rick Nason, PhD, CFA

Partner, RSD Solutions Inc.

www.RSDsolutions.com

info@RSDsolutions.com

 

In my previous blog I talked about changing over from PowerPoint to another presentation software.  There are several reasons for doing so, and to be frank a big part of the reason was to shake up my presentations.  We all need to make a change now and again to get our creativity mojo back.  (Am I dating myself by using the term “mojo”?)

 

PowerPoint is a great piece of software that has probably been abused more than anything else out there.  However there is no denying that it is a workhorse.

 

The one problem that I always had with PowerPoint though was the linearity.  It was one slide after another in a preprogrammed sequence.  It was hard to zig, when you needed to zig, and equally hard to zag when zagging was called for.

 

Risk management systems tend to be like that as well.  They tend to be workhorses for linear processes.  However risk is rarely linear.  Risk by definition zigs and zags.  Does your risk management system allow for you to zig and zag as well, or is it standard issue linear PowerPoint?

 

Throwing Out PowerPoint 1

by Rick Nason, PhD, CFA

Partner, RSD Solutions Inc.

www.RSDsolutions.com

info@RSDsolutions.com 

 

This seems to be a week of creating presentations.  I like presenting, but creating presentations is not really my favorite activity.  All of my best presentations are bespoke and are designed to zig when the audience wants to (or needs to) zig, and to zag when that is what the situation calls for.  PowerPoint is a wonderful tool, but it locks you down into a linear path when sometimes the situation calls for more flexibility.

 

To that end I have gone in search of new presentation software.  One that will allow for a more non-linear approach.  I found one that I liked Prezi (www.Prezi.com), and will be testing it out in front of a live audience later this week.

 

Prezi is quite easy to use, but there is still a nagging worry in the back of my mind.  The point is that I know PowerPoint.  My audience knows PowerPoint and what to expect with PowerPoint.  I am not sure how they will react to a whole new presentation style?  How will I react to a whole new presentation style?  What if I make a mistake with the new presentation format? Will people laugh at me?  No one I know has used this software, and I have only seen the presentations with it on the internet – and we all know that they were probably edited a thousand times to make sure they ran smoothly.  Oh my, I can come up with a thousand different things that might go wrong.  Well, actually I can only come up with four or five things that might go wrong, but I am sure that there are at least a thousand things that might go wrong ….

 

Does the above paragraph of whining and useless worry sound like you and your risk team when it comes to trying something new?  I bet it does.  Times change, things change, people change, and organizations change.  You and your risk department also need to change.  Now – where is that Word Perfect file that I just downloaded from my Tandy computer?

 

Throwing Out PowerPoint 1

by Rick Nason, PhD, CFA

Partner, RSD Solutions Inc.

www.RSDsolutions.com

info@RSDsolutions.com 

 

This seems to be a week of creating presentations.  I like presenting, but creating presentations is not really my favorite activity.  All of my best presentations are bespoke and are designed to zig when the audience wants to (or needs to) zig, and to zag when that is what the situation calls for.  PowerPoint is a wonderful tool, but it locks you down into a linear path when sometimes the situation calls for more flexibility.

 

To that end I have gone in search of new presentation software.  One that will allow for a more non-linear approach.  I found one that I liked Prezi (www.Prezi.com), and will be testing it out in front of a live audience later this week.

 

Prezi is quite easy to use, but there is still a nagging worry in the back of my mind.  The point is that I know PowerPoint.  My audience knows PowerPoint and what to expect with PowerPoint.  I am not sure how they will react to a whole new presentation style?  How will I react to a whole new presentation style?  What if I make a mistake with the new presentation format? Will people laugh at me?  No one I know has used this software, and I have only seen the presentations with it on the internet – and we all know that they were probably edited a thousand times to make sure they ran smoothly.  Oh my, I can come up with a thousand different things that might go wrong.  Well, actually I can only come up with four or five things that might go wrong, but I am sure that there are at least a thousand things that might go wrong ….

 

Does the above paragraph of whining and useless worry sound like you and your risk team when it comes to trying something new?  I bet it does.  Times change, things change, people change, and organizations change.  You and your risk department also need to change.  Now – where is that Word Perfect file that I just downloaded from my Tandy computer?