Q: I often present to groups and have received feedback that my PowerPoint slides are dry (actually, the word "boring" was used). I agree but don't know what to do to get more creative.
Philipp, 56, strategy team analyst
A: It is all about the story and designing slides that support the messages you need to communicate.
Let's imagine that you are presenting a strategic option to your executive team. You will have some standard topics to cover, say, the business issue, some supporting data, the options you considered, and your recommendation.
This could be a recipe for tedium. But it doesn't need to be.
Far too many presentations rely on paragraph-length bullets and detailed charts and tables. We are going to move away from that.
Start by developing your basic story line: We face Problem X, we have Options 1, 2, and 3, and we picked Option 2. Here's the Happy Ending!
You could make a movie with this core narrative. So, have some fun as you think about the message you need to send.