PPT Angst — The Beat Goes On, in a new direction. Jeff Nolan’s refreshing post adds clearer thinking to the “Ditch PowerPoint” meme. Let’s change how we’re using PowerPoint, and let’s make it easier (sourcing good design) to do so.

Everyone knows a company (or person) that swallowed the kool-aid and relies “too much” on PowerPoint. But is “too much” the problem?

In any given PPT rant, substitute the word “outline” for the word “PowerPoint” (that’s what most PPT abusers are doing anyways) and the problem becomes relying too much on outlines.

Presenting a new idea? Outlines keep you organized, but don’t belong in your visual aids. Summarizing a project for management? A written report/executive summary outline is great in addition to your presentation (you gotta keep ‘em separated). If an outline is NOT the best tool to use, don’t make your PowerPoint into one.

Pretend the projector breaks. Would you post that entire bulleted outline and heavy text onto a whiteboard, flip chart or blackboard? Or, would you draw a few diagrams and key illustrations, particularly the ones that spontaneously arose during the conversation? (Because you DO promote conversation when you’re presenting, RIGHT?)

For any given Pistachio client, it’s not (necessarily) how much PowerPoint is used, it’s how it’s used.

UPDATE: My favorite post (Stephen Colbert) about how bullets CAN work and, this brilliance from Hugh