Keynote speaker and author, Lee Warren gives a talk titled ‘Grown Ups Don’t Use PowerPoint…’
Those three dots matter. They suggest something deeper: professionals don’t rely on PowerPoint instead of preparing well. They don’t use it instead of rehearsing. And they definitely don’t let it replace thinking about the audience.
PowerPoint isn’t the problem. The problem is how people use it.
Too often, I see presenters open PowerPoint as their first step. They start dragging in slides before they’ve decided what they want to say or who they’re saying it to. It’s like naming your baby before you’ve been on a date.
A client once asked me to help with a workshop on slide design. The original title was ‘Slide Design Workshop’. It was accurate. But it wasn’t memorable.
We changed it to something that reflected the tone and sparked curiosity: ‘How to Make Your Slides Look Less Sh*t’.
People showed up with a smile. The energy was different before we even began.
Your presentation title is your first impression. It creates curiosity and sets expectations. Yet most people default to something flat like ‘Q3 Business Update’ or ‘Marketing Plan Review’.
When I first started presenting online, I watched a recording of one of my sessions – and I was shocked. I thought I’d been animated and expressive. But on screen, I looked flat. My voice sounded dull. The energy I’d felt just didn’t come through.
That’s when I realised: presenting on camera drains about 10–15% of your energy. There’s a screen between you and your audience, and it acts like a filter. What feels lively in person can come across as muted online.
I once attended a workshop led by Julia Langkraehr. She began by asking us a single question: “What do you want to get out of this session?”
There were about fifteen of us. One person said they wanted ideas to grow their team. Someone else needed clarity on pricing. Another was struggling with time management. Julia wrote down each answer on a piece of paper.
Then she began the session – full of practical content. But what stood out was how often she linked back to those early answers.
“This morning I had coffee, answered some emails… and adopted a llama.”
That’s the kind of line that gets a laugh. It uses a classic structure known as the Rule of Three – and adds a twist.
The Rule of Three is one of the most effective tools in communication.
Three ideas feel complete. One or two feels thin. More than three, hard to retain.
Comedians often use a special version of it called a “triple”. Here’s how it works:
In the 1940s, the U.S. Air Force had a problem: pilots were crashing fully functional planes.
Investigators blamed human error – until researcher Gilbert Daniels discovered the issue. Cockpits were designed based on “average” body measurements, but no single pilot matched the average.
The fix was to design for flexibility, not the average. Adjustable seats and controls saved lives.
It worked because they stopped focusing on how things looked on paper – and started focusing on outcomes.
Many speakers prepare an introduction for themselves.
Fewer think about what happens after they speak.
Author and advisor to speakers, Maria Franzoni once shared a simple tip: help the MC – the person introducing and closing your session – help you.
At conferences, the MC might be dealing with tech issues or backstage logistics while you’re presenting. Yet, many speakers expect them to close the session with a meaningful summary.
During an Adele concert in Birmingham, the sound system failed mid-song. The lights stayed on – the music vanished.
But Adele didn’t stop.
She kept singing acapella. The audience stepped in, humming the melody and completing the lyrics until the audio returned.
That moment left an impression.
It’s a lesson in keeping your connection with the audience – something every presenter needs.
For example, if the projector freezes or your slides don’t load, don’t pause. Don’t say, “Can we hold while I fix this?”