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I'm well acquainted with 'death by powerpoint'. It's used for almost everything in our business (if Excel isn't involved!) so the idea of ditching it does pique my curiosity.

Here's the thing though - PowerPoint is a tool and it has it's uses. Should we not use the tool just because other people misuse/overuse it? If we do drop PowerPoint in a presentation or meeting, what are the alternatives to getting a visual point across to the attendees? Or to put it another way why would I use a hammer when it's a screwdriver I need to get this particular job done?

Flip charts won't work and neither will cue cards or picture boards because they have the same issue as PowerPoint - people tune out. Whiteboards are slightly better than flip charts because they appear more interactive to the audience (IMHO, but I don't get why) but it's essentially the same thing. Talking your attendees through statistics of any kind is interminably dull and takes longer than simply showing them.

Does anyone have any tried and true method for replacing PowerPoint in the environment they might otherwise choose it? How do you 'show, not say' in your meetings when PowerPoint has been cast out?

(For context to my thoughts, in my own experience I avoid PowerPoint as little as possible and if I do have to use it it's because I feel it's the best tool for the job. When using powerpoint I keep things concise (using the absolute minimum number of slides to do a job), inject a little humour to stat-heavy or dry presentations and keep things as interactive as possible with the audience to keep them engaged (sometimes even turning off the slides for sections of the meeting). The very work presentations or meetings I go to are those where every slide is a block of coloured text where the trainer, presenter or salesperson is simply reading the text on the screen. I HATE that! I can read myself, dummy - just give me the slide content in a leaflet or e-mail and stop wasting BOTH our times. Grrrrrr!)