Stop Protecting the PowerPoint

Most presenters treat their slide deck like a physical shield. They stand behind the podium, or more likely these days, behind a shared screen on a video call, and they click through sixty slides as if they are defending a fortress.

They are so focused on protecting the script that they forget to protect the audience. They have spent hours alignment-checking the hex codes on their bar charts and ensuring every transition is seamless, but they haven’t spent a single minute thinking about how to handle a skeptical CFO who has a question on slide three.

Here is a hard truth from thirty-five years in the room: If your goal is to perform, follow your script. If your goal is to drive action, you have to be willing to kill the deck.

The most powerful moment in a high-stakes meeting often happens when the screen goes dark. When a leader stops clicking and looks the audience in the eye, the energy in the room shifts.

The slides are just the scenery. You are the presentation.

If you cannot tell your story without the flickering light of a projector or a screen share behind you, you do not actually know your story yet.

The Danger of the Script

A presentation that follows a perfect, linear path is often the one that fails to move the needle. Business is not linear. It is messy, reactive, and filled with competing priorities.

Imagine you are halfway through a pitch for a new enterprise software implementation. You are on slide twelve, explaining the user interface, when the Head of Operations interrupts: "This looks fine, but our last rollout failed because the field staff refused to use the mobile app. How is this different?"

A presenter who is bound to the PowerPoint will panic. They might say, "I actually have a slide on adoption rates in the appendix, can we get to that at the end?" Or worse, "I will cover that on slide forty-two."

In that moment, you have just told the most important person in the room that your sequence is more important than their concern. You have traded a genuine human connection for a pre-recorded sequence. You have signaled that you are there to talk at them, not with them. By the time you finally reach slide forty-two, that stakeholder has already decided your solution is just another "IT project" that doesn't understand the real world.

The Power of the "Dark Slide"

If you want to command the room, you must be willing to abandon the visuals when the conversation gets real. If that same question about field staff adoption comes up, the best move is to stop. Stop clicking. If you are in person, walk away from the screen. If you are on a call, stop the share for a moment.

Address the concern directly: "You are right to be skeptical. The mobile app failed last time because it required four clicks to log a lead. We built this one to require one."

Now you are having a business conversation, not a slide show. When you eventually turn the deck back on, the audience is leaning in because they know you are actually listening.

You have proven that you aren't just a "Monkey with a Typewriter" following a script, but a leader who understands the stakes.

How to Build a Robust Narrative

A robust story structure does not rely on a specific order of slides. It relies on a clear understanding of your core message and the evidence that supports it. Think of your presentation as a hub-and-spoke model rather than a straight line. Your core story is the hub. Your slides are just the spokes you reach for when you need to prove a point.

When you know your story inside and out, you can survive any interruption. You can jump from slide five to slide fifty without losing the thread because the narrative lives in your head, not in the software. You aren't "finishing the deck"; you are "solving the problem."

Do not be beholden to the "Next" button. Your slides should be the evidence, not the teleprompter. Use them to support the conversation, but never let them replace it. The moment you value the deck over the dialogue, you have already lost the room.

-BZ