I just came across an interesting article by Cliff Atkinson in the March 1, 2005 issue of Executive Travel. In “Beyond Bullet Points: How to unlock the story buried in your PowerPoint,” Atkinson describes an important point of convergence between the Humanities and the Business World.
The problem with bullet points and slide headings, says Atkinson, is that they typically do nothing more than establish dry, lifeless categories of information. What is usually missing is a story, something “juicy, coherent and full of life.” Hence, “some of the world’s largest organizations have adopted the word ’story’ as their new mantra for corporate communictions.”
Atkinson cites Aristotle in his definition of ”story”: it should include “action, a plot, central characters,” and even “visual effects.” He adds that classical notions of rhetorical persuasion should also play a part in the formulation of presentations. PowerPoint slides should thus articulate a story, an old-fashioned narrative incorporating ancient ideas of how to be persuasive.
Some interesting food for thought, I think, for those of us engaged in both Humanities and Business education in institutions like Baruch.
I think this is a useful point. The best student presentations I have seen use Powerpoint to reinforce the larger story they are telling. I don’t think it’s easy though. And we fellows could probably do with a little self-pedagogy here.
Related to this, a few BPL fellows have recently been discussing ‘innovation.’ What is innovative about a case analysis, recommendations, or presentation format? Perhaps, right now, a good story is innovative, in the Business world. I have to admit to being a little surprised by this though, and I think it would be interesting to know more… Why “story” for instance? Aristotle’s notion of plot and narrative has been entirely deconstructed in the humanities and social sciences. So many of the hot authors seem to rely on non-western story structure or theme. Is story making a comeback? Or has the business world just picked up on it? I definitely do not know enough about these things.
Reply to Deborah
He has a wonderful book, Beyond Bullet Points, on this topic. I reference it often and recommend it to many on a regular basis.
Reply to Josh Morgan