"I'm OK because I use bullet points"

I was speaking to a customer service manager on a flight recently and we started with the usual questions on what each of us did. When he found out that I help presenters strategically use PowerPoint visuals to enhance their presentations, he commented that he does a number of presentations and was better than most because he didn't read sentences from the slide, but used bullet points. While I agree that using bullet points is better than reading from the slide, it is not a matter today of being better than those who are poor presenters. It is a matter of being as good as the best presenters your audience has seen. In today's world, we are not compared to just others in our own firm or industry, we are compared to the world's best that we see and hear on TV or the internet. So if you want to stand out and be remembered by your audience, you need to see the best and commit to working towards getting to their level. That's why this week I am going to the 10th annual Canadian Association of Professional Speakers Convention in Vancouver. I am going to observe and learn from the best in my industry and the best in the world. I'll also be delivering a concurrent session on future technology use in presentations and one of the topics I will cover is how the top presenters are using visual slides instead of text based slides. If you want to get my latest ideas on this topic, pick up a copy of my new e-book "Transforming Text Slides into Visual Slides" by clicking here. One of the most popular presentations being talked about is Al Gore's presentation on the environment. His rich use of visuals will now be expected by those who want to consider themeselves at the top of the presentation game.