Pecha Kucha
The misuse, overuse, and abuse of powerpoint has really caught my attention over the past few months. It seems everywhere I turn - the WSJ, a co-worker, or the blogosphere - people are talking about how they just can't take it anymore!
One interesting finding is that people read faster than you speak. No, the solution is not to just speak faster :). If you are going to put a bunch of text in a slide then read from it, people have already finished reading while you're speaking, and your speech is only blurring their understanding of what they're trying to read. Reading is a left brain activity, while listening and relating to the speaker is a right brain activity. When both sides try to work at the same time you get that blank stare from your audience...

Pecha Kucha is an interesting twist on giving presentations. Pecha Kucha is a format to keep presentations focused, speakers on track, and questions held to the end. The format is twenty slides, twenty seconds per slide, giving the presenter six minutes and forty seconds to present and then sit the heck down! :)

While not suitable for all presentations, I think corporate america should consider the idea of time per slide limits or slide limits in certain meetings where information or concepts are shared? I think the results could be surprisingly good.