mrturophile

Business Insider puts out a daily tip email from management experts as part of their “Instant MBA” series. Today’s tip was a gem. It focused on workplace time wasters. The section about PowerPoints is a real beauty:

Power Point presentations

Power Points have become embedded in corporate America and are the bane of every executive’s existence. “The purpose of presentations to executives should be discussion, brain storming, [and] collective intelligence,” says Executive Management Advisor Jim Alampi, not listening to someone read notes off two dozens slides. If you can’t muster the strength to banish Power Points altogether, Alampi says, at least implement what he calls the Rule of Fives:

1. Anything to be presented at an executive team meeting has to be sent out five days in advance.
2. No more than five slides in any presentation.
3. No more than five bullet points on a slide.
4. If you are asking for people, money, or other resources, this MUST be stated on the first slide.
5. If you ever start reading the slides, you will be excused from the meeting; we have all read the slides ahead of time, and it is an insult to read slides to us.