Every day, around the world, speakers deliver millions of PowerPoint presentations. For most of us, this implies opening a single slide show and advancing step-by-step, from slide to slide. In other words, we are locked into a fixed sequence, as if walking a line.

This kind of linear progression is so engrained among PowerPoint users that few question its practice. A sequential approach, after all, seems logical. We read books that way. We watch movies from beginning to end. Stories have a start and finish. Why shouldn’t our presentation materials also advance from one preplanned step to the next? To this end, many of us in the spotlight come to view our role as that of lecturer. Viewers are seen as passive observers who absorb our preplanned messages.

But is this reality? Audience members may indeed be silent and otherwise noninteractive, yet are rarely so passive as they may appear. They have opinions, perspectives, questions, and concerns. They want to be involved. As speakers, we must consider this fact very carefully. Otherwise, it's very easy for our canned, one-way messages to come across as sterile and unnatural monologues—performances that cut off audience involvement and hurt our causes.

Throughout this site, you will see something different—a flexible, responsive, interactive approach to PowerPoint we call Relational Presentation. You'll also explore reasons why such a presentation style is important and how it can impact your speaking activities.

Consider that our brain’s logic operates far beyond a linear framework. We don't think in a straight line, nor do we communicate with each other in this way. Thought processes and informational exchanges between people normally are highly non-linear. That is, we continually interact with each other, and with our environment.

Visually interactive presentation taps into this natural cognitive processing; it offers a richer and more rewarding experience for speaker and audiences alike. Instead of merely lecturing, the presenter encourages people to actively participate in topics and help shape the overall performance. Sound scary or impractical? It’s not. The opposite is true. This approach may change your entire perspective on public speaking and provide a level of satisfaction few presenters realize—especially those using PowerPoint in a traditional manner.

Not surprisingly, a relational approach requires new perspectives and strategies.