Was doing some serious “googling”, as part of work when I came across this interesting article. I dedicate this post of mine to Sojish , who is always an advocate of better communication and the effective use of presentation slides during any seminar.
The news goes like this :
PORTLAND, OR—Project manager Ron Butler left behind a 48-slide PowerPoint presentation explaining his tragic decision to commit suicide, coworkers reported Tuesday.
“When I first heard that Ron had swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills, I was shocked,” said Hector Benitez, Butler’s friend and coworker at Williams+Kennedy Marketing Consultants. “But after the team went through Ron’s final PowerPoint presentation, I had a solid working knowledge of the pain he was feeling, his attempts to cope, and the reasons for his ultimate decision.”
Butler broke his presentation into four categories: Assessment Of Current Situation, Apologies & Farewells, Will & Funeral Arrangements, and Final Thoughts.
According to Williams+Kennedy president Bradford Williams, finalgoodbye.ppt was “clear, concise, and persuasive.”
The first section closed with a review of key objectives and critical success factors. The two-column text display was enlivened by colorful background wallpaper and clip-art question marks depicting Ron’s confusion over his choice.
The second portion of the presentation comprised an ordered list of goodbyes to colleagues and apologies to friends.
“The colors in Apologies & Farewells were perfectly calibrated for digital-projector display,” I.T. director Bill Schapp said. “I think Ron was the only guy at W+K who understood the importance of running the Gretag-Macbeth Eye-One Beamer on presentations.”
The third segment, Will & Funeral Arrangements, included a list of Butler’s friends and family indexed with phone numbers, a last will and testament, and scrolling-text instructions for the dissemination of his ashes.
Read the entire story and Ron Butler’s slides in the site below :
Now that you have gone through the story, take it as an inspiration to do better presentations and not for better suicides.
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