Comments on: The Cliché http://blog.duarte.com/2008/09/the-cliche/ Duarte Blog Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:53:39 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Nancy Duarte http://blog.duarte.com/2008/09/the-cliche/comment-page-1/#comment-262 Nancy Duarte Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:01:35 +0000 http://slideology.com/?p=731#comment-262 Hi Alex, Thanks for the posting. We are trying to collect all the crazy excuses that bosses and companies give as to "why it can't be done the slide:ology way here". We're hoping to write a small e-book that you can use as a tool for all the naysayers. Keep up the fight! Nancy Hi Alex,
Thanks for the posting. We are trying to collect all the crazy excuses that bosses and companies give as to “why it can’t be done the slide:ology way here”. We’re hoping to write a small e-book that you can use as a tool for all the naysayers. Keep up the fight!

Nancy

]]> By: Alex http://blog.duarte.com/2008/09/the-cliche/comment-page-1/#comment-244 Alex Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:35:28 +0000 http://slideology.com/?p=731#comment-244 I agree with Jan on the "business language", but it is not only engineer guiltyness: people are expecting some ppt standards. If you are a consultant or if you have an intermediate boss between you and your audience, it is easier to respect the local "standards" The slideology way is great, but it takes time to move expectations... And it takes also much longer to do a great presentation than a "basic standard" one. So, boss answers: "what are you doing? get it like they expect! We are running out of budget" I agree with Jan on the “business language”, but it is not only engineer guiltyness: people are expecting some ppt standards. If you are a consultant or if you have an intermediate boss between you and your audience, it is easier to respect the local “standards”

The slideology way is great, but it takes time to move expectations… And it takes also much longer to do a great presentation than a “basic standard” one. So, boss answers: “what are you doing? get it like they expect! We are running out of budget”

]]> By: greg wells http://blog.duarte.com/2008/09/the-cliche/comment-page-1/#comment-154 greg wells Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:17:11 +0000 http://slideology.com/?p=731#comment-154 Proposals are a haven for bad cliches. Drives me crazy. But hey, at least the slide didn't have 200 words on what partnership means. ;) Proposals are a haven for bad cliches. Drives me crazy.

But hey, at least the slide didn’t have 200 words on what partnership means. ;)

]]> By: MB http://blog.duarte.com/2008/09/the-cliche/comment-page-1/#comment-139 MB Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:09:58 +0000 http://slideology.com/?p=731#comment-139 See also the excellent book : "why business people speak like idiots ? " http://www.librarything.com/work/125597 See also the excellent book : “why business people speak like idiots ? ” http://www.librarything.com/work/125597

]]> By: Doug Neff http://blog.duarte.com/2008/09/the-cliche/comment-page-1/#comment-134 Doug Neff Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:16:58 +0000 http://slideology.com/?p=731#comment-134 Hi, Jan. Good point. Sadly, engineers aren't the only ones susceptible to this disease... I've started paying attention to when my eyes glaze over while reading. Unbelievable how much unnecessary verbiage is out there! That's why an exercise like cliché-hunting can be so helpful. We're all guilty of this to some degree, and the only way to beat the habit is to bring more and more of those examples into our consciousness... Hi, Jan.

Good point. Sadly, engineers aren’t the only ones susceptible to this disease…

I’ve started paying attention to when my eyes glaze over while reading. Unbelievable how much unnecessary verbiage is out there!

That’s why an exercise like cliché-hunting can be so helpful. We’re all guilty of this to some degree, and the only way to beat the habit is to bring more and more of those examples into our consciousness…

]]> By: Jan Schultink http://blog.duarte.com/2008/09/the-cliche/comment-page-1/#comment-117 Jan Schultink Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:03:16 +0000 http://slideology.com/?p=731#comment-117 In business presentations, clichés often are a result of managers "padding" their slides / filling the pre-set bullet point slide template with hollow phrases. The issue is even bigger in technology white papers. Many of them sound exactly the same, you could do a find/replace of the product name without noticing it. The problem here is not so much "padding", but engineers who lack confidence and think that injecting so called "business language" into their documents will make it appeal to readers outside the IT department. In business presentations, clichés often are a result of managers “padding” their slides / filling the pre-set bullet point slide template with hollow phrases.

The issue is even bigger in technology white papers. Many of them sound exactly the same, you could do a find/replace of the product name without noticing it. The problem here is not so much “padding”, but engineers who lack confidence and think that injecting so called “business language” into their documents will make it appeal to readers outside the IT department.

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